Amos 5:4-9:15
16 Therefore the Lord God Almighty says, “There shall be wailing in all the streets, and it shall be said in all the highways, ‘Woe! Woe!’ The farmer shall be called to mourning and lamentation, as will those skilled in wailing and complaining. 17 There shall be lamentation in all your streets because I shall pass through the midst of you,” says the Lord.
18 Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! What is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness and not light. 19 It will be as though a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him! As though he rushed into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him! 20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness and not light? Is it not a deep darkness, with no brightness in it?
21 “I hate, I reject your feast days. I do not savor your sacred assemblies. 22 Though you offer Me burnt offerings and meat offerings, I will not accept them. I will not regard your fattened peace offerings. 23 Take away from Me the sound of your songs, for I will not hear your musical instruments. 24 Instead, let justice run swiftly as does water from the mountain, and let righteousness be as a stream that cannot be crossed.
25 “O house of Israel, did you offer Me sacrifices and offerings those forty years in the wilderness? 26 You have carried the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god Raiphan, which you made for yourselves. 27 Therefore I shall exile you beyond Damascus,” says the Lord—the Almighty God is His name.
Woe to the Complacent
1 Woe to those who feel secure in Zion and who trust in Mount Samaria. They have gathered the notable heads of the nations who go there. 2 O house of Israel, all of you, go and see. Go to Hamath the great, and then go down to Gath of the Philistines, the most powerful of all those kingdoms. See if their territory is greater than your territory. 3 You who are approaching the evil day, who draw near and hold false sabbaths. 4 You who lie on beds of ivory, who stretch out on your couches and eat kids from the flock and suckling calves from the midst of the herds, 5 who applaud the sound of stringed instruments, considering them as if permanent and not fleeting, 6 who drink filtered wine and anoint yourselves with the best ointments, and have suffered nothing because of the affliction of Joseph. 7 Therefore, now they shall be taken captive first, and the neighing of horses will be cut off from Ephraim. 8 For the Lord has sworn by Himself, saying, “I abhor all the pride of Jacob, and I hate his lands. Therefore I shall destroy the city and all its inhabitants.”
9 Then it shall come to pass that if ten men remain in one house, they will die. 10 But a remnant will remain, and they will diligently endeavor to remove the bones of their relations from the house; and one will say to those standing before the house, “Are there any more with you?” Then someone will say, “None.” And he will say, “Hold your tongue! For we dare not mention the name of the Lord.”
11 For behold, the Lord commands, and He shall break the great house into bits and the little house into pieces. 12 Will horses run on rocks? Do they keep silent among mares? Yet you turned justice into anger and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness; 13 you who rejoice vainly, who say, “Have we not possessed horns by our own power?” 14 “But, behold! I shall raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel, and they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the river of the west.”
Powerful Acts of Judgment
1 Thus the Lord showed me: Behold, He formed locust swarms at dawn; and behold, one locust, Gog, was the king. 2 And so it was, when they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said, “O Lord, Lord, be merciful! Who will raise up Jacob? For he is small! 3 Repent, O Lord, concerning this.” And the Lord said, “It shall not be.”
4 Thus the Lord showed me: Behold, the Lord called for judgment by fire, and it engulfed the great deep and devoured the Lord’s portion. 5 Then I said, “Lord, Lord, cease, who will raise Jacob? For he is small! 6 Relent, Lord, concerning this.” “This also shall not be,” said the Lord.
7 Thus He showed me: Behold, a man stood on a wall made of adamant, with adamant in his hand. 8 And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “Adamant.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I am placing adamant in the midst of My people Israel. I shall not pass by them anymore. 9 The joyful altars will be abolished, and the sacrifices of Israel will be laid waste. I shall rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos 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 will die by the sword, and Israel will surely be led away captive from their own land.’ ” 12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Go, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah. Live out your life there and prophesy there. 13 But no longer prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, his royal residence.”
14 Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet nor the son of a prophet. I was but a sheepbreeder and a tender of sycamore fruit. 15 Then the Lord took me from the sheep, 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 to Israel, and do not stir up the house of Jacob.’ 17 Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword. Your land shall be divided by a survey line, and you shall die in a defiled land. Israel shall surely be led away captive from his own land.’ ”
The Bird-Catcher’s Basket
1 Thus the Lord showed me: Behold, a bird-catcher’s basket. 2 And He said, “Amos, what do you see?” So I said, “A bird-catcher’s basket.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end has come upon My people Israel. I shall not pass by them anymore. 3 And the recessed ceilings of the temple shall wail in that day,” says the Lord, “for many are fallen in every place; I will bring silence upon it.”
4 Therefore, hear this, you who oppress the poor in the morning and use tyranny to drive the needy from the land, 5 saying, “When does the month end so we can barter? and the Sabbath end so we can open the storehouses? So we can falsify the balancing scales to our favor, and thereby receive greater profits by deceit; 6 when the poor man can be acquired for silver and the downcast for sandals; when we can trade in any kind of product?” 7 The Lord swears against the arrogance of Jacob; He will not forget any of your works. 8 Will not the land be disturbed by these things, and will not everyone dwelling in it mourn? Even as a flooding river comes to an end, so too the flood waters of the river of Egypt return to their banks.
9 “And it will come to pass in that day,” says the Lord God, “the sun will set at noon, and the light of day will grow dark over the land. 10 And I shall turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. I shall place sackcloth on every waist and make every head bald. They shall be as one mourning a beloved one, and those with them as a day of grief.”
A Famine for Lack of the Word of the Lord
11 “Behold, the days will come,” says the Lord, “that I shall send a famine across the land; not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but famine to hear the words of the Lord. 12 The waters will be unsettled as far as the sea. And from the north to the east men will scurry about seeking to find the word of the Lord, but they will not find it. 13 And in that day the fair virgins and the strong young men will faint from want of water. 14 Those who swear by the sin-offering of Samaria, and who say, ‘O Dan, your god lives; O Beersheba, your god lives!’ They shall fall and never rise again.”
A Vision of the Altar
1 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and He said, “Strike the mercy seat, and the gateway of the temple shall be shaken. And cut through to the heads of all of them, and I will slay the remnant of them with the sword. He who flees shall not get away, and he who escapes from them shall not be delivered. 2 Though they may attempt to bury themselves in Hades, from there My hand shall drag them out, and though they climb up to heaven, from there I shall bring them down. 3 Though they hide themselves on top of Carmel, from there I shall search and take them. Though they hide from My sight at the bottom of the sea, from there I shall command the serpent, and it will bite them. 4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I shall command the sword, and it will slay them. And I shall set My eyes on them for evil and not for good.”
5 The Lord, the Lord God Almighty, is He who takes hold of the land and causes it to shake, and all who dwell there shall mourn; for its destruction shall come up as the flood of a river and shall then return to its banks as the River of Egypt. 6 He who builds his ascent to the heaven and establishes His promise on the earth, who calls the water of the sea, and pours it out on the face of the earth—the Lord God Almighty is His name. 7 “O sons of Israel, are you not as the sons of the Ethiopian to Me?” says the Lord. “Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians out of Kir?
8 “Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the kingdom of sinners, and I shall destroy it from the face of the earth. Yet I shall not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” says the Lord. 9 “For I commanded, and I will winnow the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve; yet not a grain will fall upon the ground. 10 All the sinners of My people who say, ‘No evil will draw near, neither will it overcome us,’ shall die by the sword.
Restoration after Judgment Is Past
11 “In that day I shall raise up the fallen tabernacle of David, and I shall rebuild its ruins and repair its damages and rebuild it as in the days of old, 12 that the remnant of men and all the nations upon whom My name is called will seek Me,” says the Lord, who does this thing. 13 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when the threshing will overtake the harvest, and grapes will ripen at the time the seed is sown, and the mountains will drip sweetness, and all the hills shall share in it. 14 I shall bring back the captives of My people Israel, and they will rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them. They will plant vineyards and drink wine from them. They also will make gardens and eat fruit from them. 15 I shall plant them on their land; no longer will they be uprooted from the land which I have given them,” says the Lord God Almighty.
Psalm 88:20–38
20 Then You spoke to Your holy ones in a vision,
And You said, “I established help for a mighty one;
I raised up a chosen one from My people;
21 I found David My servant;
I anointed him with My holy oil.
22 For My hand shall support him,
And My arm shall strengthen him.
23 The enemy shall have no advantage against him,
And the son of lawlessness shall not continue doing evil to him;
24 I will cut his enemies to pieces before his face,
And I shall put to flight those who hate him.
25 My truth and My mercy are with him,
And in My name shall his horn be exalted;
26 I will put his hand in the sea
And his right hand in the rivers.
27 He shall call upon Me, saying,
‘You are my Father,
My God, and the protector of my salvation’;
28 I shall make him, my firstborn,
Higher than the kings of the earth.
29 I shall keep My mercy for him forever,
And My covenant shall be trustworthy with him.
30 I shall establish his seed unto ages of ages
And his throne as the days of heaven.
31 If his sons forsake My law
And do not walk in My judgments,
32 If they profane My ordinances
And do not keep My commandments,
33 I shall visit their transgressions with a rod
And their sins with a whip;
34 But I will not turn away My mercy from him,
Nor will I act unjustly with My truth,
35 Nor will I profane My covenant,
And I will not reject the things that proceeded from My lips.
36 Once for all I swore in My holy place,
That I would not lie to David:
37 His seed shall remain forever,
And his throne as the sun before Me,
38 And as the moon that is established forever
And is a faithful witness in heaven.”
(Pause)
Proverbs 19:1–6
1 A man’s lack of discernment maltreats his ways,
And in his heart he blames God.
2 Wealth adds many friends,
But the poor man is even forsaken by an existing friend.
3 A false witness shall not be unpunished,
And he who accuses unrighteously shall not escape.
4 Many men serve in the presence of kings,
But every evil man becomes a reproach to another man.
5 Every man who hates his poor brother,
He shall be far from friendship.
6 Good understanding will draw near those who know it,
And a man with discernment will find it.
1 Thessalonians 2
1 For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain.
2 But even after we had suffered before and were spitefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict.
3 For our exhortation did not come from error or uncleanness, nor was it in deceit.
4 But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.
5 For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness—God is witness.
6 Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ.
7 But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children.
8 So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.
9 For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.
10 You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe;
11 as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children,
12 that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.
Their Conversion
13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.
14 For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans,
15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are contrary to all men,
16 forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins; but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.
Longing to See Them
17 But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire.
18 Therefore we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but Satan hindered us.
19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?20 For you are our glory and joy.