Study Desk

Hear this word which I am taking up for you as a ^(C1)song of mourning, house of Israel:

She has fallen, she will ^(C1)not rise again— The ^(C2)virgin Israel. She lies unnoticed on her land; There is ^(C3)no one to raise her up.

For this is what the Lord ^(F1)GOD says: "The city which goes forth a thousand strong Will have a ^(C1)hundred left, And the one which goes forth a hundred strong Will have ^(C2)ten left to the house of Israel."

For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: "^(C1)Seek Me ^(C2)so that you may live.

-"But do not ^(F1)resort to ^(C1)Bethel And do not come to ^(C2)Gilgal, Nor cross over to ^(C3)Beersheba; For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity And Bethel will ^(F2)come to nothing.

-"^(C1)Seek the LORD so that you may live, Or He will break through like a ^(C2)fire, ^(F1)house of Joseph, And it will consume with no one to extinguish it for Bethel,

For those who turn ^(C1)justice into wormwood, And ^(F1)throw righteousness to the earth."

He who made the ^(C1)Pleiades and Orion, And ^(C2)changes deep darkness into morning, ^(F1)Who also ^(C3)darkens day into night, Who ^(C4)calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the surface of the earth, The ^(C5)LORD is His name.

It is He who ^(C1)makes destruction flash upon the strong, So that ^(C2)destruction comes upon the fortress.

They hate him who ^(C1)rebukes in the ^(F1)gate, And they ^(C2)despise him who speaks with integrity.

Therefore because you impose heavy ^(F1)rent on the poor And take a tribute of grain from them, Though you have built ^(C1)houses of cut stone, Yet you will not live in them; You have planted beautiful vineyards, yet you will ^(C2)not drink their wine.

For I know your offenses are many and your sins are great, You who are ^(C1)hostile to the righteous and accept bribes, And ^(F1)turn away the poor from justice at the ^(F2)gate.

Therefore at ^(F1)such a time the prudent person ^(C1)keeps quiet, because it is an evil time.

Seek good and not evil, so that you may live; And so may the LORD God of armies be with you, ^(C1)Just as you have said!

^(C1)Hate evil, love good, And establish justice in the ^(F1)gate! Perhaps the LORD God of armies ^(C2)Will be gracious to the ^(C3)remnant of Joseph.

Therefore this is what the LORD God of armies, the Lord says: "There is ^(C1)mourning in all the public squares, And in all the streets they say, 'Oh no! Oh no!' They also call the ^(C2)farmer to mourning And ^(F1)(C3)professional mourners to mourning rites.

-"And in all the ^(C1)vineyards there is mourning, Because I will pass through the midst of you," says the LORD.

Woe to you who are longing for the ^(C1)day of the LORD, For what ^(F1)purpose will the day of the LORD be to you? It will be ^(C2)darkness and not light;

As when a man ^(C1)flees from a lion And a bear confronts him, ^(F1)Or he goes home, leans with his hand against the wall, And a snake bites him.

Will the day of the LORD not be ^(C1)darkness instead of light, Even gloom with no brightness in it?

"I hate, I ^(C1)reject your festivals, Nor do I ^(F1)(C2)delight in your festive assemblies.

-"Even though you ^(C1)offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the ^(C2)peace offerings of your fattened oxen.

-"Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.

-"But let ^(C1)justice roll out like waters, And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

"^(F1)(C1)Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, house of Israel?

"^(C1)You also carried along ^(F1)Sikkuth your king and ^(F2)Kiyyun, your images, ^(F3)the star of your gods which you made for yourselves.

"Therefore I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus," says the LORD, whose name is the God of armies.

^(C1)Woe to those who are carefree in Zion, And to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, The ^(C2)dignitaries of the foremost of nations, To whom the house of Israel comes.

Go over to ^(C1)Calneh and look, And go from there to ^(C2)Hamath the great, Then go down to ^(C3)Gath of the Philistines. Are ^(F1)they better than these kingdoms, Or is their territory greater than yours?

Are you ^(C1)postponing the day of disaster, And would you ^(C2)bring near the seat of violence?

Those who lie on beds of ivory, And lounge around on their ^(C1)couches, And ^(C2)eat lambs from the flock, And calves from the midst of the fattened cattle,

Who improvise to the sound of the harp, And like David have ^(F1)composed ^(C1)songs for themselves,

Who ^(C1)drink wine from sacred bowls While they anoint themselves with the finest of oils— Yet they have not ^(C2)grieved over the collapse of Joseph.

Therefore, they will now ^(C1)go into exile at the head of the exiles, And the revelry of those who ^(C2)lounge around will come to an end.

The Lord ^(F1)GOD has ^(C1)sworn by Himself, the LORD God of armies has declared: "I ^(C2)loathe the arrogance of Jacob, And ^(F2)detest his ^(C3)citadels; Therefore I will ^(C4)give up the city and ^(F3)all it contains."

And it will be, if ^(C1)ten men are left in one house, they will die.

Then one's ^(F1)uncle, or his ^(C1)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 ^(F2)answer, "^(C2)Keep quiet! For ^(F3)the name of the LORD is ^(C3)not to be mentioned."

For behold, the LORD is going to ^(C1)command that the ^(C2)great house be smashed to pieces, and the small house to rubble.

Do horses run on rocks? Or does one ^(F1)plow them with oxen? Yet you have turned ^(C1)justice into poison, And the fruit of righteousness into ^(F2)wormwood,

You who rejoice in ^(F1)(C1)Lodebar, ^(F2)And say, "Have we not ^(C2)by our own strength taken ^(F3)Karnaim for ourselves?"

"For behold, ^(C1)I am going to raise up a nation against you, House of Israel," declares the LORD God of armies, "And they will torment you from the ^(C2)entrance of Hamath To the ^(C2)brook of the Arabah."

This is what the Lord ^(F1)GOD showed me, and behold, He was forming a ^(C1)swarm of locusts ^(F2)when the spring crop began to sprout. And behold, the spring crop was after the king's mowing.

And it came about, ^(F1)when it had ^(C1)finished eating the vegetation of the land, that I said, "^(C2)Lord GOD, please pardon! How can Jacob stand? For he is ^(C3)small."

The LORD ^(C1)relented of this. "It shall not be," said the LORD.

So the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, the Lord GOD was calling to contend with them by ^(C1)fire, and it consumed the great deep and began to consume the ^(F1)farmland.

Then I said, "^(C1)Lord GOD, please stop! ^(C2)How can Jacob stand? For he is small."

The LORD ^(C1)relented of this. "This too shall not be," said the Lord GOD.

So He showed me, and behold, the Lord was standing ^(F1)by a ^(F2)vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand.

And the LORD said to me, "^(C1)What do you see, Amos?" And I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "Behold I am about to put a ^(C2)plumb line In the midst of My people Israel. I will not ^(F1)(C3)spare them any longer.

-"The ^(C1)high places of Isaac will become deserted, And the ^(C2)sanctuaries of Israel will be in ruins. Then I will ^(C3)rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword."

Then Amaziah, the ^(C1)priest of Bethel, sent word to ^(C2)Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, "Amos has ^(C3)conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is unable to endure all his words.

"For this is what Amos says: 'Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.'"

Then Amaziah said to Amos, "^(C1)Go, you seer, flee to the land of Judah; and eat bread there and do your prophesying there!

"But ^(C1)do not prophesy at Bethel any longer, for it is a ^(C2)sanctuary of the king and a royal ^(F1)residence."

Then Amos replied to Amaziah, "I am not a prophet, nor am I the ^(C1)son of a prophet; for I am a herdsman and a ^(F1)grower of sycamore figs.

"But the LORD took me from ^(F1)following the flock, and the LORD said to me, 'Go ^(C1)prophesy to My people Israel.'

"So now hear the word of the LORD: you are saying, 'You ^(C1)shall not prophesy against Israel ^(C2)nor shall you ^(F1)prophesy against the house of Isaac.'

"Therefore, this is what the LORD says: 'Your ^(C1)wife will become a prostitute in the city, your ^(C2)sons and your daughters will fall by the sword, your land will be parceled up by a measuring line, and you yourself will die ^(F1)upon ^(C3)unclean soil. Furthermore Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.'"

This is what the Lord ^(F1)GOD showed me, and behold, there was a basket of summer fruit.

And He said, "What do you see, Amos?" And ^(C1)I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the LORD said to me, "The ^(C2)end has come for My people Israel. I will not ^(F1)(C3)spare them any longer.

"^(F1)The ^(C1)songs of the palace will turn to ^(C2)wailing on that day," declares the Lord GOD. "The ^(C3)corpses will be many; in every place ^(F2)they will throw them out. ^(F3)Hush!"

Hear this, you who ^(F1)(C1)trample the needy, to put an end to the humble of the land,

saying, "When will the ^(C1)new moon ^(F1)be over, So that we may sell grain; And the ^(C2)Sabbath, so that we may open the wheat market, To make the ^(F2)ephah smaller and the ^(F3)shekel bigger, And to ^(C3)cheat with dishonest scales,

So as to ^(C1)buy the helpless for ^(F1)money, And the needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?"

The LORD has ^(C1)sworn by the ^(C2)pride of Jacob, "Indeed, I will ^(C3)never forget any of their deeds.

-"Because of this will the land not ^(C1)quake, And everyone who lives in it ^(C2)mourn? Indeed, all of it will ^(C3)rise up like the Nile, And it will be tossed about And subside like the Nile of Egypt.

-"And it will come about on that day," declares the Lord GOD, "That I will make the ^(C1)sun go down at noon, And ^(C2)make the earth dark in ^(F1)broad daylight.

-"Then I will ^(C1)turn your festivals into mourning, And all your songs into songs of mourning; And I will put ^(C2)sackcloth around everyone's waist, And ^(F1)baldness on every head. And I will make it ^(C3)like a time of mourning for an only son, And the end of it will be like a bitter day.

"Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, But rather ^(C1)for hearing the words of the LORD.

-"People will stagger from sea to sea And from the north even to the east; They will roam about to ^(C1)seek the word of the LORD, But they will not find it.

-"On that day the beautiful ^(C1)virgins And the young men will ^(C2)faint from thirst.

-"As for those who swear by the ^(F1)(C1)guilt of Samaria, And say, 'As your god lives, ^(C2)Dan,' And, 'As the way of ^(C3)Beersheba lives,' They will fall and ^(C4)not rise again."

I saw the Lord standing beside the ^(C1)altar, and He said, "Strike the pillar capitals so that the ^(C2)thresholds will shake, And ^(C3)break them on the heads of them all! Then I will ^(C4)put to death the rest of them with the sword; They will ^(C5)not have a fugitive who will flee, Nor a survivor who will escape.

-"Though they dig into ^(C1)Sheol, From there My hand will take them; And though they ^(C2)ascend to heaven, From there I will bring them down.

-"And though they hide on the summit of Carmel, I will ^(C1)track them down and take them from there; And though they ^(C2)hide themselves from My sight on the bottom of the sea, I will command the ^(C3)serpent from there, and it will bite them.

-"And though they go into ^(C1)captivity before their enemies, From there I will command the sword and it will kill them, And I will ^(C2)set My eyes against them for harm and not for good."

The Lord ^(F1)GOD of armies, The One who ^(C1)touches the land so that it quakes, And ^(C2)all those who live in it mourn, And all of it rises up like the Nile And subsides like the Nile of Egypt;

The One who builds His ^(C1)upper chambers in the heavens And has founded His vaulted dome over the earth, He who ^(C2)calls for the waters of the sea And ^(C3)pours them out on the face of the earth, ^(C4)The LORD is His name.

"Are you not as the sons of ^(C1)Ethiopia to Me, You sons of Israel?" declares the LORD. "Have I not brought up Israel from the land of Egypt, And the ^(C2)Philistines from Caphtor and the ^(C3)Arameans from ^(C4)Kir?

-"Behold, the ^(C1)eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, And I will ^(C2)eliminate it from the face of the earth; Nevertheless, I will ^(C3)not totally eliminate the house of Jacob," Declares the LORD.

"For behold, I am commanding, And I will ^(C1)shake the house of Israel among all nations As grain is shaken in a sieve, But not a pebble will fall to the ground.

-"All the ^(C1)sinners of My people will die by the sword, Those who say, '^(C2)The catastrophe will not overtake or confront us.'

"On that day I will ^(C1)raise up the fallen ^(F1)(C2)shelter of David, And wall up its ^(C3)gaps; I will also raise up its ruins And rebuild it as in the ^(C4)days of old;

^(C1)So that they may ^(F1)possess the remnant of ^(C2)Edom And all the ^(F2)nations who are ^(C3)called by My name," Declares the LORD who does this.

"Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "When the ^(C1)plowman will overtake the reaper, And the one who treads grapes will overtake him who sows the seed; When the ^(C2)mountains will drip grape juice, And all the hills will come apart.

-"I will also ^(C1)restore the fortunes of My people Israel, And they will ^(C2)rebuild the desolated cities and live in them; They will also ^(C3)plant vineyards and drink their wine, And make gardens and eat their fruit.

-"I will also plant them on their land, And ^(C1)they will not be uprooted again from their land Which I have given them," Says the LORD your God.