Amos 8-9
Christian Standard Bible
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?” (A)
I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.”[a](B)
The Lord said to me, “The end has come for my people Israel;(C) I will no longer spare them.(D) 3 In that day the temple[b] songs(E) will become wailing”(F)—this is the Lord God’s declaration. “Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere!(G) Silence!” (H)
4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy(I)
and do away with the poor of the land,(J)
5 asking, “When will the New Moon be over
so we may sell grain,(K)
and the Sabbath,
so we may market wheat?(L)
We can reduce the measure
while increasing the price[c]
and cheat with dishonest scales.(M)
6 We can buy the poor with silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals(N)
and even sell the chaff!”
7 The Lord has sworn(O) by the Pride of Jacob:[d](P)
I will never forget all their deeds.(Q)
8 Because of this, won’t the land quake(R)
and all who dwell in it mourn?(S)
All of it will rise like the Nile;(T)
it will surge and then subside
like the Nile in Egypt.(U)
9 And in that day—
this is the declaration of the Lord God—
I will make the sun go down at noon;(V)
I will darken the land in the daytime.(W)
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning(X)
and all your songs into lamentation;(Y)
I will cause everyone[e] to wear sackcloth(Z)
and every head to be shaved.(AA)
I will make that grief
like mourning for an only son(AB)
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.(AC)
12 People will stagger from sea to sea
and roam from north to east
seeking the word of the Lord,(AD)
but they will not find it.
13 In that day the beautiful young women,(AE)
the young men also, will faint from thirst.(AF)
14 Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria(AG)
and say, “As your god lives, Dan,”(AH)
or, “As the way[f][g] of Beer-sheba lives”(AI)—
they will fall, never to rise again.(AJ)
Fifth Vision: The Lord beside the Altar
9 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar,(AK) and he said:
Strike the capitals of the pillars(AL)
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.(AM)
None of those who flee will get away;(AN)
none of the fugitives will escape.
2 If they dig down to Sheol,(AO)
from there my hand will take them;
if they climb up to heaven,(AP)
from there I will bring them down.
3 If they hide
on the top of Carmel,
from there I will track them down(AQ)
and seize them;
if they conceal themselves
from my sight on the sea floor,(AR)
from there I will command
the sea serpent to bite them.(AS)
4 And if they are driven
by their enemies into captivity,(AT)
from there I will command
the sword to kill them.(AU)
I will keep my eye on them
for harm and not for good.(AV)
5 The Lord, the God of Armies—
he touches the earth;(AW)
it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn;
all of it rises like the Nile
and subsides like the Nile of Egypt.(AX)
6 He builds his upper chambers
in the heavens(AY)
and lays the foundation of his vault
on the earth.(AZ)
He summons the water of the sea
and pours it out over the surface of the earth.(BA)
The Lord is his name.(BB)
Announcement of Judgment
7 Israelites, are you not like the Cushites to me?(BC)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Didn’t I bring Israel from the land of Egypt,
the Philistines from Caphtor,[h](BD)
and the Arameans from Kir?(BE)
8 Look, the eyes of the Lord God
are on the sinful kingdom,(BF)
and I will obliterate it
from the face of the earth.(BG)
However, I will not totally destroy
the house of Jacob(BH)—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
9 for I am about to give the command,
and I will shake the house of Israel(BI)
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(BJ)
who say, “Disaster will never overtake[i]
or confront us,”(BK)
will die by the sword.
Announcement of Restoration
11 In that day
I will restore the fallen shelter(BL) of David:(BM)
I will repair its gaps,
restore its ruins,(BN)
and rebuild it as in the days of old,(BO)
12 so that they may possess
the remnant of Edom(BP)
and all the nations
that bear my name[j](BQ)—
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(BR)
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.(BS)
14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel.[k](BT)
They will rebuild and occupy ruined cities,(BU)
plant vineyards and drink their wine,
make gardens and eat their produce.(BV)
15 I will plant them on their land,
and they will never again be uprooted
from the land I have given them.(BW)
The Lord your God has spoken.
Footnotes
- 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
1 John 5
Christian Standard Bible
5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God,(A) and everyone who loves the Father[a] also loves the one born of him. 2 This is how we know that we love God’s children: when we love God and obey[b] his commands. 3 For this is what love for God is: to keep his commands. And his commands are not a burden,(B) 4 because everyone who has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.
The Certainty of God’s Testimony
5 Who is the one who conquers the world(C) but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?(D) 6 Jesus Christ—he is the one who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water(E) and by blood.(F) And the Spirit is the one who testifies,(G) because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify:[c](H) 8 the Spirit,(I) the water, and the blood(J)—and these three are in agreement. 9 If we accept human testimony, God’s testimony(K) is greater, because it is God’s testimony that he has given about his Son. 10 The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar,(L) because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 The one who has the Son has life.(M) The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name(N) of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Effective Prayer
14 This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask(O) anything according to his will, he hears us.(P) 15 And if we know that he hears whatever we ask,(Q) we know that we have what we have asked of him.(R)
16 If anyone sees a fellow believer[d] committing a sin that doesn’t lead to death, he should ask, and God will give life to him—to those who commit sin that doesn’t lead to death. There is sin[e] that leads to death. I am not saying he should pray about that. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin that doesn’t lead to death.
Conclusion
18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not sin, but the one who is born of God keeps him,[f](S) and the evil one does not touch him. 19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one. 20 And we know that the Son of God has come(T) and has given us understanding so that we may know the true one.[g] We are in the true one—that is, in his Son, Jesus Christ.(U) He is the true God and eternal life.
21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.
Footnotes
- 5:1 Or loves the one who has given birth
- 5:2 Other mss read keep
- 5:7–8 A few late Gk mss and some late Vg mss add testify in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. 8 And there are three who bear witness on earth:
- 5:16 Lit sees his brother or sister
- 5:16 Or is a sin
- 5:18 Other mss read himself
- 5:20 Other mss read the true God
Psalm 139:13-19
Christian Standard Bible
13 For it was you who created my inward parts;[a]
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.(A)
14 I will praise you
because I have been remarkably and wondrously made.[b][c]
Your works are wondrous,
and I know this very well.(B)
15 My bones were not hidden from you
when I was made in secret,
when I was formed in the depths of the earth.(C)
16 Your eyes saw me when I was formless;
all my days were written in your book and planned
before a single one of them began.(D)
17 God, how precious[d] your thoughts are to me;
how vast their sum is!
18 If I counted them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand;(E)
when I wake up,[e] I am still with you.(F)
19 God, if only you would kill the wicked—
you bloodthirsty men, stay away from me(G)—
Proverbs 30:10
Christian Standard Bible
10 Don’t slander a servant to his master
or he will curse you,(A) and you will become guilty.
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