AMOS 5

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Seek the Lord and Live  5:1 Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel:
2

“Fallen, no more to rise,

is the virgin Israel;

forsaken on her land,

with none to raise her up.” 3 For thus says the Lord God:

“The city that went out a thousand

shall have a hundred left,

and that which went out a hundred

shall have ten left

to the house of Israel.” 4 For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel:

“Seek me and live; 5

but do not seek Bethel,

and do not enter into Gilgal

or cross over to Beersheba;

for Gilgal shall surely go into exile,

and Bethel shall come to nothing.”
6

Seek the Lord and live,

lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,

and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel, 7

O you who turn justice to wormwood

and cast down righteousness to the earth!
8

He who made the Pleiades and Orion,

and turns deep darkness into the morning

and darkens the day into night,

who calls for the waters of the sea

and pours them out on the surface of the earth,

the Lord is his name; 9

who makes destruction flash forth against the strong,

so that destruction comes upon the fortress.
10

They hate him who reproves in the gate,

and they abhor him who speaks the truth. 11

Therefore because you trample on the poor

and you exact taxes of grain from him,

you have built houses of hewn stone,

but you shall not dwell in them;

you have planted pleasant vineyards,

but you shall not drink their wine. 12

For I know how many are your transgressions

and how great are your sins—

you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe,

and turn aside the needy in the gate. 13

Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time,

for it is an evil time.
14

Seek good, and not evil,

that you may live;

and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you,

as you have said. 15

Hate evil, and love good,

and establish justice in the gate;

it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,

will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. 16 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord:

“In all the squares there shall be wailing,

and in all the streets they shall say, ‘Alas! Alas!’

They shall call the farmers to mourning

and to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation, 17

and in all vineyards there shall be wailing,

for I will pass through your midst,”says the Lord. Let Justice Roll Down18

Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!

Why would you have the day of the Lord?

It is darkness, and not light, 19

as if a man fled from a lion,

and a bear met him,

or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall,

and a serpent bit him. 20

Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light,

and gloom with no brightness in it?
21

“I hate, I despise your feasts,

and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22

Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them;

and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,

I will not look upon them. 23

Take away from me the noise of your songs;

to the melody of your harps I will not listen. 24

But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
    25 “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 26 You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves, 27 and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.

AMOS 6

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Woe to Those at Ease in Zion6:1

“Woe to those who are at ease in Zion,

and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria,

the notable men of the first of the nations,

to whom the house of Israel comes! 2

Pass over to Calneh, and see,

and from there go to Hamath the great;

then go down to Gath of the Philistines.

Are you better than these kingdoms?

Or is their territory greater than your territory, 3

O you who put far away the day of disaster

and bring near the seat of violence?
4

“Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory

and stretch themselves out on their couches,

and eat lambs from the flock

and calves from the midst of the stall, 5

who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp

and like David invent for themselves instruments of music, 6

who drink wine in bowls

and anoint themselves with the finest oils,

but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! 7

Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile,

and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.” 8 The Lord God has sworn by himself, declares the Lord, the God of hosts:

“I abhor the pride of Jacob

and hate his strongholds,

and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.”
    9 And if ten men remain in one house, they shall die. 10 And when one’s relative, the one who anoints him for burial, shall take him up to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, “Is there still anyone with you?” he shall say, “No”; and he shall say, “Silence! We must not mention the name of the Lord.”
11

For behold, the Lord commands,

and the great house shall be struck down into fragments,

and the little house into bits. 12

Do horses run on rocks?

Does one plow there with oxen?

But you have turned justice into poison

and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood— 13

you who rejoice in Lo-debar,

who say, “Have we not by our own strength

captured Karnaim for ourselves?” 14

“For behold, I will raise up against you a nation,

O house of Israel,” declares the Lord, the God of hosts;

“and they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath

to the Brook of the Arabah.”

PROVERBS 7

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Warning Against the Adulteress7:1

My son, keep my words

and treasure up my commandments with you; 2

keep my commandments and live;

keep my teaching as the apple of your eye; 3

bind them on your fingers;

write them on the tablet of your heart. 4

Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”

and call insight your intimate friend, 5

to keep you from the forbidden woman,

from the adulteress with her smooth words.
6

For at the window of my house

I have looked out through my lattice, 7

and I have seen among the simple,

I have perceived among the youths,

a young man lacking sense, 8

passing along the street near her corner,

taking the road to her house 9

in the twilight, in the evening,

at the time of night and darkness.
10

And behold, the woman meets him,

dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart. 11

She is loud and wayward;

her feet do not stay at home; 12

now in the street, now in the market,

and at every corner she lies in wait. 13

She seizes him and kisses him,

and with bold face she says to him, 14

“I had to offer sacrifices,

and today I have paid my vows; 15

so now I have come out to meet you,

to seek you eagerly, and I have found you. 16

I have spread my couch with coverings,

colored linens from Egyptian linen; 17

I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,

aloes, and cinnamon. 18

Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;

let us delight ourselves with love. 19

For my husband is not at home;

he has gone on a long journey; 20

he took a bag of money with him;

at full moon he will come home.”
21

With much seductive speech she persuades him;

with her smooth talk she compels him. 22

All at once he follows her,

as an ox goes to the slaughter,

or as a stag is caught fast 23

till an arrow pierces its liver;

as a bird rushes into a snare;

he does not know that it will cost him his life.
24

And now, O sons, listen to me,

and be attentive to the words of my mouth. 25

Let not your heart turn aside to her ways;

do not stray into her paths, 26

for many a victim has she laid low,

and all her slain are a mighty throng. 27

Her house is the way to Sheol,

going down to the chambers of death.

REVELATION 9

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  9:1 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. 2 He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. 3 Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. 6 And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.
    7 In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, 8 their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; 9 they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. 10 They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. 11 They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.
    12 The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.
    13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number. 17 And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.
    20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, 21 nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.