12 Teach us to number our days,(A)
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.(B)

13 Relent, Lord! How long(C) will it be?
    Have compassion on your servants.(D)
14 Satisfy(E) us in the morning with your unfailing love,(F)
    that we may sing for joy(G) and be glad all our days.(H)
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    for as many years as we have seen trouble.
16 May your deeds be shown to your servants,
    your splendor to their children.(I)

17 May the favor[a] of the Lord our God rest on us;
    establish the work of our hands for us—
    yes, establish the work of our hands.(J)

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 90:17 Or beauty

13 “Hear this and testify(A) against the descendants of Jacob,” declares the Lord, the Lord God Almighty.

14 “On the day I punish(B) Israel for her sins,
    I will destroy the altars of Bethel;(C)
the horns(D) of the altar will be cut off
    and fall to the ground.
15 I will tear down the winter house(E)
    along with the summer house;(F)
the houses adorned with ivory(G) will be destroyed
    and the mansions(H) will be demolished,(I)
declares the Lord.(J)

Israel Has Not Returned to God

Hear this word, you cows of Bashan(K) on Mount Samaria,(L)
    you women who oppress the poor(M) and crush the needy(N)
    and say to your husbands,(O) “Bring us some drinks!(P)
The Sovereign Lord has sworn by his holiness:
    “The time(Q) will surely come
when you will be taken away(R) with hooks,(S)
    the last of you with fishhooks.[a]
You will each go straight out
    through breaches in the wall,(T)
    and you will be cast out toward Harmon,[b]
declares the Lord.
“Go to Bethel(U) and sin;
    go to Gilgal(V) and sin yet more.
Bring your sacrifices every morning,(W)
    your tithes(X) every three years.[c](Y)
Burn leavened bread(Z) as a thank offering
    and brag about your freewill offerings(AA)
boast about them, you Israelites,
    for this is what you love to do,”
declares the Sovereign Lord.

Footnotes

  1. Amos 4:2 Or away in baskets, / the last of you in fish baskets
  2. Amos 4:3 Masoretic Text; with a different word division of the Hebrew (see Septuagint) out, you mountain of oppression
  3. Amos 4:4 Or days

That Which Defiles(A)

15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”(B)

Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[a](C) and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[b](D) But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

“‘These people honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
    their teachings are merely human rules.(E)[c](F)

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Footnotes

  1. Matthew 15:4 Exodus 20:12; Deut. 5:16
  2. Matthew 15:4 Exodus 21:17; Lev. 20:9
  3. Matthew 15:9 Isaiah 29:13

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