Bible in 90 Days
7 “So (A)I will be to them like a lion;
Like (B)a leopard by the road I will lurk;
8 I will meet them (C)like a bear deprived of her cubs;
I will tear open their rib cage,
And there I will devour them like a lion.
The [a]wild beast shall tear them.
9 “O Israel, [b]you are destroyed,
But [c]your help is from Me.
10 [d]I will be your King;
(D)Where is any other,
That he may save you in all your cities?
And your judges to whom (E)you said,
‘Give me a king and princes’?
11 (F)I gave you a king in My anger,
And took him away in My wrath.
12 “The(G) iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;
His sin is stored up.
13 (H)The sorrows of a woman in childbirth shall come upon him.
He is an unwise son,
For he should not stay long where children are born.
14 “I will ransom them from the [e]power of [f]the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
(I)O Death, [g]I will be your plagues!
O [h]Grave, [i]I will be your destruction!
(J)Pity is hidden from My eyes.”
15 Though he is fruitful among his brethren,
(K)An east wind shall come;
The wind of the Lord shall come up from the wilderness.
Then his spring shall become dry,
And his fountain shall be dried up.
He shall plunder the treasury of every desirable prize.
16 Samaria [j]is held guilty,
For she has (L)rebelled against her God.
They shall fall by the sword,
Their infants shall be dashed in pieces,
And their women with child (M)ripped open.
Israel Restored at Last
14 O Israel, (N)return to the Lord your God,
For you have stumbled because of your iniquity;
2 Take words with you,
And return to the Lord.
Say to Him,
“Take away all iniquity;
Receive us graciously,
For we will offer the (O)sacrifices[k] of our lips.
3 Assyria shall (P)not save us,
(Q)We will not ride on horses,
Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’
(R)For in You the fatherless finds mercy.”
4 “I will heal their (S)backsliding,
I will (T)love them freely,
For My anger has turned away from him.
5 I will be like the (U)dew to Israel;
He shall [l]grow like the lily,
And [m]lengthen his roots like Lebanon.
6 His branches shall [n]spread;
(V)His beauty shall be like an olive tree,
And (W)his fragrance like Lebanon.
7 (X)Those who dwell under his shadow shall return;
They shall be revived like grain,
And [o]grow like a vine.
Their [p]scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 “Ephraim shall say, ‘What have I to do anymore with idols?’
I have heard and observed him.
I am like a green cypress tree;
(Y)Your fruit is found in Me.”
9 Who is wise?
Let him understand these things.
Who is prudent?
Let him know them.
For (Z)the ways of the Lord are right;
The righteous walk in them,
But transgressors stumble in them.
The Locust Plague in Judah
1 The word of the Lord that came to (AA)Joel the son of Pethuel.
The Land Laid Waste(AB)
2 Hear this, you elders,
And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land!
(AC)Has anything like this happened in your days,
Or even in the days of your fathers?
3 (AD)Tell your children about it,
Let your children tell their children,
And their children another generation.
4 (AE)What the chewing [q]locust left, the (AF)swarming locust has eaten;
What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten;
And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.
5 Awake, you (AG)drunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you drinkers of wine,
Because of the new wine,
(AH)For it has been cut off from your mouth.
6 For (AI)a nation has come up against My land,
Strong, and without number;
(AJ)His teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And he has the fangs of a [r]fierce lion.
7 He has (AK)laid waste My vine,
And [s]ruined My fig tree;
He has stripped it bare and thrown it away;
Its branches are made white.
8 (AL)Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth
For (AM)the husband of her youth.
9 (AN)The grain offering and the drink offering
Have been cut off from the house of the Lord;
The priests (AO)mourn, who minister to the Lord.
10 The field is wasted,
(AP)The land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
(AQ)The new wine is dried up,
The oil fails.
11 (AR)Be ashamed, you farmers,
Wail, you vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the harvest of the field has perished.
12 (AS)The vine has dried up,
And the fig tree has withered;
The pomegranate tree,
The palm tree also,
And the apple tree—
All the trees of the field are withered;
Surely (AT)joy has withered away from the sons of men.
Mourning for the Land
13 (AU)Gird yourselves and lament, you priests;
Wail, you who minister before the altar;
Come, lie all night in sackcloth,
You who minister to my God;
For the grain offering and the drink offering
Are withheld from the house of your God.
14 (AV)Consecrate a fast,
Call (AW)a sacred assembly;
Gather the elders
And (AX)all the inhabitants of the land
Into the house of the Lord your God,
And cry out to the Lord.
15 (AY)Alas for the day!
For (AZ)the day of the Lord is at hand;
It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.
16 Is not the food (BA)cut off before our eyes,
(BB)Joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17 The seed shrivels under the clods,
Storehouses are in shambles;
Barns are broken down,
For the grain has withered.
18 How (BC)the animals groan!
The herds of cattle are restless,
Because they have no pasture;
Even the flocks of sheep [t]suffer punishment.
19 O Lord, (BD)to You I cry out;
For (BE)fire has devoured the [u]open pastures,
And a flame has burned all the trees of the field.
20 The beasts of the field also (BF)cry out to You,
For (BG)the water brooks are dried up,
And fire has devoured the [v]open pastures.
The Day of the Lord
2 Blow (BH)the [w]trumpet in Zion,
And (BI)sound an alarm in My holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble;
For (BJ)the day of the Lord is coming,
For it is at hand:
2 (BK)A day of darkness and gloominess,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains.
(BL)A people come, great and strong,
(BM)The like of whom has never been;
Nor will there ever be any such after them,
Even for many successive generations.
3 A fire devours before them,
And behind them a flame burns;
The land is like (BN)the Garden of Eden before them,
(BO)And behind them a desolate wilderness;
Surely nothing shall escape them.
4 (BP)Their appearance is like the appearance of horses;
And like [x]swift steeds, so they run.
5 (BQ)With a noise like chariots
Over mountaintops they leap,
Like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble,
Like a strong people set in battle array.
6 Before them the people writhe in pain;
(BR)All faces [y]are drained of color.
7 They run like mighty men,
They climb the wall like men of war;
Every one marches in formation,
And they do not break (BS)ranks.
8 They do not push one another;
Every one marches in his own [z]column.
Though they lunge between the weapons,
They are not [aa]cut down.
9 They run to and fro in the city,
They run on the wall;
They climb into the houses,
They (BT)enter at the windows (BU)like a thief.
10 (BV)The earth quakes before them,
The heavens tremble;
(BW)The sun and moon grow dark,
And the stars diminish their brightness.
11 (BX)The Lord gives voice before His army,
For His camp is very great;
(BY)For strong is the One who executes His word.
For the (BZ)day of the Lord is great and very terrible;
(CA)Who can endure it?
A Call to Repentance
12 “Now, therefore,” says the Lord,
(CB)“Turn to Me with all your heart,
With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”
13 So (CC)rend your heart, and not (CD)your garments;
Return to the Lord your God,
For He is (CE)gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger, and of great kindness;
And He relents from doing harm.
14 (CF)Who knows if He will turn and relent,
And leave (CG)a blessing behind Him—
(CH)A grain offering and a drink offering
For the Lord your God?
15 (CI)Blow the [ab]trumpet in Zion,
(CJ)Consecrate a fast,
Call a sacred assembly;
16 Gather the people,
(CK)Sanctify the congregation,
Assemble the elders,
Gather the children and nursing babes;
(CL)Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber,
And the bride from her dressing room.
17 Let the priests, who minister to the Lord,
Weep (CM)between the porch and the altar;
Let them say, (CN)“Spare Your people, O Lord,
And do not give Your heritage to reproach,
That the nations should [ac]rule over them.
(CO)Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’ ”
The Land Refreshed(CP)
18 Then the Lord will (CQ)be zealous for His land,
And pity His people.
19 The Lord will answer and say to His people,
“Behold, I will send you (CR)grain and new wine and oil,
And you will be satisfied by them;
I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.
20 “But (CS)I will remove far from you (CT)the northern army,
And will drive him away into a barren and desolate land,
With his face toward the eastern sea
And his back (CU)toward the western sea;
His stench will come up,
And his foul odor will rise,
Because he has done [ad]monstrous things.”
21 Fear not, O land;
Be glad and rejoice,
For the Lord has done [ae]marvelous things!
22 Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field;
For (CV)the open pastures are springing up,
And the tree bears its fruit;
The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.
23 Be glad then, you children of Zion,
And (CW)rejoice in the Lord your God;
For He has given you the [af]former rain faithfully,
And He (CX)will cause the rain to come down for you—
The former rain,
And the latter rain in the first month.
24 The threshing floors shall be full of wheat,
And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.
25 “So I will restore to you the years (CY)that the swarming [ag]locust has eaten,
The crawling locust,
The consuming locust,
And the chewing locust,
My great army which I sent among you.
26 You shall (CZ)eat in plenty and be satisfied,
And praise the name of the Lord your God,
Who has dealt wondrously with you;
And My people shall never be put to (DA)shame.
27 Then you shall know that I am (DB)in the midst of Israel:
(DC)I am the Lord your God
And there is no other.
My people shall never be put to shame.
God’s Spirit Poured Out
28 “And(DD) it shall come to pass afterward
That (DE)I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
(DF)Your sons and your (DG)daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your young men shall see visions.
29 And also on My (DH)menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
30 “And (DI)I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:
Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.
31 (DJ)The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
(DK)Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
32 And it shall come to pass
That (DL)whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Shall be [ah]saved.
For (DM)in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be [ai]deliverance,
As the Lord has said,
Among (DN)the remnant whom the Lord calls.
God Judges the Nations
3 “For behold, (DO)in those days and at that time,
When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 (DP)I will also gather all nations,
And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
And I (DQ)will enter into judgment with them there
On account of My people, My heritage Israel,
Whom they have scattered among the nations;
They have also divided up My land.
3 They have (DR)cast lots for My people,
Have given a boy as payment for a harlot,
And sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.
4 “Indeed, what have you to do with Me,
(DS)O Tyre and Sidon, and all the coasts of Philistia?
Will you [aj]retaliate against Me?
But if you [ak]retaliate against Me,
Swiftly and speedily I will return your [al]retaliation upon your own head;
5 Because you have taken My silver and My gold,
And have carried into your temples My [am]prized possessions.
6 Also the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem
You have sold to the Greeks,
That you may remove them far from their borders.
7 “Behold, (DT)I will raise them
Out of the place to which you have sold them,
And will return your [an]retaliation upon your own head.
8 I will sell your sons and your daughters
Into the hand of the people of Judah,
And they will sell them to the (DU)Sabeans,[ao]
To a people (DV)far off;
For the Lord has spoken.”
9 (DW)Proclaim this among the nations:
“Prepare for war!
Wake up the mighty men,
Let all the men of war draw near,
Let them come up.
10 (DX)Beat your plowshares into swords
And your [ap]pruning hooks into spears;
(DY)Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ ”
11 Assemble and come, all you nations,
And gather together all around.
Cause (DZ)Your mighty ones to go down there, O Lord.
12 “Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
For there I will sit to (EA)judge all the surrounding nations.
13 (EB)Put in the sickle, for (EC)the harvest is ripe.
Come, go down;
For the (ED)winepress is full,
The vats overflow—
For their wickedness is great.”
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!
For (EE)the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and moon will grow dark,
And the stars will diminish their brightness.
16 The Lord also will roar from Zion,
And utter His voice from Jerusalem;
The heavens and earth will shake;
(EF)But the Lord will be a shelter for His people,
And the strength of the children of Israel.
17 “So you shall know that I am the Lord your God,
Dwelling in Zion My (EG)holy mountain.
Then Jerusalem shall be holy,
And no aliens shall ever pass through her again.”
God Blesses His People
18 And it will come to pass in that day
That the mountains shall drip with new wine,
The hills shall flow with milk,
And all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water;
A (EH)fountain shall flow from the house of the Lord
And water the Valley of [aq]Acacias.
19 “Egypt shall be a desolation,
And Edom a desolate wilderness,
Because of violence against the people of Judah,
For they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20 But Judah shall abide forever,
And Jerusalem from generation to generation.
21 For I will (EI)acquit them of the guilt of bloodshed, whom I had not acquitted;
For the Lord dwells in Zion.”
Judgments on Israel’s Neighbors
1 The words of Amos, who was among the (EJ)sheepbreeders of (EK)Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of (EL)Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of (EM)Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the (EN)earthquake.
2 And he said:
“The Lord (EO)roars from Zion,
And utters His voice from Jerusalem;
The pastures of the shepherds mourn,
And the top of (EP)Carmel withers.”
Judgment on the Nations
3 Thus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of (EQ)Damascus, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because they have (ER)threshed Gilead with implements of iron.
4 (ES)But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael,
Which shall devour the palaces of (ET)Ben-Hadad.
5 I will also break the gate (EU)bar of Damascus,
And cut off the inhabitant from the Valley of Aven,
And the one who [ar]holds the scepter from [as]Beth Eden.
The people of Syria shall go captive to Kir,”
Says the Lord.
6 Thus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of (EV)Gaza, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because they took captive the whole captivity
To deliver them up to Edom.
7 (EW)But I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza,
Which shall devour its palaces.
8 I will cut off the inhabitant (EX)from Ashdod,
And the one who holds the scepter from Ashkelon;
I will (EY)turn My hand against Ekron,
And (EZ)the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,”
Says the Lord God.
9 Thus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of (FA)Tyre, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom,
And did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.
10 But I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre,
Which shall devour its palaces.”
11 Thus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of (FB)Edom, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because he pursued his (FC)brother with the sword,
And cast off all pity;
His anger tore perpetually,
And he kept his wrath forever.
12 But (FD)I will send a fire upon Teman,
Which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.”
13 Thus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of (FE)the people of Ammon, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because they ripped open the women with child in Gilead,
That they might enlarge their territory.
14 But I will kindle a fire in the wall of (FF)Rabbah,
And it shall devour its palaces,
(FG)Amid shouting in the day of battle,
And a tempest in the day of the whirlwind.
15 (FH)Their king shall go into captivity,
He and his princes together,”
Says the Lord.
Judgment on Israel
2 Thus says the Lord:
(FI)“For three transgressions of Moab, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because he (FJ)burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime.
2 But I will send a fire upon Moab,
And it shall devour the palaces of (FK)Kerioth;
Moab shall die with tumult,
With shouting and trumpet sound.
3 And I will cut off (FL)the judge from its midst,
And slay all its princes with him,”
Says the Lord.
Judgment on Judah
4 Thus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of (FM)Judah, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
(FN)Because they have despised the law of the Lord,
And have not kept His commandments.
(FO)Their lies lead them astray,
Lies (FP)which their fathers followed.
5 (FQ)But I will send a fire upon Judah,
And it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.”
Judgment on Israel
6 Thus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of (FR)Israel, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because (FS)they sell the righteous for silver,
And the (FT)poor for a pair of sandals.
7 They [at]pant after the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor,
And (FU)pervert the way of the humble.
(FV)A man and his father go in to the same girl,
(FW)To defile My holy name.
8 They lie down (FX)by every altar on clothes (FY)taken in pledge,
And drink the wine of [au]the condemned in the house of their god.
9 “Yet it was I who destroyed the (FZ)Amorite before them,
Whose height was like the (GA)height of the cedars,
And he was as strong as the oaks;
Yet I (GB)destroyed his fruit above
And his roots beneath.
10 Also it was (GC)I who brought you up from the land of Egypt,
And (GD)led you forty years through the wilderness,
To possess the land of the Amorite.
11 I raised up some of your sons as (GE)prophets,
And some of your young men as (GF)Nazirites.
Is it not so, O you children of Israel?”
Says the Lord.
12 “But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink,
And commanded the prophets (GG)saying,
‘Do not prophesy!’
13 “Behold,(GH) I am [av]weighed down by you,
As a cart full of sheaves [aw]is weighed down.
14 (GI)Therefore [ax]flight shall perish from the swift,
The strong shall not strengthen his power,
(GJ)Nor shall the mighty [ay]deliver himself;
15 He shall not stand who handles the bow,
The swift of foot shall not [az]escape,
Nor shall he who rides a horse deliver himself.
16 The most [ba]courageous men of might
Shall flee naked in that day,”
Says the Lord.
Authority of the Prophet’s Message
3 Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying:
2 “You(GK) only have I known of all the families of the earth;
(GL)Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
3 Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?
4 Will a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey?
Will a young lion [bb]cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing?
5 Will a bird fall into a snare on the earth, where there is no [bc]trap for it?
Will a snare spring up from the earth, if it has caught nothing at all?
6 If a [bd]trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid?
(GM)If there is calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it?
7 Surely the Lord God does nothing,
Unless (GN)He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.
8 A lion has roared!
Who will not fear?
The Lord God has spoken!
(GO)Who can but prophesy?
Punishment of Israel’s Sins
9 “Proclaim in the palaces at [be]Ashdod,
And in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say:
‘Assemble on the mountains of Samaria;
See great tumults in her midst,
And the [bf]oppressed within her.
10 For they (GP)do not know to do right,’
Says the Lord,
‘Who store up violence and [bg]robbery in their palaces.’ ”
11 Therefore thus says the Lord God:
“An adversary shall be all around the land;
He shall sap your strength from you,
And your palaces shall be plundered.”
12 Thus says the Lord:
“As a shepherd [bh]takes from the mouth of a lion
Two legs or a piece of an ear,
So shall the children of Israel be taken out
Who dwell in Samaria—
In the corner of a bed and [bi]on the edge of a couch!
13 Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,”
Says the Lord God, the God of hosts,
14 “That in the day I punish Israel for their transgressions,
I will also visit destruction on the altars of (GQ)Bethel;
And the horns of the altar shall be cut off
And fall to the ground.
15 I will [bj]destroy (GR)the winter house along with (GS)the summer house;
The (GT)houses of ivory shall perish,
And the great houses shall have an end,”
Says the Lord.
God’s Punishments Have Not Reformed Israel
4 Hear this word, you (GU)cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria,
Who oppress the (GV)poor,
Who crush the needy,
Who say to [bk]your husbands, “Bring wine, let us (GW)drink!”
2 (GX)The Lord God has sworn by His holiness:
“Behold, the days shall come upon you
When He will take you away (GY)with fishhooks,
And your posterity with fishhooks.
3 (GZ)You will go out through broken walls,
Each one straight ahead of her,
And you will [bl]be cast into Harmon,”
Says the Lord.
4 “Come(HA) to Bethel and transgress,
At (HB)Gilgal multiply transgression;
(HC)Bring your sacrifices every morning,
(HD)Your tithes every three [bm]days.
5 (HE)Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven,
Proclaim and announce (HF)the freewill offerings;
For this you love,
You children of Israel!”
Says the Lord God.
Israel Did Not Accept Correction
6 “Also I gave you [bn]cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
And lack of bread in all your places;
(HG)Yet you have not returned to Me,”
Says the Lord.
7 “I also withheld rain from you,
When there were still three months to the harvest.
I made it rain on one city,
I withheld rain from another city.
One part was rained upon,
And where it did not rain the part withered.
8 So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water,
But they were not satisfied;
Yet you have not returned to Me,”
Says the Lord.
9 “I(HH) blasted you with blight and mildew.
When your gardens increased,
Your vineyards,
Your fig trees,
And your olive trees,
(HI)The locust devoured them;
Yet you have not returned to Me,”
Says the Lord.
10 “I sent among you a plague (HJ)after the manner of Egypt;
Your young men I killed with a sword,
Along with your captive horses;
I made the stench of your camps come up into your nostrils;
Yet you have not returned to Me,”
Says the Lord.
11 “I overthrew some of you,
As God overthrew (HK)Sodom and Gomorrah,
And you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning;
Yet you have not returned to Me,”
Says the Lord.
12 “Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel;
Because I will do this to you,
(HL)Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”
13 For behold,
He who forms mountains,
And creates the [bo]wind,
(HM)Who declares to man what [bp]his thought is,
And makes the morning darkness,
(HN)Who treads the high places of the earth—
(HO)The Lord God of hosts is His name.
A Lament for Israel
5 Hear this word which I (HP)take up against you, a lamentation, O house of Israel:
2 The virgin of Israel has fallen;
She will rise no more.
She lies forsaken on her land;
There is no one to raise her up.
3 For thus says the Lord God:
“The city that goes out by a thousand
Shall have a hundred left,
And that which goes out by a hundred
Shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”
A Call to Repentance
4 For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel:
(HQ)“Seek Me (HR)and live;
5 But do not seek (HS)Bethel,
Nor enter Gilgal,
Nor pass over to (HT)Beersheba;
For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,
And (HU)Bethel shall come to nothing.
6 (HV)Seek the Lord and live,
Lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph,
And devour it,
With no one to quench it in Bethel—
7 You who (HW)turn justice to wormwood,
And lay righteousness to rest in the earth!”
8 He made the (HX)Pleiades and Orion;
He turns the shadow of death into morning
(HY)And makes the day dark as night;
He (HZ)calls for the waters of the sea
And pours them out on the face of the earth;
(IA)The Lord is His name.
9 He [bq]rains ruin upon the strong,
So that fury comes upon the fortress.
10 (IB)They hate the one who rebukes in the gate,
And they (IC)abhor the one who speaks uprightly.
11 (ID)Therefore, because you [br]tread down the poor
And take grain [bs]taxes from him,
Though (IE)you have built houses of hewn stone,
Yet you shall not dwell in them;
You have planted [bt]pleasant vineyards,
But you shall not drink wine from them.
12 For I (IF)know your manifold transgressions
And your mighty sins:
(IG)Afflicting the just and taking bribes;
(IH)Diverting the poor from justice at the gate.
13 Therefore (II)the prudent keep silent at that time,
For it is an evil time.
14 Seek good and not evil,
That you may live;
So the Lord God of hosts will be with you,
(IJ)As you have spoken.
15 (IK)Hate evil, love good;
Establish justice in the gate.
(IL)It may be that the Lord God of hosts
Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
The Day of the Lord
16 Therefore the Lord God of hosts, the Lord, says this:
“There shall be wailing in all streets,
And they shall say in all the highways,
‘Alas! Alas!’
They shall call the farmer to mourning,
(IM)And skillful lamenters to wailing.
17 In all vineyards there shall be wailing,
For (IN)I will pass through you,”
Says the Lord.
18 (IO)Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!
For what good is (IP)the day of the Lord to you?
It will be darkness, and not light.
19 It will be (IQ)as though a man fled from a lion,
And a bear met him!
Or as though he went into the house,
Leaned his hand on the wall,
And a serpent bit him!
20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light?
Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?
21 “I(IR) hate, I despise your feast days,
And (IS)I do not savor your sacred assemblies.
22 (IT)Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them,
Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings.
23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs,
For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments.
24 (IU)But let justice run down like water,
And righteousness like a mighty stream.
25 “Did(IV) you offer Me sacrifices and offerings
In the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
26 You also carried [bu]Sikkuth[bv] (IW)your king
And Chiun, your idols,
The star of your gods,
Which you made for yourselves.
27 Therefore I will send you into captivity (IX)beyond Damascus,”
Says the Lord, (IY)whose name is the God of hosts.
Warnings to Zion and Samaria
6 Woe (IZ)to you who are at (JA)ease in Zion,
And (JB)trust in Mount Samaria,
Notable persons in the (JC)chief nation,
To whom the house of Israel comes!
2 (JD)Go over to (JE)Calneh and see;
And from there go to (JF)Hamath the great;
Then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
(JG)Are you better than these kingdoms?
Or is their territory greater than your territory?
3 Woe to you who (JH)put far off the day of (JI)doom,
(JJ)Who cause (JK)the seat of violence to come near;
4 Who lie on beds of ivory,
Stretch out on your couches,
Eat lambs from the flock
And calves from the midst of the stall;
5 (JL)Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments,
And invent for yourselves (JM)musical instruments (JN)like David;
6 Who (JO)drink wine from bowls,
And anoint yourselves with the best ointments,
(JP)But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
7 Therefore they shall now go (JQ)captive as the first of the captives,
And those who recline at banquets shall be removed.
8 (JR)The Lord God has sworn by Himself,
The Lord God of hosts says:
“I abhor (JS)the pride of Jacob,
And hate his palaces;
Therefore I will deliver up the city
And all that is in it.”
9 Then it shall come to pass, that if ten men remain in one house, they shall die. 10 And when [bw]a relative of the dead, with one who will burn the bodies, picks up the [bx]bodies to take them out of the house, he will say to one inside the house, “Are there any more with you?”
Then someone will say, “None.”
And he will say, (JT)“Hold your tongue! (JU)For we dare not mention the name of the Lord.”
11 For behold, (JV)the Lord gives a command:
(JW)He will break the great house into bits,
And the little house into pieces.
12 Do horses run on rocks?
Does one plow there with oxen?
Yet (JX)you have turned justice into gall,
And the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,
13 You who rejoice over [by]Lo Debar,
Who say, “Have we not taken [bz]Karnaim for ourselves
By our own strength?”
14 “But, behold, (JY)I will raise up a nation against you,
O house of Israel,”
Says the Lord God of hosts;
“And they will afflict you from the (JZ)entrance of Hamath
To the Valley of the Arabah.”
Vision of the Locusts
7 Thus the Lord God showed me: Behold, He formed locust swarms at the [ca]beginning of the late crop; indeed it was the late crop after the king’s mowings. 2 And so it was, when they had finished eating the grass of the land, that I said:
“O Lord God, forgive, I pray!
(KA)Oh,[cb] that Jacob may stand,
For he is small!”
3 So (KB)the Lord relented concerning this.
“It shall not be,” said the Lord.
Vision of the Fire
4 Thus the Lord God showed me: Behold, the Lord God called [cc]for conflict by fire, and it consumed the great deep and devoured the [cd]territory. 5 Then I said:
“O Lord God, cease, I pray!
(KC)Oh, that Jacob may stand,
For he is small!”
6 So the Lord relented concerning this.
“This also shall not be,” said the Lord God.
Vision of the Plumb Line
7 Thus He showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. 8 And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”
And I said, “A plumb line.”
Then the Lord said:
“Behold, (KD)I am setting a plumb line
In the midst of My people Israel;
(KE)I will not pass by them anymore.
9 (KF)The [ce]high places of Isaac shall be desolate,
And the [cf]sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste.
(KG)I will rise with the sword against the house of Jeroboam.”
Amaziah’s Complaint
10 Then Amaziah the (KH)priest of (KI)Bethel sent to (KJ)Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to [cg]bear all his words. 11 For thus Amos has said:
‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
And Israel shall surely be led away (KK)captive
From their own land.’ ”
12 Then Amaziah said to Amos:
“Go, you seer!
Flee to the land of Judah.
There eat bread,
And there prophesy.
13 But (KL)never again prophesy at Bethel,
(KM)For it is the king’s [ch]sanctuary,
And it is the royal [ci]residence.”
14 Then Amos answered, and said to Amaziah:
“I was no prophet,
Nor was I (KN)a son of a prophet,
But I was a (KO)sheepbreeder
And a tender of sycamore fruit.
15 Then the Lord took me [cj]as I followed the flock,
And the Lord said to me,
‘Go, (KP)prophesy to My people Israel.’
16 Now therefore, hear the word of the Lord:
You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
And (KQ)do not [ck]spout against the house of Isaac.’
17 “Therefore(KR) thus says the Lord:
(KS)‘Your wife shall be a harlot in the city;
Your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword;
Your land shall be divided by survey line;
You shall die in a (KT)defiled land;
And Israel shall surely be led away captive
From his own land.’ ”
Vision of the Summer Fruit
8 Thus the Lord God showed me: Behold, a basket of summer fruit. 2 And He said, “Amos, what do you see?”
So I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”
Then the Lord said to me:
(KU)“The end has come upon My people Israel;
(KV)I will not pass by them anymore.
3 And (KW)the songs of the temple
Shall be wailing in that day,”
Says the Lord God—
“Many dead bodies everywhere,
(KX)They shall be thrown out in silence.”
4 Hear this, you who [cl]swallow up the needy,
And make the poor of the land fail,
5 Saying:
“When will the New Moon be past,
That we may sell grain?
And (KY)the Sabbath,
That we may [cm]trade wheat?
(KZ)Making the ephah small and the shekel large,
Falsifying the scales by (LA)deceit,
6 That we may buy the poor for (LB)silver,
And the needy for a pair of sandals—
Even sell the bad wheat?”
7 The Lord has sworn by (LC)the pride of Jacob:
“Surely (LD)I will never forget any of their works.
8 (LE)Shall the land not tremble for this,
And everyone mourn who dwells in it?
All of it shall swell like [cn]the River,
Heave and subside
(LF)Like the River of Egypt.
9 “And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord God,
(LG)“That I will make the sun go down at noon,
And I will darken the earth in [co]broad daylight;
10 I will turn your feasts into (LH)mourning,
(LI)And all your songs into lamentation;
(LJ)I will bring sackcloth on every waist,
And baldness on every head;
I will make it like mourning for an only son,
And its end like a bitter day.
11 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God,
“That I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine of bread,
Nor a thirst for water,
But (LK)of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 They shall wander from sea to sea,
And from north to east;
They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,
But shall (LL)not find it.
13 “In that day the fair virgins
And strong young men
Shall faint from thirst.
14 Those who (LM)swear by (LN)the [cp]sin of Samaria,
Who say,
‘As your god lives, O Dan!’
And, ‘As the way of (LO)Beersheba lives!’
They shall fall and never rise again.”
The Destruction of Israel
9 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and He said:
“Strike the [cq]doorposts, that the thresholds may shake,
And (LP)break them on the heads of them all.
I will slay the last of them with the sword.
(LQ)He who flees from them shall not get away,
And he who escapes from them shall not be delivered.
2 “Though(LR) they dig into [cr]hell,
From there My hand shall take them;
(LS)Though they climb up to heaven,
From there I will bring them down;
3 And though they (LT)hide themselves on top of Carmel,
From there I will search and take them;
Though they hide from My sight at the bottom of the sea,
From there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them;
4 Though they go into captivity before their enemies,
From there (LU)I will command the sword,
And it shall slay them.
(LV)I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good.”
5 The Lord God of hosts,
He who touches the earth and it (LW)melts,
(LX)And all who dwell there mourn;
All of it shall swell like [cs]the River,
And subside like the River of Egypt.
6 He who builds His (LY)layers[ct] in the sky,
And has founded His strata in the earth;
Who (LZ)calls for the waters of the sea,
And pours them out on the face of the earth—
(MA)The Lord is His name.
7 “Are you not like the [cu]people of Ethiopia to Me,
O children of Israel?” says the Lord.
“Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,
The (MB)Philistines from (MC)Caphtor,[cv]
And the Syrians from (MD)Kir?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.