Amos 5
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
A Lament for Israel’s Sin
5 Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel:(A)
2 Fallen, no more to rise,
is maiden Israel;
forsaken on her land,
with no one to raise her up.(B)
3 For thus says the Lord God:
The city that marched out a thousand
shall have a hundred left,
and that which marched out a hundred
shall have ten left.[a](C)
4 For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel:
Seek me and live,(D)
5 but do not seek Bethel,
and do not enter into Gilgal
or cross over to Beer-sheba,
for Gilgal shall surely go into exile,
and Bethel shall come to nothing.(E)
6 Seek the Lord and live,
or he will break out against the house of Joseph like fire,
and it will devour Bethel, with no one to quench it.(F)
7 Ah, you who turn justice to wormwood
and bring righteousness to the ground!
8 The one who made the Pleiades and Orion
and turns deep darkness into the morning
and darkens the day into night,
who calls for the water of the sea
and pours it out on the surface of the earth,
the Lord is his name,(G)
9 who makes destruction flash out against the strong,
so that destruction comes upon the fortress.
10 They hate the one who reproves in the gate,
and they abhor the one who speaks the truth.(H)
11 Therefore because you trample on the poor
and take from them levies of grain,
you have built houses of hewn stone,
but you shall not live in them;
you have planted pleasant vineyards,
but you shall not drink their wine.(I)
12 For I know how many are your transgressions
and how great are your sins—
you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe
and push aside the needy in the gate.(J)
13 Therefore the prudent will keep silent in such a time,
for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good and not evil,
that you may live,
and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you,
just as you have said.(K)
15 Hate evil and love good,
and establish justice in the gate;
it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,
will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.(L)
16 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord:
In all the squares there shall be wailing,
and in all the streets they shall say, “Alas! Alas!”
They shall call the farmers to mourning
and those skilled in lamentation to wailing;(M)
17 in all the vineyards there shall be wailing,
for I will pass through the midst of you,
says the Lord.(N)
The Day of the Lord a Dark Day
18 Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!
Why do you want the day of the Lord?
It is darkness, not light,(O)
19 as if someone fled from a lion
and was met by a bear
or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall
and was bitten by a snake.(P)
20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, not light,
and gloom with no brightness in it?(Q)
21 I hate, I despise your festivals,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.(R)
22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them,
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
I will not look upon.(S)
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
24 But let justice roll down like water
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.(T)
25 Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?(U) 26 You shall take up Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, your images,[b] which you made for yourselves; 27 therefore I will take you into exile beyond Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.(V)
Matthew 6:19-34
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Concerning Treasures
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust[a] consume and where thieves break in and steal,(A) 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust[b] consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.(B) 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The Eye
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,(C) 23 but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If, then, the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
Serving Two Masters
24 “No one can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.[c](D)
Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink,[d] or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?(E) 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?(F) 27 And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life?[e] 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For it is the gentiles who seek all these things, and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God[f] and his[g] righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.(G)
34 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
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Amos 6
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Complacent Self-Indulgence Will Be Punished
6 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion
and for those who feel secure on Mount Samaria,
the notables of the first of the nations,
to whom the house of Israel resorts!(A)
2 Cross over to Calneh and see;
from there go to Hamath the great;
then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
Are you better[a] than these kingdoms?
Or is your[b] territory greater than their[c] territory,(B)
3 you who put far away the evil day
and bring near a reign of violence?(C)
4 Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory
and lounge on their couches
and eat lambs from the flock
and calves from the stall,(D)
5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp
and like David improvise on instruments of music,(E)
6 who drink wine from bowls
and anoint themselves with the finest oils
but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!(F)
7 Therefore they shall now be the first to go into exile,
and the revelry of the loungers shall pass away.(G)
8 The Lord God has sworn by himself
(says the Lord, the God of hosts):
I abhor the pride of Jacob
and hate his strongholds,
and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.(H)
9 If ten people remain in one house, they shall die. 10 And if a relative, one who burns it,[d] takes up the body to bring it out of the house and says to someone in the innermost parts of the house, “Is anyone else with you?” the answer will come, “No.” Then the relative[e] shall say, “Hush! We must not mention the name of the Lord.”
11 For the Lord commands,
and he will shatter the great house to bits
and the little house to pieces.(I)
12 Do horses run on rocky crags?
Does one plow the sea with oxen?[f]
But you have turned justice into poison
and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,(J)
13 you who rejoice in Lo-debar,[g]
who say, “Have we not by our own strength
taken Karnaim[h] for ourselves?”
14 Indeed, I am raising up against you a nation,
O house of Israel, says the Lord, the God of hosts,
and they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath
to the Wadi Arabah.(K)
1 Thessalonians 5:12-28
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Final Exhortations, Greetings, and Benediction
12 But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labor among you and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you;(A) 13 esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, to admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them.(B) 15 See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.(C) 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast to what is good;(D) 22 abstain from every form of evil.
23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound[a] and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.(E) 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.(F)
25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us.(G)
26 Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss. 27 I solemnly command you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the brothers and sisters.(H)
28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.[b]
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