TSK · Amos 4:1

Uexe not a straunger, neither oppresse him: for ye were straungers in the land of Egypt.

Beware that there be not a wicked thought in thine heart, that thou wouldest say, the seuenth yere, the yere of freedome is at hande: and therfore it greeueth thee to loke on thy poore brother, and geuest hym naught, and he then crye vnto the Lorde agaynst thee, and it be sinne vnto thee:

With butter of kine, and mylke of the sheepe, with fat of the lambes, and fat of rammes and hee goates, with the fat of the most plenteous wheate, and that thou myghtest drynke the most pure blood of the grape.

And why? he hath oppressed the poore, and not helped them: houses hath he spoyled, and not builded them.

For the calamities of the oppressed, for the deepe sighyng of the poore, I wyll nowe vp sayeth God: and I wyll put in safetie, hym whom the wicked hath snared.

I am sure that God wyll dispatche the cause of the afflicted: and he wyll geue iudgement for the needy.

Rob not the poore, because he is poore: and oppresse not the simple in iudgement:

So I turned me, and considered all the violent wrong that is done vnder the sunne: and beholde the teares of such as were oppressed, and there was no man to comfort them, or that woulde deliuer and defende them from the violence of their oppressours.

Learne to do well, applie your selues to equitie, deliuer the oppressed, helpe the fatherlesse to his ryght, let the widdowes complaynt come before you:

Wo be vnto the crowne of pryde, euen to the drunken people of Ephraim, whose great pompe is as a floure that fadeth away vpon the head of the valley of suche as be in wealth, and are ouerladen with wine.

Doth not this fasting rather please me, That thou lose the wicked bands, that thou take of the ouer heauie burthens, that thou let the oppressed go free, and breake all maner of yoke?

For thus hath the Lorde of hoastes commaunded, Hewe downe her trees, and set vp bulwarkes against Hierusalem: for the tyme is come that this citie must be punished, for in her is all maliciousnesse.

Although ye were so chearfull & glad, to treade downe myne heritage, and fulfylled your pleasures as the calues in the grasse, and triumphed ouer them like bulles when ye had gotten the victorie

Nabuchodonozor the kyng of Babylon hath deuoured and destroyed me, he hath made me an emptie vessell, he swalowed me vp lyke a dragon, and fylled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.

Yea giftes haue ben receaued in thee to shed blood, thou hast taken vsurie and encrease, thou hast oppressed thy neighbours by extortion, and forgotten me, saith the Lorde God.

The people in the lande vsed wicked extortion and robbery, they vexe the poore and needy, and oppresse the straunger agaynst right.

Ye shall eate the fleshe of the valiaunt, and drinke the blood of the princes of the land, of the rammes, of the weathers, of the goates, and of the bullockes, that be all fed at Basan.

Thus sayth the Lorde, For three wickednesses of Israel, and for foure I wil not spare hym: because they solde the righteous for siluer, and the poore for a paire of shoes.

And they lye vpon clothes layde to pledge by euery aulter: and in the house of their god, they drinke the wine of the condempned.

Can two walke together, except they be agreed?

For they know not to do right, sayth the Lorde, they store vp violence and robberie in their palaces.

Wo to them that are at ease in Sion, and trust in the mountayne of Samaria, which were famous at the beginning of the nations, & the house of Israel came to them.

Wo vnto them that imagine iniquitie, and worke wickednesse vpon their beddes: when the morning is light they practise it, because their hande hath power.

And I saide, heare I pray you O heads of Iacob, & ye princes of the house of Israel, shoulde not ye know iudgement?

Do the wydow, the fatherlesse, the straungers and poore no wrong, and let no man imagine euil against his brother in his heart.

Go to nowe ye riche men, weepe and howle on your wretchednesse that shall come vpon you.