Study Desk

"Their king will go into exile, He and his princes together," says the LORD.

This is what the LORD says: "For three offenses of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke its punishment, Because they rejected the Law of the LORD And have not kept His statutes; Their lies also have led them astray, Those which their fathers followed.

"These who trample the head of the helpless to the dust of the earth Also divert the way of the humble; And a man and his father resort to the same girl So as to profane My holy name.

"Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, Though his height was like the height of cedars And he was as strong as the oaks; I also destroyed his fruit above and his roots below.

"Refuge will be lost from the swift, And the strong will not strengthen his power, Nor the warrior save his life.

"The one who grasps the bow will not stand his ground, The swift of foot will not escape, Nor will the one who rides the horse save his life.

Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Does a young lion growl from his den unless he has captured something?

Certainly the Lord GOD does nothing Unless He reveals His secret plan To His servants the prophets.

The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness, "For behold, the days are coming upon you When they will take you away with meat hooks, And the last of you with fish hooks.

For behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind, And declares to a person what are His thoughts, He who makes dawn into darkness And treads on the high places of the earth, The LORD God of armies is His name.

He who made the Pleiades and Orion, And changes deep darkness into morning, Who also darkens day into night, Who calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the surface of the earth, The LORD is His name.

As when a man flees from a lion And a bear confronts him, Or he goes home, leans with his hand against the wall, And a snake bites him.

The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself, the LORD God of armies has declared: "I loathe the arrogance of Jacob, And detest his citadels; Therefore I will give up the city and all it contains."

Then one's uncle, or his undertaker, will lift him up to carry out his bones from the house, and he will say to the one who is in the innermost part of the house, "Is anyone else with you?" And that one will say, "No one." Then he will answer, "Keep quiet! For the name of the LORD is not to be mentioned."

So He showed me, and behold, the Lord was standing by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand.

Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, "Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is unable to endure all his words.

The One who builds His upper chambers in the heavens And has founded His vaulted dome over the earth, He who calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the face of the earth, The LORD is His name.

"The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, The one who lives in the clefts of the rock, On the height of his dwelling place, Who says in his heart, 'Who will bring me down to earth?'

"Oh how Esau will be searched, And his hidden treasures searched out!

"On the day that you stood aloof, On the day that strangers carried off his wealth, And foreigners entered his gate And cast lots for Jerusalem— You too were as one of them.