AMOS 7

« Amos 6 | Amos 7 | Amos 8 »

Warning Visions  7:1 This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. 2 When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said,

“O Lord God, please forgive!

How can Jacob stand?

He is so small!” 3

The Lord relented concerning this:

“It shall not be,” said the Lord.
    4 This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. 5 Then I said,

“O Lord God, please cease!

How can Jacob stand?

He is so small!” 6

The Lord relented concerning this:

“This also shall not be,” said the Lord God.
    7 This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,

“Behold, I am setting a plumb line

in the midst of my people Israel;

I will never again pass by them; 9

the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,

and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,

and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.” Amos Accused10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. 11 For thus Amos has said,

“‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,

and Israel must go into exile

away from his land.’” 12 And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, 13 but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”
    14 Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. 15 But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16 Now therefore hear the word of the Lord.

“You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,

and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’ 17 Therefore thus says the Lord:

“‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city,

and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,

and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line;

you yourself shall die in an unclean land,

and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’”

AMOS 8

« Amos 7 | Amos 8 | Amos 9 »

The Coming Day of Bitter Mourning  8:1 This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. 2 And he said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me,

“The end has come upon my people Israel;

I will never again pass by them. 3

The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,”declares the Lord God.“So many dead bodies!”“They are thrown everywhere!”“Silence!”
4

Hear this, you who trample on the needy

and bring the poor of the land to an end, 5

saying, “When will the new moon be over,

that we may sell grain?

And the Sabbath,

that we may offer wheat for sale,

that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great

and deal deceitfully with false balances, 6

that we may buy the poor for silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals

and sell the chaff of the wheat?”
7

The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:

“Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. 8

Shall not the land tremble on this account,

and everyone mourn who dwells in it,

and all of it rise like the Nile,

and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?”
9

“And on that day,” declares the Lord God,

“I will make the sun go down at noon

and darken the earth in broad daylight. 10

I will turn your feasts into mourning

and all your songs into lamentation;

I will bring sackcloth on every waist

and baldness on every head;

I will make it like the mourning for an only son

and the end of it like a bitter day.
11

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God,

“when I will send a famine on the land—

not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,

but of hearing the words of the Lord. 12

They shall wander from sea to sea,

and from north to east;

they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord,

but they shall not find it.
13

“In that day the lovely virgins and the young men

shall faint for thirst. 14

Those who swear by the Guilt of Samaria,

and say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’

and, ‘As the Way of Beersheba lives,’

they shall fall, and never rise again.”

AMOS 9

« Amos 8 | Amos 9 | Obadiah 1 »

The Destruction of Israel  9:1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said:

“Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake,

and shatter them on the heads of all the people;

and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword;

not one of them shall flee away;

not one of them shall escape.
2

“If they dig into Sheol,

from there shall my hand take them;

if they climb up to heaven,

from there I will bring them down. 3

If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,

from there I will search them out and take them;

and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea,

there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them. 4

And if they go into captivity before their enemies,

there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them;

and I will fix my eyes upon them

for evil and not for good.”
5

The Lord God of hosts,

he who touches the earth and it melts,

and all who dwell in it mourn,

and all of it rises like the Nile,

and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt; 6

who builds his upper chambers in the heavens

and founds his vault upon the earth;

who calls for the waters of the sea

and pours them out upon the surface of the earth—

the Lord is his name.
7

“Are you not like the Cushites to me,

O people of Israel?” declares the Lord.

“Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,

and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir? 8

Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom,

and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground,

except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”declares the Lord.
9

“For behold, I will command,

and shake the house of Israel among all the nations

as one shakes with a sieve,

but no pebble shall fall to the earth. 10

All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,

who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’ The Restoration of Israel11

“In that day I will raise up

the booth of David that is fallen

and repair its breaches,

and raise up its ruins

and rebuild it as in the days of old, 12

that they may possess the remnant of Edom

and all the nations who are called by my name,”

declares the Lord who does this.
13

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,

“when the plowman shall overtake the reaper

and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed;

the mountains shall drip sweet wine,

and all the hills shall flow with it. 14

I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,

and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;

they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,

and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. 15

I will plant them on their land,

and they shall never again be uprooted

out of the land that I have given them,”says the Lord your God.

PROVERBS 12

« Proverbs 11 | Proverbs 12 | Proverbs 13 »

12:1

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,

but he who hates reproof is stupid. 2

A good man obtains favor from the Lord,

but a man of evil devices he condemns. 3

No one is established by wickedness,

but the root of the righteous will never be moved. 4

An excellent wife is the crown of her husband,

but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones. 5

The thoughts of the righteous are just;

the counsels of the wicked are deceitful. 6

The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood,

but the mouth of the upright delivers them. 7

The wicked are overthrown and are no more,

but the house of the righteous will stand. 8

A man is commended according to his good sense,

but one of twisted mind is despised. 9

Better to be lowly and have a servant

than to play the great man and lack bread. 10

Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast,

but the mercy of the wicked is cruel. 11

Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread,

but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense. 12

Whoever is wicked covets the spoil of evildoers,

but the root of the righteous bears fruit. 13

An evil man is ensnared by the transgression of his lips,

but the righteous escapes from trouble. 14

From the fruit of his mouth a man is satisfied with good,

and the work of a man’s hand comes back to him. 15

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,

but a wise man listens to advice. 16

The vexation of a fool is known at once,

but the prudent ignores an insult. 17

Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence,

but a false witness utters deceit. 18

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts,

but the tongue of the wise brings healing. 19

Truthful lips endure forever,

but a lying tongue is but for a moment. 20

Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil,

but those who plan peace have joy. 21

No ill befalls the righteous,

but the wicked are filled with trouble. 22

Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord,

but those who act faithfully are his delight. 23

A prudent man conceals knowledge,

but the heart of fools proclaims folly. 24

The hand of the diligent will rule,

while the slothful will be put to forced labor. 25

Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down,

but a good word makes him glad. 26

One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor,

but the way of the wicked leads them astray. 27

Whoever is slothful will not roast his game,

but the diligent man will get precious wealth. 28

In the path of righteousness is life,

and in its pathway there is no death.

REVELATION 10

« Revelation 9 | Revelation 10 | Revelation 11 »

The Angel and the Little Scroll  10:1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. 2 He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, 3 and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. 4 And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” 5 And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven 6 and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay, 7 but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.
    8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” 10 And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. 11 And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”