Amos 7-9

English Standard Version

Warning Visions

7 ^(A)This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, ^(B)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. ²When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said,

“O Lord God, please forgive!
    ^(C)How can Jacob stand?
    He is so small!”
³^(D)The Lord relented concerning this:
    “It shall not be,” said the Lord.

⁴^(E)This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling ^(F)for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. ⁵Then I said,

“O Lord God, please cease!
    ^(G)How can Jacob stand?
    He is so small!”
⁶^(H)The Lord relented concerning this:
    “This also shall not be,” said the Lord God.

⁷^(I)This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with ^(J)a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. ⁸And the Lord said to me, ^(K)“Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,

“Behold, I am setting ^(L)a plumb line
    in the midst of my people Israel;
    ^(M)I will never again pass by them;
⁹^(N)the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,
    and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,
    and I will rise against ^(O)the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

Amos Accused

¹⁰Then Amaziah ^(P)the priest of Bethel sent to ^(Q)Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has ^(R)conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. ¹¹For thus Amos has said,

“‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
and ^(S)Israel must go into exile
away from his land.’”

¹²And Amaziah said to Amos, ^(T)“O seer, go, flee away ^(U)to the land of Judah, and ^(V)eat bread there, and prophesy there, ¹³but ^(W)never again prophesy at Bethel, for ^(X)it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”

¹⁴Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, ^(Y)“I was^[a] no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but ^(Z)I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. ¹⁵^(AA)But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ ¹⁶^(AB)Now therefore hear the word of the Lord.

“You say, ^(AC)‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
and ^(AD)do not preach against the house of ^(AE)Isaac.’

¹⁷^(AF)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 ^(AG)shall be divided up with a measuring line;
you yourself shall die in an unclean land,
    and ^(AH)Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’”

The Coming Day of Bitter Mourning

8 ^(AI)This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. ²And he said, ^(AJ)“Amos, what do you see?” And I said, ^(AK)“A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me,

^(AL)“The end^[b] has come upon my people Israel;
I will never again pass by them.
³^(AM)The songs of the temple^[c] ^(AN)shall become wailings^[d] in that day,”
declares the Lord God.
^(AO)“So many dead bodies!”
“They are thrown everywhere!”
^(AP)“Silence!”

⁴Hear this, ^(AQ)you who trample on the needy
    and bring the poor of the land to an end,
⁵saying, “When will ^(AR)the new moon be over,
    that we may sell grain?
And ^(AS)the Sabbath,
    that we may offer wheat for sale,
that we may make ^(AT)the ephah small and the shekel^[e] great
    and deal deceitfully with false balances,
⁶that we may buy the poor for ^(AU)silver
    and the needy for a pair of sandals
    and sell the chaff of the wheat?”

⁷The Lord has sworn by ^(AV)the pride of Jacob:
“Surely ^(AW)I will never forget any of their deeds.
⁸^(AX)Shall not the land tremble on this account,
and everyone mourn who dwells in it,
^(AY)and all of it rise like the Nile,
and be tossed about ^(AZ)and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?”

⁹“And on that day,” declares the Lord God,
    ^(BA)“I will make the sun go down at noon
    and darken the earth in broad daylight.
¹⁰^(BB)I will turn your feasts into mourning
    and all your songs into lamentation;
^(BC)I will bring sackcloth on every waist
    ^(BD)and baldness on every head;
^(BE)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 ^(BF)I will send a famine on the land—
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
    ^(BG)but of hearing the words of the Lord.
¹²^(BH)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,
    ^(BI)but they shall not find it.

¹³^(BJ)“In that day the lovely virgins and the young men
    shall ^(BK)faint for thirst.
¹⁴Those who swear by ^(BL)the Guilt of Samaria,
    and say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’
and, ‘As ^(BM)the Way of ^(BN)Beersheba lives,’
    they shall fall, and never rise again.”

The Destruction of Israel

9 I saw the Lord standing beside^[f] the altar, and he said:

^(BO)“Strike the capitals until ^(BP)the thresholds ^(BQ)shake,
    ^(BR)and shatter them on the heads of all the people;^[g]
and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword;
    ^(BS)not one of them shall flee away;
    not one of them shall escape.

²^(BT)“If they dig into Sheol,
    from there shall my hand take them;
^(BU)if they climb up to heaven,
    from there I will bring them down.
³If they hide themselves on ^(BV)the top of Carmel,
    from there I will search them out and take them;
^(BW)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^(BX)And if they go into captivity before their enemies,
    there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them;
^(BY)and I will fix my eyes upon them
    for evil and not for good.”

⁵The Lord God of hosts,
he who touches the earth and ^(BZ)it melts,
    and all who dwell in it mourn,
^(CA)and all of it rises like the Nile,
    ^(CB)and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt;
⁶^(CC)who builds his upper chambers in the heavens
    and founds his vault upon the earth;
^(CD)who calls for the waters of the sea
    and pours them out upon the surface of the earth—
^(CE)the Lord is his name.

⁷“Are you not like ^(CF)the Cushites to me,
    O people of Israel?” declares the Lord.
^(CG)“Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,
    and ^(CH)the Philistines from ^(CI)Caphtor and the Syrians from ^(CJ)Kir?
⁸Behold, ^(CK)the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom,
    and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground,
    ^(CL)except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”
declares the Lord.

⁹“For behold, I will command,
    ^(CM)and shake the house of Israel among all the nations
as one shakes with a sieve,
    but no pebble shall fall to the earth.
¹⁰All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,
    who say, ^(CN)‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’

The Restoration of Israel

¹¹“In that day ^(CO)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^(CP)that they may possess the remnant of Edom
    and ^(CQ)all the nations who are called by my name,”^[h]
    declares the Lord who does this.

¹³“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
    ^(CR)“when the plowman shall overtake the reaper
    and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed;
^(CS)the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
    and all the hills shall flow with it.
¹⁴^(CT)I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,
    and ^(CU)they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
^(CV)they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,
    and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.
¹⁵^(CW)I will plant them on their land,
    ^(CX)and they shall never again be uprooted
    out of the land ^(CY)that I have given them,”
says the Lord your God.

Footnotes

Amos 7:14 Or am; twice in this verse
Amos 8:2 The Hebrew words for end and summer fruit sound alike
Amos 8:3 Or palace
Amos 8:3 Or The singing women of the palace shall wail
Amos 8:5 An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters; a shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
Amos 9:1 Or on
Amos 9:1 Hebrew all of them
Amos 9:12 Hebrew; Septuagint (compare Acts 15:17) that the remnant of mankind and all the nations who are called by my name may seek the Lord

Psalm 120

English Standard Version

Deliver Me, O Lord

A Song of ^(A)Ascents.

120 In my distress I called to the Lord,
    and he answered me.
²Deliver me, O Lord,
    from lying lips,
    from a deceitful tongue.

³What shall be given to you,
    ^(B)and what more shall be done to you,
    you deceitful tongue?
⁴^(C)A warrior's ^(D)sharp arrows,
    with glowing ^(E)coals of the broom tree!

⁵Woe to me, that I sojourn in ^(F)Meshech,
    that I dwell among ^(G)the tents of ^(H)Kedar!
⁶Too long have I had my dwelling
    among those who hate peace.
⁷^(I)I am for peace,
    but when I speak, they are for war!

2 John

English Standard Version

Greeting

¹^(A)The elder to the elect lady and her children, ^(B)whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who ^(C)know ^(D)the truth, ²^(E)because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever:

³^(F)Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love.

Walking in Truth and Love

⁴^(G)I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. ⁵And now I ask you, dear lady—^(H)not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—^(I)that we love one another. ⁶And ^(J)this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just ^(K)as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. ⁷For ^(L)many deceivers ^(M)have gone out into the world, ^(N)those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. ⁸Watch yourselves, ^(O)so that you may not lose what we^[a] have worked for, but ^(P)may win a full reward. ⁹Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, ^(Q)does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching ^(R)has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, ^(S)do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, ¹¹for whoever greets him ^(T)takes part in his wicked works.

Final Greetings

¹²^(U)Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. ^(V)Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, ^(W)so that our joy may be complete.

¹³The children of your elect sister greet you.

Footnotes

2 John 1:8 Some manuscripts you

3 John

English Standard Version

Greeting

¹^(A)The elder to the beloved Gaius, ^(B)whom I love in truth.

²Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. ³For ^(C)I rejoiced greatly when the brothers^[a] came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. ⁴I have no greater joy than to hear that ^(D)my children are walking in the truth.

Support and Opposition

⁵Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for ^(E)these brothers, ^(F)strangers as they are, ⁶who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner ^(G)worthy of God. ⁷For they have gone out for the sake of ^(H)the name, ^(I)accepting nothing from the Gentiles. ⁸Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.

⁹I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. ¹⁰So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.

¹¹Beloved, ^(J)do not imitate evil but imitate good. ^(K)Whoever does good is from God; ^(L)whoever does evil has not seen God. ¹²Demetrius ^(M)has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and ^(N)you know that our testimony is true.

Final Greetings

¹³^(O)I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. ¹⁴I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.

¹⁵Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, ^(P)each by name.

Footnotes

3 John 1:3 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters; also verses 5, 10

Jude

English Standard Version

Greeting

¹Jude, a servant^[a] of Jesus Christ and brother of James,

^(A)To those who are called, ^(B)beloved in God the Father and ^(C)kept for^[b] Jesus Christ:

²May ^(D)mercy, ^(E)peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Judgment on False Teachers

³Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our ^(F)common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you ^(G)to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. ⁴For ^(H)certain people ^(I)have crept in unnoticed ^(J)who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert ^(K)the grace of our God into sensuality and ^(L)deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

⁵Now I want ^(M)to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that ^(N)Jesus, who saved^[c] a people out of the land of Egypt, ^(O)afterward destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶And ^(P)the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— ⁷just as ^(Q)Sodom and Gomorrah and ^(R)the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and ^(S)pursued unnatural desire,^[d] serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

⁸Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and ^(T)blaspheme the glorious ones. ⁹But when ^(U)the archangel ^(V)Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing ^(W)about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, ^(X)“The Lord rebuke you.” ¹⁰^(Y)But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. ¹¹Woe to them! For they walked in ^(Z)the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain ^(AA)to Balaam's error and ^(AB)perished in Korah's rebellion. ¹²These are hidden reefs^[e] ^(AC)at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, ^(AD)shepherds feeding themselves; ^(AE)waterless clouds, ^(AF)swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, ^(AG)uprooted; ¹³^(AH)wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of ^(AI)their own shame; ^(AJ)wandering stars, ^(AK)for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

¹⁴It was also about these that Enoch, ^(AL)the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, ^(AM)“Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, ¹⁵^(AN)to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have ^(AO)committed in such an ungodly way, and of all ^(AP)the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” ¹⁶These are grumblers, malcontents, ^(AQ)following their own sinful desires; ^(AR)they are loud-mouthed boasters, ^(AS)showing favoritism to gain advantage.

A Call to Persevere

¹⁷But you must ^(AT)remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁸They^[f] said to you, ^(AU)“In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” ¹⁹It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, ^(AV)devoid of the Spirit. ²⁰But you, beloved, ^(AW)building yourselves up in your most holy faith and ^(AX)praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹^(AY)keep yourselves in the love of God, ^(AZ)waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. ²²And have mercy on those who doubt; ²³save others by ^(BA)snatching them out of ^(BB)the fire; to others show mercy ^(BC)with fear, hating even ^(BD)the garment^[g] stained by the flesh.

Doxology

²⁴^(BE)Now to him who is able ^(BF)to keep you from stumbling and ^(BG)to present you ^(BH)blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, ²⁵to ^(BI)the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, ^(BJ)be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time^[h] and now and forever. Amen.

Footnotes

Jude 1:1 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface
Jude 1:1 Or by
Jude 1:5 Some manuscripts although you fully knew it, that the Lord who once saved
Jude 1:7 Greek different flesh
Jude 1:12 Or are blemishes
Jude 1:18 Or Christ, because they
Jude 1:23 Greek chiton, a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin
Jude 1:25 Or before any age