Bible in 90 Days
7 So I will be like a lion.
Like a leopard I will wait by the road to ambush you.
8 Like a bear that has lost her cubs, I will attack you.
I will rip you open.
Like a lion I will devour you.
Like a wild animal I will tear you apart.
9 You are destroying yourself, Israel.
You are against me, your helper.
10 “Where, now, is your king, the one who is supposed to save you?
Where in all your cities are your judges?
You said, ‘Give us kings and officials!’
11 I gave you a king when I was angry,
and I took him away when I was furious.
12 “Ephraim’s wickedness is on record.
The record of the people’s sins is safely stored away.
13 They have the opportunity to live again,
but they are not smart enough to take it.
They are like a baby who is about to be born
but won’t come out of its mother’s womb.
14 “I want to free them from the power of the grave.
I want to reclaim them from death.
Death, I want to be a plague to you.
Grave, I want to destroy you.[a]
I won’t even think of changing my plans.”
15 The people of Ephraim have become important among their relatives.
However, the Lord’s scorching wind will come from the east.
It will blow out of the desert.
Then their springs will run dry,
and their wells will dry up.
The wind will destroy every precious thing in their storehouses.[b]
16 The people of Samaria are guilty as charged
because they rebelled against their God.
They will be killed in war,
their children will be smashed to death,
and their pregnant women will be ripped open.
The Lord Offers to Forgive Israel
14 [c]Israel, return to the Lord your God.
You have stumbled because of your sins.
2 Return to the Lord, and say these things to him:
“Forgive all our sins, and kindly receive us.
Then we’ll praise you with our lips.
3 Assyria cannot save us.
We won’t ride on horses anymore.
We will never again say
that the things our hands have made are our gods.
You love orphans.”
4 ⌞The Lord says,⌟ “I will cure them of their unfaithfulness.
I will love them freely.
I will no longer be angry with them.
5 I will be like dew to the people of Israel.
They will blossom like flowers.
They will be firmly rooted like cedars from Lebanon.
6 They will be like growing branches.
They will be beautiful like olive trees.
They will be fragrant like cedars from Lebanon.
7 They will live again in God’s shadow.
They will grow like grain.
They will blossom like grapevines.
They will be as famous as the wines from Lebanon.
8 “The people of Ephraim will have nothing more to do with idols.
I will answer them and take care of them.
I am like a growing pine tree.
Their fruit comes from me.”
9 Wise people will understand these things.
A person with insight will recognize them.
The Lord’s ways are right.
Righteous people live by them.
Rebellious people stumble over them.
The Prophet Joel
1 This is what the Lord said to Joel, son of Pethuel.
Judah Is Plagued with Locusts and Famine
2 Listen to this, you leaders!
Open your ears, all inhabitants of this land!
Nothing like this has ever happened in your lifetime
or in your ancestors’ lifetime.
3 Tell your children about it.
Have your children tell their children.
Have your grandchildren tell their children.
4 What young locusts leave, mature locusts will eat.
What mature locusts leave, adult locusts will eat.
What adult locusts leave, grasshoppers will eat.
5 Wake up and cry, you drunks!
Cry loudly, you wine drinkers!
New wine has been taken away from you.
6 A strong nation attacked my land.
It has too many soldiers to count.
They have teeth like lions.
They have fangs like grown lions.
7 They destroyed my grapevines.
They ruined my fig trees.
They stripped off what they could eat,
threw the rest away, and left the branches bare.
8 Cry loudly like a young woman who is dressed in sackcloth,
mourning for the man she was going to marry.
9 Grain offerings and wine offerings
are no longer brought to the Lord’s temple.
The priests, the Lord’s servants, mourn.
10 Israel’s fields are ruined, and the ground is dried up.
The grain has been destroyed.
The new wine has dried up.
The olive oil has run out.
11 Be sad, you farmers!
Cry loudly, you grape growers!
Mourn for the wheat and the barley.
The harvest is destroyed in the field.
12 The grapevines are dried up.
The fig trees are withered.
The pomegranate, palm, and apricot trees,
as well as all the trees in the orchards, have died.
Yes, the joy of these people has died too.
13 Put on your sackcloth and mourn, you priests.
Cry loudly, you servants of the altar.
Spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God.
Grain offerings and wine offerings
are withheld from your God’s temple.
14 Schedule a time to fast!
Call for an assembly!
Gather the leaders and everyone who lives in the land.
Bring them to the temple of the Lord your God,
and cry to the Lord for help.
15 This will be a terrible day!
The day of the Lord is near,
and it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
16 Food disappears right before our eyes.
Happiness and rejoicing disappear from our God’s temple.
17 Seeds shrivel up in their shells.
Storehouses are destroyed.
Barns are ruined.
The grain has dried up.
18 The animals groan.
Herds of cattle wander around confused.
There’s no pasture for them.
Even flocks of sheep are suffering.
19 O Lord, I cry to you for help!
Fire has burned up the open pastures.
Flames have burned up all the trees in the orchards.
20 Even wild animals long for you.
Streams run dry.
Fire has burned up the open pastures.
The Day of the Lord
2 Blow the ram’s horn in Zion.
Sound the alarm on my holy mountain.
Everyone who lives in the land should tremble,
because the day of the Lord is coming.
Certainly, it is near.
2 It is a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and overcast skies.
A large and mighty army
will spread over the mountains like the dawn.[d]
Nothing like this has ever happened.
Nothing like this will ever happen again.
3 In front of this army a fire burns.
Behind it flames are blazing.
In front of it the land is like the garden of Eden.
Behind it the land is like a barren desert.
Nothing escapes it!
4 The soldiers look like horses.
They run like war horses.
5 As they leap on mountaintops,
they sound like rattling chariots,
like crackling fire burning up straw,
and like a mighty army prepared for battle.
6 People are terrified in their presence.
Every face turns pale.
7 They run like warriors.
They climb walls like soldiers.
They march straight ahead.
They do not leave their places.
8 They do not crowd one another.
They keep in their own lines.
Even when they break through the defenses,
they do not break their ranks.
9 They rush into the city.
They run along the wall.
They climb into houses.
They enter through windows like thieves.
10 The earth quakes in their presence,
and the sky shakes.
The sun and the moon turn dark,
and the stars no longer shine.
11 The Lord shouts out orders to his army.
His forces are very large.
The troops that carry out his commands are mighty.
The day of the Lord is extremely terrifying.
Who can endure it?
The Lord Invites the People to Return to Him
12 “But even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart—
with fasting, crying, and mourning.”
13 Tear your hearts, not your clothes.
Return to the Lord your God.
He is merciful and compassionate,
patient, and always ready to forgive
and to change his plans about disaster.
14 Who knows?
He may reconsider and change his plan
and leave a blessing for you.
Then you could give grain offerings and wine offerings
to the Lord your God.
15 Blow the ram’s horn in Zion.
Schedule a time to fast.
Call for an assembly.
16 Gather the people.
Prepare them for a holy meeting.
Assemble the leaders.
Gather the children, even the nursing infants.
Grooms leave their rooms.
Brides leave their chambers.
17 The priests who serve the Lord cry
between the altar and the entrance to the temple.
They say,
“Spare your people, O Lord.
Don’t let the people who belong to you become a disgrace.
Don’t let the nations ridicule them.
Why should people ask, ‘Where is their God?’ ”
The Lord Will Give Earthly Blessings to His People
18 Then the Lord became concerned about his land,
and he had pity on his people.
19 The Lord said to his people,
“I am going to send grain, new wine, and olive oil to you.
You will be satisfied with them.
I will no longer make you a disgrace among the nations.
20 “I will keep the northern ⌞army⌟ far from you,
and I will force it into a dry and barren land.
The soldiers in front will be forced into the eastern sea.
The soldiers in back will be forced into the western sea.
A foul odor will rise from the dead bodies.
They will stink.”
He has done great things!
21 Land, do not be afraid.
Be glad and rejoice.
The Lord has done great things!
22 Wild animals, do not be afraid.
The pastures in the wilderness have turned green.
The trees have produced their fruit.
There are plenty of figs and grapes.
23 People of Zion, be glad and find joy in the Lord your God.
The Lord has given you the Teacher of Righteousness.[e]
He has sent the autumn rain and the spring rain as before.
24 The threshing floors [f] will be filled with grain.
The vats will overflow with new wine and olive oil.
25 “Then I will repay you for the years
that the mature locusts, the adult locusts,
the grasshoppers, and the young locusts ate your crops.
(They are the large army that I sent against you.)
26 You will have plenty to eat, and you will be full.
You will praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has performed miracles for you.
My people will never be ashamed again.
27 You will know that I am in Israel.
I am the Lord your God, and there is no other.
My people will never be ashamed again.[g]
The Lord Will Pour His Spirit on All People
28 “After this, I will pour my Spirit on everyone.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your old men will dream dreams.
Your young men will see visions.
29 In those days I will pour my Spirit on servants,
on both men and women.
30 I will work miracles in the sky and on the earth:
blood, fire, and clouds of smoke.
31 The sun will become dark,
and the moon will become as red as blood before the terrifying day of the Lord comes.”
32 Then whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Those who escape will be on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem.
Among the survivors will be those whom the Lord calls,
as the Lord has promised.
The Lord Will Rescue His People
3 [h]“In those days and at that time,
I will bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem.
2 I will gather all the nations.
I will bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat.[i]
I will judge them there.
They scattered the Israelites, the people who belong to me,
among the nations.
They divided my land.
3 They threw dice for my people.
They traded boys for prostitutes.
They sold girls so that they could buy wine to drink.
4 “Now what do you have against me, Tyre and Sidon
and all the regions of Philistia?
Are you paying me back for something I have done?
If you are paying me back,
I will quickly pay you back for what you have done.
5 You took my silver and my gold.
You brought my finest treasures to your temples.
6 You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks.
That way you could send them far away from their land.
7 I am going to make them leave the place where you sold them.
I will pay you back for what you have done.
8 I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah.
They will sell them to the people of Sheba,
a nation that is far away.”
The Lord has spoken.
9 Announce this among the nations:
Prepare yourselves for war.
Wake up the warriors.
Have all the warriors come near and attack.
10 Hammer your plowblades into swords
and your pruning shears into spears.
Weaklings should say that they are warriors.
11 Hurry from every direction, and gather there, all you nations.
O Lord, bring your soldiers.
12 Wake up, you nations.
Come to the valley of Jehoshaphat.
There I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
13 Cut them down like grain.
The harvest is ripe.
Stomp on them as you would stomp on grapes.
The winepress is full.
The vats overflow.
The nations are very wicked.
14 There are many, many people in the valley of decision.
The day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and the moon will turn dark.
The stars will no longer shine.
16 The Lord will roar from Zion,
and his voice will thunder from Jerusalem.
The sky and the earth will shake.
The Lord will be a refuge for his people.
He will be a stronghold for the people of Israel.
17 “You will know that I am the Lord your God.
I live on my holy mountain, Zion.
Jerusalem will be holy.
Foreigners will never invade it again.
18 On that day new wine will cover the mountains.
Milk will flow on the hills.
Water will flow in all the brooks of Judah.
A spring will flow from the Lord’s temple.
It will water the valley of Shittim.
19 Egypt will become a wasteland.
Edom will become a barren desert.
This is because the nations were cruel to Judah.
They murdered innocent people in their land.
20 People will always live in Judah.
People will live in Jerusalem from now on.
21 I will punish those who murder.”
The Lord lives in Zion!
1 These are the words of Amos, one of the sheep farmers from Tekoa. He saw ⌞a vision⌟ about Israel during the reigns of Judah’s King Uzziah and Israel’s King Jeroboam, son of Joash. This happened two years before the earthquake.
2 He said:
The Lord roars from Zion,
and his voice thunders from Jerusalem.
The pastures of the shepherds are turning brown,
and the top of ⌞Mount⌟ Carmel is dried up.
Damascus Will Be Judged for Its Crimes
3 This is what the Lord says:
Because Damascus has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime,
I will not change my plans.
The Arameans have crushed ⌞the people of⌟ Gilead
with iron-spiked threshing [j] sledges.
4 I will send a fire on the house of Hazael
and burn down the palaces of Ben Hadad.
5 I will break the bars ⌞on the gates⌟ of Damascus.
I will cut off those living in Aven Valley
and the one who holds the scepter in Beth Eden.
The people of Aram will go into captivity at Kir.
The Lord has said this.
Gaza Will Be Judged for Its Crimes
6 This is what the Lord says:
Because Gaza has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime,
I will not change my plans.
The Philistines have taken all the people captive
in order to hand them over to the Edomites.
7 I will send a fire on the walls of Gaza
and burn down its palaces.
8 I will cut off those living in Ashdod
and the one who holds the scepter in Ashkelon.
I will turn my power against Ekron.
The rest of the Philistines will die.
The Almighty Lord has said this.
Tyre Will Be Judged for Its Crimes
9 This is what the Lord says:
Because Tyre has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime,
I will not change my plans.
The Tyrians have handed all the people over to the Edomites.
The Tyrians didn’t remember their treaty with their relatives.
10 I will send a fire on the walls of Tyre
and burn down its palaces.
Edom Will Be Judged for Its Crimes
11 This is what the Lord says:
Because Edom has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime,
I will not change my plans.
The Edomites pursued their relatives with swords.
They refused to show any compassion to them.
Their anger was unstoppable.
They refused to control their fury.
12 I will send a fire on Teman
and burn down the palaces of Bozrah.
Ammon Will Be Judged for Its Crimes
13 This is what the Lord says:
Because Ammon has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime,
I will not change my plans.
The Ammonites enlarged their territory
by ripping open pregnant women in Gilead.
14 I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah
and burn down its palaces
while troops are shouting on the day of battle
and winds are howling on the day of the storm.
15 Their king will go into captivity along with his officials.
The Lord has said this.
Moab Will Be Judged for Its Crimes
2 This is what the Lord says:
Because Moab has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime,
I will not change my plans.
The Moabites have cremated Edom’s king.
2 I will send a fire on Moab
and burn down the palaces of Kerioth.
Moab will die during the noise of battle
while troops are shouting and rams’ horns are blowing.
3 I will take their judges away from them.
I will kill all their officials at the same time.
The Lord has said this.
Judah Will Be Judged for Its Crimes
4 This is what the Lord says:
Because Judah has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime,
I will not change my plans.
The people of Judah have rejected the Lord’s Teachings
and haven’t kept his laws.
They have been led astray by false teachings,
the same ones their ancestors followed.
5 I will send a fire on Judah
and burn down the palaces of Jerusalem.
Israel Will Be Judged for Its Crimes
6 This is what the Lord says:
Because Israel has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime,
I will not change my plans.
The people of Israel sell the righteous for money
and the needy for a pair of sandals.
7 They stomp the heads of the poor into the dust.
They push the humble out of the way.
Father and son sleep with the same woman.
They dishonor my holy name.
8 Beside every altar, they spread themselves out on clothes
taken as security.
In the temples of their gods, they drink the wine
that they bought with fines.
9 I destroyed the Amorites in front of them,
although the Amorites were as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks.
I destroyed their fruit above the ground and their roots below it.
10 I brought you out of Egypt.
I led you through the desert for 40 years
so that you could take possession of the land of the Amorites.
11 I also sent you prophets from among your children
and Nazirites from among your youths.
Isn’t that so, people of Israel?
The Lord has declared this.
12 You made the Nazirites drink wine.
You commanded the prophets to stop prophesying.
13 I am going to crush you as an overloaded wagon crushes a person.
14 Runners will not be able to escape.
Strong men will find that their strength is useless.
Soldiers will not be able to save themselves.
15 Archers will not stand their ground.
Fast runners will not be able to escape.
Horsemen will not be able to save themselves.
16 Brave soldiers will run away naked that day.
The Lord has declared this.
The Lord Will Punish Israel for Its Immoral Behavior
3 Listen to this message which I, the Lord, have spoken against you Israelites, against your whole family that I brought out of Egypt.
2 Out of all the families on earth, I have known no one else but you.
That is why I am going to punish you for all your sins.
3 Do two people ever walk together without meeting first?
4 Does a lion roar in the forest if it has no prey?
Does a young lion growl in its den unless it has caught something?
5 Does a bird land in a trap on the ground if there’s no bait in it?
Does a trap spring up from the ground unless it has caught something?
6 If a ram’s horn sounds an alarm in a city, won’t the people be alarmed?
If there is a disaster in a city, hasn’t the Lord done it?
7 Certainly, the Almighty Lord doesn’t do anything
unless he ⌞first⌟ reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.
8 The lion has roared. Who isn’t afraid?
The Almighty Lord has spoken. Who can keep from prophesying?
9 Announce in the palaces of Ashdod and in the palaces of Egypt,
“Gather together on the mountains of Samaria.
See the widespread confusion and oppression in Samaria.”
10 Those who collect profits in their palaces
through violent and destructive acts
don’t know how to do what is right, declares the Lord.
11 This is what the Almighty Lord says:
An enemy will surround your land,
strip you of your defenses,
and loot your palaces.
12 This is what the Lord says:
As a shepherd rescues two legs or a piece of an ear out of a lion’s mouth,
so the Israelites living in Samaria will be rescued,
⌞having only⌟ a corner of a bed or a piece of a couch.[k]
13 Listen, and testify against the descendants of Jacob,
declares the Almighty Lord, the God of Armies.
14 On the day I punish Israel for its disobedience,
I will also destroy the altars at Bethel.
The horns of the altar will be cut off and will fall to the ground.
15 I will tear down winter houses as well as summer houses.
Houses ⌞decorated⌟ with ivory will be destroyed.
Mansions will be demolished, declares the Lord.
The Lord Will Punish the Women of Samaria
4 Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan who live on Mount Samaria.
You women oppress the poor and abuse the needy.
You say to your husbands, “Get some wine! Let’s drink!”
2 The Almighty Lord has taken an oath on his holiness:
Surely, the time is going to come
when you will be taken away on hooks,
and the rest of you on fishhooks.
3 Each of you will leave ⌞the city⌟
through breaks in the wall, one woman ahead of another.
You will be thrown into a garbage dump.
The Lord declares this.
4 Go to Bethel and sin.
Go to Gilgal and sin even more.
Bring your sacrifices every morning.
Bring a tenth of your income every three days.
5 Burn bread as a thank offering.
Brag and boast about your freewill offerings.
This is what you people of Israel love to do.
The Almighty Lord declares this.
6 I left you with nothing to eat in any of your cities.
I left you with no food in your entire land.
And you still didn’t return to me, declares the Lord.
7 I stopped the rain from falling
three months before the harvest.
I sent rain on one city and not on another.
One field had rain.
Another field had none and dried up.
8 So people from two or three cities staggered
as they walked to another city in order to get a drink of water.
But they couldn’t get enough.
And you still didn’t return to me, declares the Lord.
9 I struck your ⌞crops⌟ with blight and mildew.
Locusts repeatedly devoured your gardens, vineyards,
fig trees, and olive trees.
And you still didn’t return to me, declares the Lord.
10 I sent plagues on you as I did to Egypt.
With swords I killed your best young men along with your captured horses.
I made the stench from your camps fill your noses.
And you still didn’t return to me, declares the Lord.
11 I destroyed some of you as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
You were like a burning log snatched from a fire.
And you still didn’t return to me, declares the Lord.
12 This is what I will do to you, Israel.
Prepare to meet your God.
This is what I will do to you, Israel!
13 God forms the mountains and creates the wind.
He reveals his thoughts to humans.
He makes dawn and dusk ⌞appear⌟.
He walks on the high places of the earth.
His name is the Lord God of Armies.
A Funeral Song about Israel
5 Listen to this message, this funeral song that I sing about you, nation of Israel:
2 The people of Israel have fallen,
never to rise again.
They lie abandoned in their own land.
There is no one to help them.
3 This is what the Almighty Lord says:
The city that sends 1,000 troops off to war
will have ⌞only⌟ 100 left.
The one that sends 100 troops off to war
will have ⌞only⌟ 10 left for the nation of Israel.
A Threefold Call to Turn Away from Sin
4 This is what the Lord says to the nation of Israel:
Search for me and live!
5 But don’t search ⌞for me⌟ at Bethel.
Don’t go to Gilgal.
Don’t travel to Beersheba.
Gilgal will certainly go into exile.
Bethel will come to nothing.
6 Search for the Lord and live!
If you don’t, he will spread like a fire through the house of Joseph
and burn it down.
Bethel will have no one to put it out.
7 You, Israel, turn justice into poison
and throw righteousness on the ground.
8 God made the ⌞constellations⌟ Pleiades and Orion.
He turns deep darkness into dawn.
He turns day into night.
He calls for water from the sea
to pour it over the face of the earth.
His name is the Lord.
9 He destroys strongholds and ruins fortresses.
10 Israel, you hate anyone who speaks out against injustice.
You are disgusted by anyone who speaks the truth.
11 You trample on the poor
and take their wheat from them for taxes.
That is why you build houses from hand-cut stones,
but you will not live in them.
You plant beautiful vineyards,
but you will not drink their wine.
12 I know that your crimes are numerous and your sins are many.
You oppress the righteous by taking bribes.
You deny the needy access to the courts.
13 That is why a wise person remains silent at such times,
because those times are so evil.
14 Search for good instead of evil so that you may live.
Then the Lord God of Armies will be with you, as you have said.
15 Hate evil and love good.
Then you will be able to have justice in your courts.
Maybe the Lord God of Armies
will have pity on the faithful few of Joseph.
16 This is what the Lord, the Almighty God of Armies, says:
There will be loud crying in every city square,
and people will say in every street, “Oh, no!”
They will call on farmers to mourn
and on professional mourners to cry loudly.
17 There will be loud crying in every vineyard,
because I will pass through your land ⌞with death⌟.
The Lord has said this.
The Terrifying Day of the Lord
18 How horrible it will be for those who long for the day of the Lord!
Why do you long for that day?
The day of the Lord is one of darkness and not light.
19 It is like a person who flees from a lion
only to be attacked by a bear.
It is like a person who goes home and puts his hand on the wall
only to be bitten by a snake.
20 The day of the Lord brings darkness and not light.
It is pitch black, with no light.
The Lord Rejects Israel’s Worship
21 I hate your festivals; I despise them.
I’m not pleased with your religious assemblies.
22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I won’t accept them.
I won’t even look at the fellowship offerings of your choicest animals.
23 Spare me the sound of your songs.
I won’t listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice flow like a river
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
25 Did you bring me sacrifices and grain offerings
in the desert for 40 years, nation of Israel?
26 You carried along the statues of ⌞the god⌟ Sikkuth as your king
and the star Kiyyun,
the gods you made for yourselves.
27 I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,
says the Lord, whose name is the God of Armies.
The Fall of Samaria
6 How horrible it will be for those who are at ease in Zion,
for those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria,
and for the heads of the leading nations,
to whom the nation of Israel comes.
2 Go to Calneh and look.
Go from there to the great city of Hamath.
Then go to Gath, the city of the Philistines.
Are you better than these kingdoms?
Is their territory larger than yours?
3 How horrible it will be for those who think that a day of disaster is far away.
They bring the reign of violence closer.
4 How horrible it will be for those who sleep on ivory beds.
They sprawl out on their couches
and eat lambs from their flocks and calves from their stalls.
5 How horrible it will be for those who make up songs as they strum a harp.
Like David, they write all kinds of songs for themselves.
6 How horrible it will be for those who drink wine by the jugful.
They rub the finest oils all over themselves
and are not sorry for the ruin ⌞of the descendants⌟ of Joseph.
7 That is why they will now be the first to go into exile.
The celebrating of those sprawled around the banquet table will stop.
8 The Almighty Lord has sworn an oath on himself.
The Lord God of Armies declares:
I am disgusted with Jacob’s pride,
and I hate his palaces.
So I will hand over the city and everything in it.
9 If ten people are left in one house, they will die.
10 If a relative or a mortician
comes to take the dead bodies out of the house
and asks someone who is inside the house,
“Is there anyone else with you?”
that person will answer, “No.”
“Hush,” he will add. “We shouldn’t mention the name of the Lord!”
11 The Lord is going to give the command
to level big houses and flatten little houses.
12 Do horses run on rocks?
Does a farmer plow the sea with oxen?
Yet, you have turned justice into something deadly
and what is righteous into poison.
13 How horrible it will be for those who rejoice over Lo Debar
and who say, “We were strong enough to capture Karnaim by ourselves.”
14 I am going to lead a nation to attack you, nation of Israel,
declares the Lord God of the Armies of the Nations.
They will oppress you from the border of Hamath to the valley of Arabah.
The Lord Threatens to Bring a Famine by Locusts
7 This is what the Almighty Lord showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts when the second crop was being harvested. It was the harvest that followed the harvest for the king. 2 When the locusts had finished eating every plant in the land, I said, “Almighty Lord, please forgive us! How can ⌞the descendants of⌟ Jacob survive? There are so few of them.”
3 The Lord changed his plans about this. “This won’t happen,” the Lord said.
The Lord Threatens to Bring a Drought by Fire
4 This is what the Almighty Lord showed me: The Almighty Lord was calling for judgment by fire. The fire dried up the ocean and burned up the land. 5 Then I said, “Almighty Lord, please stop! How can ⌞the descendants of⌟ Jacob survive? There are so few of them.”
6 The Lord changed his plans about this. “This won’t happen either,” the Almighty Lord said.
The Lord Refuses to Overlook Israel’s Sin
7 This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall built with the use of a plumb line, and he had a plumb line in his hand. 8 He asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”
I answered, “A plumb line.”
Then the Lord said, “I’m going to hold a plumb line in the middle of my people Israel. I will no longer overlook what they have done. 9 The worship sites of Isaac will be destroyed, and the holy places of Israel will be in ruins. I will attack Jeroboam’s heirs with my sword.”
Amaziah Opposes Amos
10 Then Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, sent a message to King Jeroboam of Israel. It read, “Amos is plotting against you among the people of Israel. The country isn’t able to endure everything he is saying. 11 Amos says that Jeroboam will be killed with a sword and that Israel cannot avoid being taken from its land into exile.”
12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “You seer,[l] run away to Judah! Eat there, and prophesy there! 13 But don’t ⌞ever⌟ prophesy again in Bethel, because this is the king’s holy place and the king’s palace.”
14 Amos responded, “I’m not a prophet, and I’m not a disciple of the prophets. I am a rancher and a grower of figs. 15 But the Lord took me away from herding the flock and said to me, ‘Prophesy to my people Israel.’
16 “Now listen to the Lord’s word: You said, ‘Stop prophesying against Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’
17 “However, this is what the Lord says: Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will be killed with swords. Your land will be surveyed and divided up, and you will die in an unclean [m] land. Israel cannot avoid being taken from its land into exile.”
The End Has Come for Israel
8 This is what the Almighty Lord showed me: a basket of ripe summer fruit.
2 He asked, “What do you see, Amos?”
“A basket of ripe summer fruit,” I answered.
Then the Lord said to me, “My people Israel are now ripe. I will no longer overlook what they have done. 3 On that day the songs of the temple will become loud cries,” declares the Almighty Lord. “There will be dead bodies scattered everywhere. Hush!”
4 Listen to this, those who trample on the needy
and ruin those who are oppressed in the world.
5 You say to yourselves,
“When will the New Moon Festival be over
so that we can sell more grain?
When will the day of rest—a holy day, be over
so that we can sell more wheat?
We can shrink the size of the bushel baskets,
increase the cost,
and cheat with dishonest scales.
6 We can buy the poor with money
and the needy for a pair of sandals.
We can sell the husks mixed in with the wheat.”
7 The Lord has sworn an oath by Jacob’s pride:
“I will never forget anything that they have done.”
8 The land will tremble because of this.
Everyone who lives in it will mourn.
The entire land will rise like the Nile,
be tossed about, and then sink like Egypt’s river.
9 On that day, declares the Almighty Lord,
I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your festivals into funerals
and all your songs into funeral songs.
I will put sackcloth around everyone’s waist
and shave everyone’s head.
I will make that day seem like a funeral for an only child,
and its end will be bitter.
11 The days are going to come, declares the Almighty Lord,
when I will send a famine throughout the land.
It won’t be an ordinary famine or drought.
Instead, there will be a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 People will wander from sea to sea
and roam from the north to the east,
searching for the Lord’s word.
But they won’t find it.
13 On that day beautiful young women and strong young men
will faint because of their thirst.
14 ⌞How horrible it will be for⌟ those who swear by Ashimah,
the idol of Samaria, and say,
“I solemnly swear, Dan, as your god lives….”
“I solemnly swear as long as there is a road to Beersheba….”
Those who say this will fall and never get up again.
The Lord Will Sift Israel out of All the Nations
9 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said:
Strike the tops of the pillars so that the foundations shake.
Cut off everyone’s head.
I will kill with a sword all who are left.
None of them will be able to get away.
None of them will be able to escape.
2 Even if they dig their way into Sheol,
my hand will take them from there.
Even if they go up to heaven,
I will bring them down from there.
3 Even if they hide on top of Mount Carmel,
I will look for them and take them from there.
Even if they hide from me at the bottom of the sea,
I will command a sea snake to bite them.
4 Even if they go into exile ahead of their enemies,
I will command a sword to kill them.
I will keep my eyes on them
so that I can bring disaster on them and not help them.
5 The Almighty Lord of Armies touches the earth.
It quakes, and all who live on it mourn.
All of it rises like the Nile
and sinks like Egypt’s river.
6 The one who builds stairs up to heaven
and sets their foundation on the earth,
the one who calls for the water in the sea
and pours it over the face of the earth—
His name is the Lord.
7 You people of Israel are like the people from Sudan, says the Lord.
Didn’t I bring Israel from Egypt?
Didn’t I bring the Philistines from Crete and the Arameans from Kir?
8 I, the Almighty Lord, have my eyes on this sinful kingdom.
I will wipe it off the face of the earth.
But I won’t totally destroy the descendants of Jacob, declares the Lord.
9 I’m going to give the order.
I will sift the nation of Israel out of all the nations
as if I were using a sieve.
Not one pebble will fall to the ground.
10 All the sinners among my people are thinking,
“Destruction will not catch up to us or run into us.”
In spite of this, they will be killed with swords.
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