All this is because of Jacob’s transgression,
    because of the sins of the people of Israel.
What is Jacob’s transgression?
    Is it not Samaria?(A)
What is Judah’s high place?
    Is it not Jerusalem?

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14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria(A)
    who say, ‘As surely as your god lives, Dan,’(B)
    or, ‘As surely as the god[a] of Beersheba(C) lives’—
    they will fall,(D) never to rise again.(E)

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Footnotes

  1. Amos 8:14 Hebrew the way

19 Your wickedness will punish you;
    your backsliding(A) will rebuke(B) you.
Consider then and realize
    how evil and bitter(C) it is for you
when you forsake(D) the Lord your God
    and have no awe(E) of me,”
declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

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15 who killed the Lord Jesus(A) and the prophets(B) and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone 16 in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles(C) so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit.(D) The wrath of God has come upon them at last.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Thessalonians 2:16 Or them fully

16 The crown(A) has fallen from our head.(B)
    Woe to us, for we have sinned!(C)

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19 Hear, you earth:(A)
    I am bringing disaster(B) on this people,
    the fruit of their schemes,(C)
because they have not listened to my words(D)
    and have rejected my law.(E)

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18 “Your own conduct and actions(A)
    have brought this on you.(B)
This is your punishment.
    How bitter(C) it is!
    How it pierces to the heart!”

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17 Have you not brought this on yourselves(A)
    by forsaking(B) the Lord your God
    when he led you in the way?

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Sin, Confession and Redemption

59 Surely the arm(A) of the Lord is not too short(B) to save,
    nor his ear too dull to hear.(C)
But your iniquities have separated(D)
    you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you,
    so that he will not hear.(E)
For your hands are stained with blood,(F)
    your fingers with guilt.(G)
Your lips have spoken falsely,(H)
    and your tongue mutters wicked things.
No one calls for justice;(I)
    no one pleads a case with integrity.
They rely(J) on empty arguments, they utter lies;(K)
    they conceive trouble and give birth to evil.(L)
They hatch the eggs of vipers(M)
    and spin a spider’s web.(N)
Whoever eats their eggs will die,
    and when one is broken, an adder is hatched.
Their cobwebs are useless for clothing;
    they cannot cover themselves with what they make.(O)
Their deeds are evil deeds,
    and acts of violence(P) are in their hands.
Their feet rush into sin;
    they are swift to shed innocent blood.(Q)
They pursue evil schemes;(R)
    acts of violence mark their ways.(S)
The way of peace they do not know;(T)
    there is no justice in their paths.
They have turned them into crooked roads;(U)
    no one who walks along them will know peace.(V)

So justice is far from us,
    and righteousness does not reach us.
We look for light, but all is darkness;(W)
    for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.
10 Like the blind(X) we grope along the wall,
    feeling our way like people without eyes.
At midday we stumble(Y) as if it were twilight;
    among the strong, we are like the dead.(Z)
11 We all growl like bears;
    we moan mournfully like doves.(AA)
We look for justice, but find none;
    for deliverance, but it is far away.

12 For our offenses(AB) are many in your sight,
    and our sins testify(AC) against us.
Our offenses are ever with us,
    and we acknowledge our iniquities:(AD)
13 rebellion(AE) and treachery against the Lord,
    turning our backs(AF) on our God,
inciting revolt and oppression,(AG)
    uttering lies(AH) our hearts have conceived.
14 So justice(AI) is driven back,
    and righteousness(AJ) stands at a distance;
truth(AK) has stumbled in the streets,
    honesty cannot enter.
15 Truth(AL) is nowhere to be found,
    and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.

The Lord looked and was displeased
    that there was no justice.(AM)

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Israel’s Sin and the Servant’s Obedience

50 This is what the Lord says:

“Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce(A)
    with which I sent her away?
Or to which of my creditors
    did I sell(B) you?
Because of your sins(C) you were sold;(D)
    because of your transgressions your mother was sent away.
When I came, why was there no one?
    When I called, why was there no one to answer?(E)
Was my arm too short(F) to deliver you?
    Do I lack the strength(G) to rescue you?
By a mere rebuke(H) I dry up the sea,(I)
    I turn rivers into a desert;(J)
their fish rot for lack of water
    and die of thirst.

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Woe to the Complacent

Woe to you(A) who are complacent(B) in Zion,
    and to you who feel secure(C) on Mount Samaria,(D)
you notable men of the foremost nation,
    to whom the people of Israel come!(E)

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Samaria, throw out your calf-idol!(A)
    My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of purity?(B)
    They are from Israel!
This calf—a metalworker has made it;
    it is not God.(C)
It will be broken in pieces,
    that calf(D) of Samaria.(E)

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whenever I would heal Israel,
the sins of Ephraim are exposed
    and the crimes of Samaria revealed.(A)
They practice deceit,(B)
    thieves break into houses,(C)
    bandits rob in the streets;(D)

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25 Your wrongdoings have kept these away;
    your sins have deprived you of good.(A)

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14 Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful,(A) following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the Lord, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

The Fall of Jerusalem(B)(C)

15 The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers(D) again and again,(E) because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed(F) at his prophets until the wrath(G) of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.(H)

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23 He offered sacrifices to the gods(A) of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.”(B) But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.(C)

24 Ahaz gathered together the furnishings(D) from the temple of God(E) and cut them in pieces. He shut the doors(F) of the Lord’s temple and set up altars(G) at every street corner in Jerusalem. 25 In every town in Judah he built high places to burn sacrifices to other gods and aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of his ancestors.

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He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and also made idols(A) for worshiping the Baals. He burned sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom(B) and sacrificed his children(C) in the fire, engaging in the detestable(D) practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree.

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Israel Exiled Because of Sin

All this took place because the Israelites had sinned(A) against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt(B) from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods and followed the practices of the nations(C) the Lord had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced. The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city(D) they built themselves high places in all their towns. 10 They set up sacred stones(E) and Asherah poles(F) on every high hill and under every spreading tree.(G) 11 At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the Lord had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that aroused the Lord’s anger. 12 They worshiped idols,(H) though the Lord had said, “You shall not do this.”[a] 13 The Lord warned(I) Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers:(J) “Turn from your evil ways.(K) Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.”(L)

14 But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked(M) as their ancestors, who did not trust in the Lord their God. 15 They rejected his decrees and the covenant(N) he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols(O) and themselves became worthless.(P) They imitated the nations(Q) around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.”

16 They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves,(R) and an Asherah(S) pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts,(T) and they worshiped Baal.(U) 17 They sacrificed(V) their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sought omens(W) and sold(X) themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.

18 So the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence.(Y) Only the tribe of Judah was left, 19 and even Judah did not keep the commands of the Lord their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced.(Z) 20 Therefore the Lord rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers,(AA) until he thrust them from his presence.(AB)

21 When he tore(AC) Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king.(AD) Jeroboam enticed Israel away from following the Lord and caused them to commit a great sin.(AE) 22 The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them 23 until the Lord removed them from his presence,(AF) as he had warned(AG) through all his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland(AH) into exile in Assyria, and they are still there.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 17:12 Exodus 20:4,5

10 Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah(A) the priest a sketch of the altar, with detailed plans for its construction. 11 So Uriah the priest built an altar in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus and finished it before King Ahaz returned. 12 When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and presented offerings[a](B) on it.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Kings 16:12 Or and went up

He followed the ways of the kings of Israel(A) and even sacrificed his son(B) in the fire, engaging in the detestable(C) practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. He offered sacrifices and burned incense(D) at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree.(E)

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32 For the message he declared by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places(A) in the towns of Samaria(B) will certainly come true.”(C)

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