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Selected Verse: Amos 2:11 - King James

Verse	Translation	Text
Am 2:11	King James	And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD.

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
Additional obligations under which Israel lay to God; the prophets and Nazarites, appointed by Him, to furnish religious instruction and examples of holy self-restraint. of your young men--It was a specimen of Israel's highly favored state, that, of the class most addicted to pleasures, God chose those who by a solemn vow bound themselves to abstinence from all produce of the vine, and from all ceremonial and moral defilement. The Nazarite was not to shave (Num 6:2, &c.). God left nothing undone to secure the purity of their worship and their faithfulness to it (Lam 4:7). The same comes from a Hebrew root, nazar, "to set apart." Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist were Nazarites. Is it not even thus--Will any of you dare to deny it is so?

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

Additional obligations under which Israel lay to God; the prophets and Nazarites, appointed by Him, to furnish religious instruction and examples of holy self-restraint.

of your young men--It was a specimen of Israel's highly favored state, that, of the class most addicted to pleasures, God chose those who by a solemn vow bound themselves to abstinence from all produce of the vine, and from all ceremonial and moral defilement. The Nazarite was not to shave (Num 6:2, &c.). God left nothing undone to secure the purity of their worship and their faithfulness to it (Lam 4:7). The same comes from a Hebrew root, nazar, "to set apart." Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist were Nazarites.

Is it not even thus--Will any of you dare to deny it is so?

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
And I raised up of your sons for prophets - Amos turns from outward mercies to inward, front past to present, from miracles of power to miracles of grace. God's past mercies live on in those of today; the mercies of today are the assurance to us that we have a share in the past; His miracles of grace are a token that the miracles of His power are not our condemnation. God had, from the time of Moses, "raised up" prophets. Eldad and Medad Num 11:26-29 were images Of those, whom God would raise up beyond the bounds of His promise. Samuel was an Ephrathite Sa1 1:1; Ahijah the Shilonite, that is, of Shiloh in Ephraim, lived on to old age in the kingdom of the ten tribes after their schism, the witness against the apostasy of Jeroboam Kg1 14:7-14; Kg1 15:29, yet acknowledged by the king whose rise and of the destruction of whose house he prophesied Kg1 14:2, Kg1 14:4. Jehu, son of Hanani, was the prophet of both kingdoms Kg1 16:1, Kg1 16:7, Kg1 16:12; Ch2 19:2; Ch2 20:34; Micaiah, son of Imlah, was well known to Ahab, as "prophesying evil concerning him" Kg1 22:8, Kg1 22:18 continually; unknown to Jehoshaphat Kg1 22:7. That wondrous pair, marvelous for superhuman sanctity and power among the marvelous miracles of God, Elijalh and Elisha, were both "sons" of Israel, whom God "raised up; Elijjah the Tishbite" Kg1 17:1, born doubtless at Thisbe, a village of Naphthali , and one of the sojourners in Gilead; Elisha of Abelmeholah Kg1 19:16, on the west side of the valley of the Jordan . And even now He had raised up to them of their own "sons," Hosea and Jonah. Their presence was the presence of God among them, who, out of the ordinary way of His Providence, "raised" them "up" and filled them with His Spirit; and where the presence of God is, if there is fear, yet there is also hope. And of your young men for Nazarites - The Nazarite was a fruit of the grace of God in its moral and religions workings, superhuman in holiness and self-denial, as the prophets were of that same grace, conferring superhuman wisdom and knowledge also. Of both, God says, "I raised up," teaching that both alike, holiness of life and superhman wisdom, were His own special gift to each individual, His own creation. God survived His people, called, and "raised up," by His grace, out of the crowd, those souls which responded to His call. The life of the Nazarites was a continual protest against the self-indulgence and worldliness of the people. It was a life above nature. Unless any prophet like Samuel Sa1 1:11, was also a Nazarite, they had no special office except to live that life. Their life taught. Nay, it taught in one way the more, because they had no special gifts of wisdom or knowledge, nothing to distinguish them from ordinary people, except extraordinary grace. They were an evidence, what all might do and be, if they used the grace of God. The power of the grace of God shows itself the more wondrously in these who have nought beside. The essence of the Nazarite life, as expressed by its name, was "separation," separation from things of the world, with a view to God. The separation was not, necessarily, for more than a limited time. In such case, it answered to the strictness of the Christian Lent. It was a considerable discipline for a time. In those simpler days, when luxury had not been so busy , the absolute prohibition of anything fermented Num 6:3-4, whether from the grape or any other substance or vinegar made of either, or any liquor or refreshing food or drink, made in any way from the grape, fresh or dry, its husks or its kernels, while it cut off every evasion, involved the giving up not only every drink, in any way exciting or stimulating, but very much also, which was refreshing. Water, which in the east has seldom the freshness of ours, was their only drink. This, which to individuals may be an easy rule, would not be so in the main. Those only think an undeviating rule slight, who have never tried one, nor set themselves on system to conquer self-will. Such a rule would not be acted upon, except for God. The long never-shorn hair was probably intended to involve the neglect of personal appearance. Yet this was the body only of the vow; its soul was the dedication to God. The Nazarite not only "separated himself from" Num 6:3 those earthly things; he "separated himself to" the Lord Num 6:2, Num 6:5-6 : he "consecrated to the Lord the days of his separation Num 6:12 : all the days of his separation he was holy to the Lord Num 6:8 : the separation of his God was upon his head." Num 6:7. The vow was a great and singular thing. "When man or woman shall vow a special vow of a Nazarite" Num 6:2. The ritual of the Nazarite likened him to the priest. Giving him no priestly office, it yet even intensified some of the rules of the priesthood. The priest was to abstain from wine and strong drink, only "when" he "went into the tabernacle of the congregations," that he might "put difference between holy and unholy, and teach Israel the statutes" of the Lord Lev 10:9-11 : the Nazarite, so long as he remained such. The priest might defile himself for certain very near dead Lev 21:1-3; the high priest alone and the Nazarite, "neither for father nor mother" Lev 21:11-12; Num 6:7 : and that for the kindred reason; the high priest, "because the crown of the anointing oil of his God" was "upon him;" the Nazarite, "because the consecration of his God was upon his head!" His consecrated hair was called by the self-same name Num 6:19 as the mitre of the priest. It appears to have been woven into "seven locks" Jdg 16:13, itself a number of consecration. If his consecration came to an end, that hair was mingled with the sacrifice Num 6:18, and on "his" hands alone, besides the priest's at his consecration, was part of the offering laid Num 6:19. All Israel was, in God's purpose, "a kingdom of priests" Exo 19:6; and, among them, the Nazarite was brought yet nearer, not to the priest's office, but to his character. This must have diffused itself indefinitely through the outward and inward life. Further strictness probably lay in the spirit of the vow. The outward appearance of the Nazarites appears to have been changed by their abstemiousness. "Her Nazarites were purer than snow; they were whiter than milk" Lam 4:7. Their countenance had that transparent purity, which sometimes results from a pure abstemious life; as Athanasius is said to have been "bloodless." John the Immerser, the counterpart of Elijah, ate only of the food of the wilderness, "locusts and wild honey;" his clothing was the hair cloth Luk 1:15; Luk 7:33; Mat 3:4. Of James the Just it is related with reference to the Nazarite vow ; "He was holy from his mother's womb; wine and strong drink he drank not, nor ate any living thing; the razor came not up upon his head; he anointed him not with oil, and he used not a bath." Nazarites there had been in the most disorganized times of Israel. The histories of Samson and Samuel stand over against one another, as Nazarites who, the one forfeited, the other persevered in, his vocation. Elijah's ascetic character is as if he had been one of them, or deepened the lines of their rule. Ahaziah's ungodly messengers described him contemptously as "a man, lord of hair," as though he had nothing but his prophet's broad mantle of hair, and "the leather girdle about his loins" . The Rechabites, although Kenites by origin Ch1 2:55, had been enrolled in the people of God, and had received a rule from their father, uniting with the abstinence of the Nazarites, a mode of life which kept them aloof from the corruptions of cities Jer 35:7, Jer 35:9. The rules of their Nomadic life were consecrated to God, for He says, "There shall not be cut off from Jonadub, the son of Rechab, a man standing before Me for ever" Jer 35:19, that is, as the servant of God. God uses as to them the term which marks the service of the Levites Deu 10:8, priests Jdg 20:28, and prophets Kg1 17:1. Jonadab, the author of their rule, was plainly an ascetic, through whose presence Jehu hoped to cast a religious character over his ambitious execution of God's command . But the value which the artful, though impetuous Kg2 9:20, bloodstained, captain attached to the presence of the ascetic shows the weight which they had with the people. Strange sight it must have been, the energetic warrior in his coat of mail, and the ascetic, as energetic, in his hair-cloth. Deeper far the cotrast within. But the more marvelous the contrast, the more it attests the influence which the unworldly ascetic had over the world. Like the garb of the prophets, their appearance was a standing rebuke to a life of sense. Like the patriarchs, it professed that they were "strangers and pilgrims upon the earth." They who sought nothing of the world or of time, were a witness to the belief in their eternal home. The Nazarites must now have been a numerous body, since Amos speaks of them, as a known class, like the prophets, of whose numbers we hear incidentally . Yet the memory of these, who, amid the general corruption, were, each in his own sphere, centers of pure faith and life, is embalmed in these few words only. So little reason is there to think that God's commands were neglected by all, because their observance is not related. Amos appeals publicly to the people that the fact was so, that God had raised up Nazarites as well as prophets among them. He had His "little flock" Luk 12:32, His "seven thousand" Kg1 19:18, who escaped the eye even of Elijah. The gift of the Nazarites was a special favor to Israel, as a memorial what the grace of God could do for man, what man could do, with the grace of God. His "raising up Nazarites, out of their young men," men in their first bloom of unmarried , virgin (Deu 32:25; Ch2 36:17; Jer 51:22; and in the plur. Psa 78:63; Psa 148:12; Isa 23:4;. Jer 31:13; Lam 1:18; Lam 2:21; Zac 9:17; and by Amos himself, Amo 8:13), life their picked "very chosen men," such as furnished the prime of their warriors , stengthened that teaching. Even now, one devoted to God in his youth is a witness for God, leaven of the world around him. But the Nazarite had also to bear an outward mark for good, to be singular. His appearance bespoke that he had chosen God. His vow was not only a living up to the law; it lay beyond the law, the free-will offering of those whom God called. At an age, when so many do things unlawful, to gratitfy passion, these abstained even from things lawful. "Canst thou not do what these youths and these maidens can? or can they either in themselves, and not rather in the Lord their God?" was Augustine's upbraiding of himself , on the eve of his conversion, in thought of those who were living a devoted virgin life. Is it not even thus? - It were enough that God, the Truth, said it. But He condemns not, without giving space for excuse or defense. So he describes the Day of Judgment Mat 25:24-30, Mat 25:41-45; Mat 22:11. "The books were opened - and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works" Rev 20:12. Now, in the time of grace, the question asks, what, written under the picture of Christ crucified, once converted a sinner; "This have I done for thee: What doest thou for Me?" What did they? What had they done? What would they do?

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

And I raised up of your sons for prophets - Amos turns from outward mercies to inward, front past to present, from miracles of power to miracles of grace. God's past mercies live on in those of today; the mercies of today are the assurance to us that we have a share in the past; His miracles of grace are a token that the miracles of His power are not our condemnation. God had, from the time of Moses, "raised up" prophets. Eldad and Medad Num 11:26-29 were images Of those, whom God would raise up beyond the bounds of His promise. Samuel was an Ephrathite Sa1 1:1; Ahijah the Shilonite, that is, of Shiloh in Ephraim, lived on to old age in the kingdom of the ten tribes after their schism, the witness against the apostasy of Jeroboam Kg1 14:7-14; Kg1 15:29, yet acknowledged by the king whose rise and of the destruction of whose house he prophesied Kg1 14:2, Kg1 14:4.

Jehu, son of Hanani, was the prophet of both kingdoms Kg1 16:1, Kg1 16:7, Kg1 16:12; Ch2 19:2; Ch2 20:34; Micaiah, son of Imlah, was well known to Ahab, as "prophesying evil concerning him" Kg1 22:8, Kg1 22:18 continually; unknown to Jehoshaphat Kg1 22:7. That wondrous pair, marvelous for superhuman sanctity and power among the marvelous miracles of God, Elijalh and Elisha, were both "sons" of Israel, whom God "raised up; Elijjah the Tishbite" Kg1 17:1, born doubtless at Thisbe, a village of Naphthali , and one of the sojourners in Gilead; Elisha of Abelmeholah Kg1 19:16, on the west side of the valley of the Jordan . And even now He had raised up to them of their own "sons," Hosea and Jonah. Their presence was the presence of God among them, who, out of the ordinary way of His Providence, "raised" them "up" and filled them with His Spirit; and where the presence of God is, if there is fear, yet there is also hope.

And of your young men for Nazarites - The Nazarite was a fruit of the grace of God in its moral and religions workings, superhuman in holiness and self-denial, as the prophets were of that same grace, conferring superhuman wisdom and knowledge also. Of both, God says, "I raised up," teaching that both alike, holiness of life and superhman wisdom, were His own special gift to each individual, His own creation. God survived His people, called, and "raised up," by His grace, out of the crowd, those souls which responded to His call. The life of the Nazarites was a continual protest against the self-indulgence and worldliness of the people. It was a life above nature. Unless any prophet like Samuel Sa1 1:11, was also a Nazarite, they had no special office except to live that life. Their life taught. Nay, it taught in one way the more, because they had no special gifts of wisdom or knowledge, nothing to distinguish them from ordinary people, except extraordinary grace.

They were an evidence, what all might do and be, if they used the grace of God. The power of the grace of God shows itself the more wondrously in these who have nought beside. The essence of the Nazarite life, as expressed by its name, was "separation," separation from things of the world, with a view to God. The separation was not, necessarily, for more than a limited time. In such case, it answered to the strictness of the Christian Lent. It was a considerable discipline for a time. In those simpler days, when luxury had not been so busy , the absolute prohibition of anything fermented Num 6:3-4, whether from the grape or any other substance or vinegar made of either, or any liquor or refreshing food or drink, made in any way from the grape, fresh or dry, its husks or its kernels, while it cut off every evasion, involved the giving up not only every drink, in any way exciting or stimulating, but very much also, which was refreshing. Water, which in the east has seldom the freshness of ours, was their only drink. This, which to individuals may be an easy rule, would not be so in the main.

Those only think an undeviating rule slight, who have never tried one, nor set themselves on system to conquer self-will. Such a rule would not be acted upon, except for God. The long never-shorn hair was probably intended to involve the neglect of personal appearance. Yet this was the body only of the vow; its soul was the dedication to God. The Nazarite not only "separated himself from" Num 6:3 those earthly things; he "separated himself to" the Lord Num 6:2, Num 6:5-6 : he "consecrated to the Lord the days of his separation Num 6:12 : all the days of his separation he was holy to the Lord Num 6:8 : the separation of his God was upon his head." Num 6:7. The vow was a great and singular thing. "When man or woman shall vow a special vow of a Nazarite" Num 6:2. The ritual of the Nazarite likened him to the priest. Giving him no priestly office, it yet even intensified some of the rules of the priesthood.

The priest was to abstain from wine and strong drink, only "when" he "went into the tabernacle of the congregations," that he might "put difference between holy and unholy, and teach Israel the statutes" of the Lord Lev 10:9-11 : the Nazarite, so long as he remained such. The priest might defile himself for certain very near dead Lev 21:1-3; the high priest alone and the Nazarite, "neither for father nor mother" Lev 21:11-12; Num 6:7 : and that for the kindred reason; the high priest, "because the crown of the anointing oil of his God" was "upon him;" the Nazarite, "because the consecration of his God was upon his head!" His consecrated hair was called by the self-same name Num 6:19 as the mitre of the priest. It appears to have been woven into "seven locks" Jdg 16:13, itself a number of consecration. If his consecration came to an end, that hair was mingled with the sacrifice Num 6:18, and on "his" hands alone, besides the priest's at his consecration, was part of the offering laid Num 6:19.

All Israel was, in God's purpose, "a kingdom of priests" Exo 19:6; and, among them, the Nazarite was brought yet nearer, not to the priest's office, but to his character. This must have diffused itself indefinitely through the outward and inward life. Further strictness probably lay in the spirit of the vow. The outward appearance of the Nazarites appears to have been changed by their abstemiousness. "Her Nazarites were purer than snow; they were whiter than milk" Lam 4:7. Their countenance had that transparent purity, which sometimes results from a pure abstemious life; as Athanasius is said to have been "bloodless." John the Immerser, the counterpart of Elijah, ate only of the food of the wilderness, "locusts and wild honey;" his clothing was the hair cloth Luk 1:15; Luk 7:33; Mat 3:4.

Of James the Just it is related with reference to the Nazarite vow ; "He was holy from his mother's womb; wine and strong drink he drank not, nor ate any living thing; the razor came not up upon his head; he anointed him not with oil, and he used not a bath." Nazarites there had been in the most disorganized times of Israel. The histories of Samson and Samuel stand over against one another, as Nazarites who, the one forfeited, the other persevered in, his vocation. Elijah's ascetic character is as if he had been one of them, or deepened the lines of their rule. Ahaziah's ungodly messengers described him contemptously as "a man, lord of hair," as though he had nothing but his prophet's broad mantle of hair, and "the leather girdle about his loins" .

The Rechabites, although Kenites by origin Ch1 2:55, had been enrolled in the people of God, and had received a rule from their father, uniting with the abstinence of the Nazarites, a mode of life which kept them aloof from the corruptions of cities Jer 35:7, Jer 35:9. The rules of their Nomadic life were consecrated to God, for He says, "There shall not be cut off from Jonadub, the son of Rechab, a man standing before Me for ever" Jer 35:19, that is, as the servant of God. God uses as to them the term which marks the service of the Levites Deu 10:8, priests Jdg 20:28, and prophets Kg1 17:1. Jonadab, the author of their rule, was plainly an ascetic, through whose presence Jehu hoped to cast a religious character over his ambitious execution of God's command .

But the value which the artful, though impetuous Kg2 9:20, bloodstained, captain attached to the presence of the ascetic shows the weight which they had with the people. Strange sight it must have been, the energetic warrior in his coat of mail, and the ascetic, as energetic, in his hair-cloth. Deeper far the cotrast within. But the more marvelous the contrast, the more it attests the influence which the unworldly ascetic had over the world. Like the garb of the prophets, their appearance was a standing rebuke to a life of sense. Like the patriarchs, it professed that they were "strangers and pilgrims upon the earth." They who sought nothing of the world or of time, were a witness to the belief in their eternal home. The Nazarites must now have been a numerous body, since Amos speaks of them, as a known class, like the prophets, of whose numbers we hear incidentally .

Yet the memory of these, who, amid the general corruption, were, each in his own sphere, centers of pure faith and life, is embalmed in these few words only. So little reason is there to think that God's commands were neglected by all, because their observance is not related. Amos appeals publicly to the people that the fact was so, that God had raised up Nazarites as well as prophets among them. He had His "little flock" Luk 12:32, His "seven thousand" Kg1 19:18, who escaped the eye even of Elijah. The gift of the Nazarites was a special favor to Israel, as a memorial what the grace of God could do for man, what man could do, with the grace of God. His "raising up Nazarites, out of their young men," men in their first bloom of unmarried , virgin (Deu 32:25; Ch2 36:17; Jer 51:22; and in the plur. Psa 78:63; Psa 148:12; Isa 23:4;. Jer 31:13; Lam 1:18; Lam 2:21; Zac 9:17; and by Amos himself, Amo 8:13), life their picked "very chosen men," such as furnished the prime of their warriors , stengthened that teaching.

Even now, one devoted to God in his youth is a witness for God, leaven of the world around him. But the Nazarite had also to bear an outward mark for good, to be singular. His appearance bespoke that he had chosen God. His vow was not only a living up to the law; it lay beyond the law, the free-will offering of those whom God called. At an age, when so many do things unlawful, to gratitfy passion, these abstained even from things lawful. "Canst thou not do what these youths and these maidens can? or can they either in themselves, and not rather in the Lord their God?" was Augustine's upbraiding of himself , on the eve of his conversion, in thought of those who were living a devoted virgin life.

Is it not even thus? - It were enough that God, the Truth, said it. But He condemns not, without giving space for excuse or defense. So he describes the Day of Judgment Mat 25:24-30, Mat 25:41-45; Mat 22:11. "The books were opened - and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works" Rev 20:12. Now, in the time of grace, the question asks, what, written under the picture of Christ crucified, once converted a sinner; "This have I done for thee: What doest thou for Me?" What did they? What had they done? What would they do?

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
But Jehovah had not only put Israel into possession of Canaan; He had also continually manifested Himself to it as the founder and promoter of its spiritual prosperity. Amo 2:11. "And I raised up some of your sons as prophets, and some of your young men as dedicated ones (Naziraeans). Ah, is it not so, ye sons of Israel? is the saying of Jehovah. Amo 2:12. But ye made the dedicated drink wine, and ye commanded the prophets, saying, Ye shall not prophesy." The institution of prophecy and the law of the Nazarite were gifts of grace, in which Israel had an advantage over every other nation, and by which it was distinguished above the heathen as the nation of God and the medium of salvation. Amos simply reminds the people of these, and not of earthly blessings, which the heathen also enjoyed, since the former alone were real pledges of the covenant of grace made by Jehovah with Israel; and it was in the contempt and abuse of these gifts of grace that the ingratitude of the nation was displayed in the most glaring light. The Nazarites are placed by the side of the prophets, who proclaimed to the nation the counsel and will of the Lord, because, although as a rule the condition of a Nazarite was merely the consequence of his own free will and the fulfilment of a particular vow, it was nevertheless so far a gift of grace from the Lord, that the resolution to perform such a vow proceeded from the inward impulse of the Spirit of God, and the performance itself was rendered possible through the power of this Spirit alone. (For a general discussion of the law of the Nazarite, see the commentary on Num 6:2-12, and my biblical Antiquities, 67.) The raising up of Nazarites was not only intended to set before the eyes of the people the object of their divine calling, or their appointment to be a holy nation of God, but also to show them how the Lord bestowed the power to carry out this object. But instead of suffering themselves to be spurred on by these types to strive earnestly after sanctification of life, they tempted the Nazarites to break their vow by drinking wine, from which they were commanded to abstain, as being irreconcilable with the seriousness of their sanctification (see my Bibl. Ant. 67); and the prophets they prohibited from prophesying, because the word of God was burdensome to them (cf. Amo 7:10.; Mic 2:6).

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Nazarites - Persons who bound themselves to a very sober and holy life; either for some certain time, or for their whole life.

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⁷ Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire:

² Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD:

¹² And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

¹¹ And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:

⁴¹ Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
⁴² For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
⁴³ I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
⁴⁴ Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
⁴⁵ Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

²⁴ Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
²⁵ And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
²⁶ His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
²⁷ Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
²⁸ Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
²⁹ For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
³⁰ And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

¹³ In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.

¹⁷ For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.

²¹ The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, and not pitied.

¹⁸ The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.

¹³ Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.

⁴ Be thou ashamed, O Zidon: for the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea, saying, I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men, nor bring up virgins.

¹² Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children:

⁶³ The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.

²² With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;

¹⁷ Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand.

²⁵ The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.

¹⁸ Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.

³² Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

²⁰ And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not again: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously.

¹ And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

²⁸ And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the LORD said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand.

⁸ At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.

¹⁹ Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever.

⁹ Nor to build houses for us to dwell in: neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed:

⁷ Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any: but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers.

⁵⁵ And the families of the scribes which dwelt at Jabez; the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and Suchathites. These are the Kenites that came of Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab.

⁴ And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

³³ For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil.

¹⁵ For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.

⁷ Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire:

⁶ And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

¹⁹ And the priest shall take the sodden shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite, after the hair of his separation is shaven:

¹⁸ And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.

¹³ And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.

⁷ He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his God is upon his head.

¹¹ Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother;
¹² Neither shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the LORD.

¹ And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people:
² But for his kin, that is near unto him, that is, for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother,
³ And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which hath had no husband; for her may he be defiled.

⁹ Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:
¹⁰ And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean;
¹¹ And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.

² Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD:

⁷ He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his God is upon his head.

⁸ All the days of his separation he is holy unto the LORD.

¹² And he shall consecrate unto the LORD the days of his separation, and shall bring a lamb of the first year for a trespass offering: but the days that were before shall be lost, because his separation was defiled.

⁵ All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.
⁶ All the days that he separateth himself unto the LORD he shall come at no dead body.

² Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD:

³ He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried.

³ He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried.
⁴ All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.

¹¹ And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.

¹⁶ And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.

⁷ And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might enquire of him?

¹⁸ And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil?

⁸ And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

³⁴ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Jehu the son of Hanani, who is mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel.

² And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD.

¹² Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake against Baasha by Jehu the prophet,

⁷ And also by the hand of the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani came the word of the LORD against Baasha, and against his house, even for all the evil that he did in the sight of the LORD, in provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam; and because he killed him.

¹ Then the word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying,

⁴ And Jeroboam's wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age.

² And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people.

²⁹ And it came to pass, when he reigned, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according unto the saying of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite:

⁷ Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel,
⁸ And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes;
⁹ But hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back:
¹⁰ Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone.
¹¹ Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the LORD hath spoken it.
¹² Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die.
¹³ And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.
¹⁴ Moreover the LORD shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now.

¹ Now there was a certain man of Ramathaimzophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite:

²⁶ But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp.
²⁷ And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp.
²⁸ And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.
²⁹ And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD'S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!

⁶ Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame.

¹⁰ Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.

² Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD:
³ He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried.
⁴ All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.
⁵ All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.
⁶ All the days that he separateth himself unto the LORD he shall come at no dead body.
⁷ He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his God is upon his head.
⁸ All the days of his separation he is holy unto the LORD.
⁹ And if any man die very suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it.
¹⁰ And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons, to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:
¹¹ And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make an atonement for him, for that he sinned by the dead, and shall hallow his head that same day.
¹² And he shall consecrate unto the LORD the days of his separation, and shall bring a lamb of the first year for a trespass offering: but the days that were before shall be lost, because his separation was defiled.

¹² But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.

¹¹ And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD.