2:11. And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not so, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord? 2:12. And you will present wine to the Nazarites: and command the prophets, saying: Prophesy not. 2:13. Behold, I will screak under you as a wain screaketh that is laden with hay. I will screak... Unable to bear any longer the enormous load of your sins, etc. The spirit of God, as St. Jerome takes notice, accommodates himself to the education of the prophet and inspires him with comparisons taken from country affairs. 2:14. And flight shall perish from the swift, and the valiant shall not possess his strength, neither shall the strong save his life. 2:15. And he that holdeth the bow shall not stand, and the swift of foot shall not escape, neither shall the rider of the horse save his life. 2:16. And the stout of heart among the valiant shall flee away naked in that day, saith the Lord. Amos Chapter 3 The evils that shall fall upon Israel for their sins. 3:1. Hear the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning you, O ye children of Israel: concerning the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying: 3:2. You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities. Visit upon... That is, punish. 3:3. Shall two walk together except they be agreed? 3:4. Will a lion roar in the forest, if he have no prey? will the lion's whelp cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? 3:5. Will the bird fall into the snare upon the earth, if there be no fowler? Shall the snare be taken up from the earth, before it hath taken somewhat? 3:6. Shall the trumpet sound in a city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, which the Lord hath not done? Evil in a city... He speaks of the evil of punishments of war, famine, pestilence, desolation, etc., but not of the evil of sin, of which God is not the author. 3:7. For the Lord God doth nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. 3:8. The lion shall roar, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who shall not prophesy? 3:9. Publish it in the houses of Azotus, and in the houses of the land of Egypt, and say: Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the many follies in the midst thereof, and them that suffer oppression in the inner rooms thereof. 3:10. And they have not known to do the right thing, saith the Lord, storing up iniquity, and robberies in their houses. 3:11. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: The land shall be in tribulation, and shall be compassed about: and thy strength shall be taken away from thee, and thy houses shall be spoiled. 3:12. Thus saith the Lord: As if a shepherd should get out of the lion's mouth two legs, or the tip of the ear: so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria, in a place of a bed, and in the couch of Damascus.