Amos 7-9
Christian Standard Bible
First Vision: Locusts
7 The Lord God showed me this: He was forming a swarm of locusts(A) at the time the spring crop first began to sprout—after the cutting of the king’s hay. 2 When the locusts finished eating the vegetation of the land,(B) I said, “Lord God, please forgive!(C) How will Jacob survive since he is so small?” (D)
3 The Lord relented concerning this.(E) “It will not happen,” he said.
Second Vision: Fire
4 The Lord God showed me this: The Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire.(F) It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. 5 Then I said, “Lord God, please stop!(G) How will Jacob survive since he is so small?”
6 The Lord relented concerning this.(H) “This will not happen either,” said the Lord God.
Third Vision: A Plumb Line
7 He showed me this: The Lord was standing there by a vertical wall with a plumb line in his hand. 8 The Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” (I)
I replied, “A plumb line.”
Then the Lord said, “I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel;(J) I will no longer spare them:(K)
9 Isaac’s high places(L) will be deserted,
and Israel’s sanctuaries will be in ruins;(M)
I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam
with a sword.”
Amaziah’s Opposition
10 Amaziah the priest(N) of Bethel sent word to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you(O) right here in the house of Israel. The land cannot endure all his words, 11 for Amos has said this: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will certainly go into exile from its homeland.’”(P)
12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer!(Q) Flee to the land of Judah. Earn your living[a] and give your prophecies there, 13 but don’t ever prophesy(R) at Bethel again, for it is the king’s sanctuary(S) and a royal temple.”
14 So Amos answered Amaziah, “I was[b] not a prophet or the son of a prophet;[c](T) rather, I was[d] a herdsman,(U) and I took care of sycamore figs. 15 But the Lord took me from following the flock(V) and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’”(W)
16 Now hear the word of the Lord. You say:
17 Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
Your wife will be a prostitute in the city,(Z)
your sons and daughters will fall by the sword,(AA)
and your land will be divided up
with a measuring line.
You yourself will die on pagan[e] soil,(AB)
and Israel will certainly go into exile(AC)
from its homeland.
Fourth Vision: A Basket of Summer Fruit
8 The Lord God showed me this: a basket of summer fruit. 2 He asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” (AD)
I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.”[f](AE)
The Lord said to me, “The end has come for my people Israel;(AF) I will no longer spare them.(AG) 3 In that day the temple[g] songs(AH) will become wailing”(AI)—this is the Lord God’s declaration. “Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere!(AJ) Silence!” (AK)
4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy(AL)
and do away with the poor of the land,(AM)
5 asking, “When will the New Moon be over
so we may sell grain,(AN)
and the Sabbath,
so we may market wheat?(AO)
We can reduce the measure
while increasing the price[h]
and cheat with dishonest scales.(AP)
6 We can buy the poor with silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals(AQ)
and even sell the chaff!”
7 The Lord has sworn(AR) by the Pride of Jacob:[i](AS)
I will never forget all their deeds.(AT)
8 Because of this, won’t the land quake(AU)
and all who dwell in it mourn?(AV)
All of it will rise like the Nile;(AW)
it will surge and then subside
like the Nile in Egypt.(AX)
9 And in that day—
this is the declaration of the Lord God—
I will make the sun go down at noon;(AY)
I will darken the land in the daytime.(AZ)
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning(BA)
and all your songs into lamentation;(BB)
I will cause everyone[j] to wear sackcloth(BC)
and every head to be shaved.(BD)
I will make that grief
like mourning for an only son(BE)
and its outcome like a bitter day.
11 Look, the days are coming—
this is the declaration of the Lord God—
when I will send a famine through the land:
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord.(BF)
12 People will stagger from sea to sea
and roam from north to east
seeking the word of the Lord,(BG)
but they will not find it.
13 In that day the beautiful young women,(BH)
the young men also, will faint from thirst.(BI)
14 Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria(BJ)
and say, “As your god lives, Dan,”(BK)
or, “As the way[k][l] of Beer-sheba lives”(BL)—
they will fall, never to rise again.(BM)
Fifth Vision: The Lord beside the Altar
9 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar,(BN) and he said:
Strike the capitals of the pillars(BO)
so that the thresholds shake;
knock them down on the heads of all the people.
Then I will kill the rest of them with the sword.(BP)
None of those who flee will get away;(BQ)
none of the fugitives will escape.
2 If they dig down to Sheol,(BR)
from there my hand will take them;
if they climb up to heaven,(BS)
from there I will bring them down.
3 If they hide
on the top of Carmel,
from there I will track them down(BT)
and seize them;
if they conceal themselves
from my sight on the sea floor,(BU)
from there I will command
the sea serpent to bite them.(BV)
4 And if they are driven
by their enemies into captivity,(BW)
from there I will command
the sword to kill them.(BX)
I will keep my eye on them
for harm and not for good.(BY)
5 The Lord, the God of Armies—
he touches the earth;(BZ)
it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn;
all of it rises like the Nile
and subsides like the Nile of Egypt.(CA)
6 He builds his upper chambers
in the heavens(CB)
and lays the foundation of his vault
on the earth.(CC)
He summons the water of the sea
and pours it out over the surface of the earth.(CD)
The Lord is his name.(CE)
Announcement of Judgment
7 Israelites, are you not like the Cushites to me?(CF)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Didn’t I bring Israel from the land of Egypt,
the Philistines from Caphtor,[m](CG)
and the Arameans from Kir?(CH)
8 Look, the eyes of the Lord God
are on the sinful kingdom,(CI)
and I will obliterate it
from the face of the earth.(CJ)
However, I will not totally destroy
the house of Jacob(CK)—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
9 for I am about to give the command,
and I will shake the house of Israel(CL)
among all the nations,
as one shakes a sieve,
but not a pebble will fall to the ground.
10 All the sinners among my people(CM)
who say, “Disaster will never overtake[n]
or confront us,”(CN)
will die by the sword.
Announcement of Restoration
11 In that day
I will restore the fallen shelter(CO) of David:(CP)
I will repair its gaps,
restore its ruins,(CQ)
and rebuild it as in the days of old,(CR)
12 so that they may possess
the remnant of Edom(CS)
and all the nations
that bear my name[o](CT)—
this is the declaration of the Lord; he will do this.
13 Look, the days are coming—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
when the plowman will overtake the reaper(CU)
and the one who treads grapes,
the sower of seed.
The mountains will drip with sweet wine,
and all the hills will flow with it.(CV)
14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel.[p](CW)
They will rebuild and occupy ruined cities,(CX)
plant vineyards and drink their wine,
make gardens and eat their produce.(CY)
15 I will plant them on their land,
and they will never again be uprooted
from the land I have given them.(CZ)
The Lord your God has spoken.
Footnotes
- 7:12 Lit Eat bread
- 7:14 Or am
- 7:14 = a prophet’s disciple or a member of a prophetic guild
- 7:14 Or am
- 7:17 Lit unclean
- 8:2 In Hb the word for summer fruit sounds like the word for end.
- 8:3 Or palace
- 8:5 Lit reduce the ephah and make the shekel great
- 8:7 = the Lord or the promised land
- 8:10 Lit every waist
- 8:14 LXX reads god
- 8:14 Or power
- 9:7 Probably Crete
- 9:10 Or “You will not let disaster come near
- 9:12 LXX reads so that the remnant of man and all the nations... may seek me; Ac 15:17
- 9:14 Or restore my people Israel from captivity
Matthew 15
Christian Standard Bible
The Tradition of the Elders
15 Then(A) Jesus was approached by Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem, who asked,(B) 2 “Why do your disciples(C) break the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat.”[a](D)
3 He answered them, “Why do you break God’s commandment because of your tradition? 4 For God said:[b] Honor your father and your mother;[c](E) and, Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.[d](F) 5 But you say, ‘Whoever tells his father or mother, “Whatever benefit you might have received from me is a gift committed to the temple,” 6 he does not have to honor his father.’[e] In this way, you have nullified the word of God[f] because of your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said:
8 This people[g] honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me.
9 They worship me in vain,
teaching as doctrines human commands.”[h](G)
Defilement Is from Within
10 Summoning the crowd, he told them, “Listen and understand: 11 It’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles(H) a person, but what comes out of the mouth—this defiles a person.”(I)
12 Then the disciples came up and told him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?”
13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father didn’t plant will be uprooted.(J) 14 Leave them alone! They are blind guides.[i] And if the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”(K)
15 Then Peter said, “Explain this parable to us.”(L)
16 “Do you still lack understanding?” he[j] asked. 17 “Don’t you realize[k] that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated?[l] 18 But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a person.(M) 19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies,(N) slander.(O) 20 These are the things that defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person.”(P)
A Gentile Mother’s Faith
21 When Jesus left there,(Q) he withdrew to the area of Tyre and Sidon.(R) 22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out,[m] “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely tormented by a demon.”(S)
23 Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples(T) approached him and urged him, “Send her away because she’s crying out after us.”
24 He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”(U)
25 But she came, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, help me!”
26 He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”(V)
27 “Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
28 Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment[n] her daughter was healed.(W)
Healing Many People
29 Moving on from there,(X) Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee.(Y) He went up on a mountain and sat there, 30 and large crowds came to him, including the lame, the blind, the crippled, those unable to speak, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he healed them. 31 So the crowd was amazed when they saw those unable to speak talking, the crippled restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing,(Z) and they gave glory to the God of Israel.
Feeding of the Four Thousand
32 Jesus called his disciples and said,(AA) “I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with me three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, otherwise they might collapse on the way.”
33 The disciples said to him, “Where could we get enough bread in this desolate place(AB) to feed such a crowd?”
34 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked them.
“Seven,” they said, “and a few small fish.”
35 After commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.(AC) 37 They all ate and were satisfied. They collected the leftover pieces—seven large baskets full. 38 Now there were four thousand men who had eaten, besides women and children. 39 After dismissing the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.[o](AD)
Footnotes
- 15:2 Lit eat bread = eat a meal
- 15:4 Other mss read commanded, saying
- 15:4 Ex 20:12; Dt 5:16
- 15:4 Ex 21:17; Lv 20:9
- 15:6 Other mss read then he does not have to honor his father or mother
- 15:6 Other mss read commandment
- 15:8 Other mss add draw near to me with their mouths, and
- 15:8–9 Is 29:13 LXX
- 15:14 Other mss add for the blind
- 15:16 Other mss read Jesus
- 15:17 Other mss add yet
- 15:17 Lit and goes out into the toilet
- 15:22 Other mss read and cried out to him
- 15:28 Lit hour
- 15:39 Other mss read Magdala
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
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