Zechariah 11

1 And the Lord said to me: What seest thou, Amos? And I said: A mason’s trowel. And the Lord said: Behold, I will lay down the trowel in the midst of my people Israel. I will plaster them over no more. 2 And the high places of the idol shall be thrown down, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste: and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. 3 And Amasias the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying: Amos hath rebelled against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. 4 For thus saith Amos: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall be carried away captive out of their own land. 5 And Amasias said to Amos: Thou seer, go, flee away into the land of Juda: and eat bread there, and prophesy there. 6 But prophesy not again any more in Bethel: because it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is the house of the kingdom. 7 And Amos answered and said to Amasias: I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet: but I am a herdsman plucking wild figs. 8 And the Lord took me when I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me: Go, prophesy to my people Israel. 9 And now hear thou the word of the Lord: Thou sayest, thou shalt not prophesy against Israel, and thou shalt not drop thy word upon the house of the idol. 10 Therefore thus saith the Lord: Thy wife shall play the harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be measured by a line: and thou shalt die in a polluted land, and Israel shall go into captivity out of their land. 12 These things the Lord shewed to me: and behold a hook to draw down the fruit. 13 And he said: What seest thou, Amos? And I said: A hook to draw down fruit. And the Lord said to me: The end is come upon my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more. 14 And the hinges of the temple shall screak in that day, saith the Lord God: many shall die: silence shall be cast in every place. 15 Hear this, you that crush the poor, and make the needy of the land to fail, 16 Saying: When will the month be over, and we shall sell our wares: and the sabbath, and we shall open the corn: that we may lessen the measure, and increase the sicle, and may convey in deceitful balances, 17 That we may possess the needy for money, and the poor for a pair of shoes, and may sell the refuse of the corn?