Lesson 3 – Prophets
Call
1.
Stories about
Elisha and the prophets
2.
Jehu’s revolt
3.
Various
kings; focus on
4.
The fall of
5.
Hezekiah
6.
Manasseh and Amon Josiah
7.
The final
kings and fall of
Passage Speaker
1.
5:15
2.
6:1-3
3.
6:4-6
4.
14:1-2
5.
14:4-7
6.
14:9
Discussing anger and love
The "Bible Background"
(paragraphs 6-9) names betrayal of love as a primary issue in Hosea.
How is betrayal of love present in Hosea 5:15— 6:6? in
chapter 14?
Amos calls
What is Amos' criticism in 6:1-7?
How are the actions of "those who are at ease in
Some persons caricature the image
of God in the Old Testament as a God of anger.
In both Hosea and Amos, we see images of an angry God.
But at the same time, Hosea 11:4 paints an image of a loving God who lifts an
infant near a cheek.
What is the relationship between anger and love?
If you are angry with your child, do you
stop loving him or her?
When is it appropriate for us to be angry with those we love? How can we
appropriately respond to our anger?
“I was to them like
those who lift infants to their cheeks.”
Bible
Background (taken from Journey
through the Bible Book 2, Christian Board of Publications, 1995, p. 15)
Some
years after Elijah had his contest with the prophets and priests of Baal and Asherah, the Canaanite deities, a reforming king named Jehu went even farther than Elijah, murdering many persons
in
2It was
this situation that confronted Amos and Hosea around 760 B.C.E. when God called
them to be prophets. Prophets were summoned by God to bring a particular
message at a specific time. Priests did their duties day by day and year by
year. Wisdom teachers taught the young and advised the leaders of the state on
a regular basis. But prophets understood themselves called by God to bring
God's guidance, judgments, and promises to particular groups. This guidance was
recognized to come to the prophets, not out of the tradition, not out of their
own experience and gifts alone, but as a special, revealed message from
God to meet the immediate situation. The prophets did, of course, bring their
own knowledge and skills to the task of proclaiming God's word. But they were
convinced that God gave them special guidance.
3Amos
concentrated on the widespread injustice in public life within North Israel,
4Amos also spoke sharply against the
worship of the people. The people did not seem to recognize that to worship God
on the feast and fast days and on the sabbath day,
while ignoring their responsibility to live as faithful sons and daughters of
the covenant day by day, was an offense to God. God would not accept their
prayers and their offerings and their religious devotion unless their devotion to
God also carried over to their neighbors. Amos threatened terrible punishment
on this unfaithful people, but his heart ached for the people to repent, to
return to God as faithful men and women.
5Hosea prophesied in
6Hosea
found in his own family life an analogy, a parable of God's relations with the
people
7That
is how Hosea's message begins.
8Hosea
builds on this message, showing that priests and prophets alike have failed to
help the people understand God's love and God's demands. The result is a
breakdown of all social orders. One sees killing, stealing, lying, adultery—the
breaking of all bounds. The religious leaders, Hosea points out, have
responsibility to keep the religious traditions alive, to interpret their
central meaning, and to help the community enter more deeply into the very
life-purpose and presence of God.
9Hosea
is the prophet who stressed God's love for a sinful people even while it is
sinful. But he called
Scripture
Hosea
CHAPTER 1
(Hosea 1:1-11)
1 The word of the LORD that came
to Hosea son of Beeri, in the days of Kings
Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz,
and Hezekiah of
son of Joash of Israel. (back to lesson)
2 When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, "Go, take for
yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits
great whoredom by forsaking the LORD."
3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him
a son.
4 And the LORD said to him, "Name him Jezreel; for in a little while I will
punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the
kingdom of the house of
5 On that day I will break the bow of
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the LORD said to him, "Name her
Lo-ruhamah, for I will no
longer have pity on the house of
them.
7 But I will have pity on the house of
their God; I will not save them by bow, or by sword, or by war, or by horses, or
by horsemen."
8 When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son.
9 Then the LORD said, "Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people and I am not
your God."
10 Yet the number of the people of
which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said
to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said to them, "Children of the
living God."
11 The people of
they shall appoint for themselves one head; and they shall take possession of
the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
(Hosea 2)
CHAPTER 2
(Hosea 2:1-23)
1 Say to your brother, Ammi, and to your sister, Ruhamah.
2 Plead with your mother, plead-- for she is not my wife, and I am not her
husband-- that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from
between her breasts,
3 or I will strip her naked and expose her as in the day she was born, and make
her like a wilderness, and turn her into a parched land, and kill her with
thirst.
4 Upon her children also I will have no pity, because they are children of
whoredom.
5 For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted
shamefully. For she said, "I will go after my lovers; they give me my bread and
my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink."
6 Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns; and I will build a wall against
her, so that she cannot find her paths.
7 She shall pursue her lovers, but not overtake them; and she shall seek them,
but shall not find them. Then she shall say, "I will go and return to my first
husband, for it was better with me then than now."
8 She did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and who lavished upon her silver and gold that they used for Baal.
9 Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season;
and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness.
10 Now I will uncover her shame in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall
rescue her out of my hand.
11 I will put an end to all her mirth, her festivals, her new moons, her
sabbaths, and all her appointed festivals.
12 I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, "These are
my pay, which my lovers have given me." I will make them a forest, and the wild
animals shall devour them.
13 I will punish her for the festival days of the Baals, when she offered
incense to them and decked herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her
lovers, and forgot me, says the LORD.
14 Therefore, I will now allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and
speak tenderly to her.
15 From there I will give her her
vineyards, and make the
of hope. There she shall respond as in the days of her youth, as at the time
when she came out of the
16 On that day, says the LORD, you will call me, "My husband," and no longer
will you call me, "My Baal."
17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be
mentioned by name no more.
18 I will make for you a covenant on that day with the wild animals, the birds
of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; and I will abolish the bow,
the sword, and war from the land; and I will make you lie down in safety.
19 And I will take you for my wife forever; I will take you for my wife in
righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy.
20 I will take you for my wife in faithfulness; and you shall know the LORD.
21 On that day I will answer, says the LORD, I will answer the heavens and they
shall answer the earth;
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall
answer Jezreel;
23 and I will sow him for myself in the land. And I will have pity on
Lo-ruhamah, and I will say to Lo-ammi, "You are my people"; and he shall say,
"You are my God."
(Hosea 3)
CHAPTER 3
(Hosea 3:1-5)
1 The LORD said to me again, "Go, love a woman who has a lover and is an
adulteress, just as the LORD
loves the people of
other gods and love raisin cakes."
2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer of barley and a
measure of wine.
3 And I said to her, "You must remain as mine for many days; you shall not play
the whore, you shall not have intercourse with a man, nor I with you."
4 For the Israelites shall remain many days without king or prince, without
sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or teraphim.
5 Afterward the Israelites shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David
their king; they shall come in awe to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter
days.
(Hosea 4)
CHAPTER 4
(Hosea 4:1-19)
1 Hear the word of the LORD, O people of
against the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or loyalty, and no
knowledge of God in the land.
2 Swearing, lying, and murder, and stealing and adultery break out; bloodshed
follows bloodshed.
3 Therefore the land mourns, and all who live in it languish; together with the
wild animals and the birds of the air, even the fish of the sea are perishing.
4 Yet let no one contend, and let none accuse, for with you is my contention, O
priest.
5 You shall stumble by day; the prophet also shall stumble with you by night,
and I will destroy your mother.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected
knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten
the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
7 The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; they changed their
glory into shame.
8 They feed on the sin of my people; they are greedy for their iniquity.
9 And it shall be like people, like priest; I will punish them for their ways,
and repay them for their deeds.
10 They shall eat, but not be satisfied; they shall play the whore, but not
multiply; because they have forsaken the LORD to devote themselves to
11 whoredom. Wine and new wine take away the understanding.
12 My people consult a piece of wood, and their divining rod gives them oracles.
For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have played the whore,
forsaking their God.
13 They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and make offerings upon the
hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is good. Therefore
your daughters play the whore, and your daughters- in-law commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore, nor your
daughters-in-law when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go aside with
whores, and sacrifice with temple prostitutes; thus a people without
understanding comes to ruin.
15 Though you play the whore, O Israel, do not let
enter into Gilgal, or go up to Beth-aven, and do not swear, "As the LORD lives."
16 Like a stubborn heifer,
lamb in a broad pasture?
17 Ephraim is joined to idols-- let him alone.
18 When their drinking is ended, they indulge in sexual orgies; they love
lewdness more than their glory.
19 A wind has wrapped them in its wings, and they shall be ashamed because of
their altars.
(Hosea 5)
CHAPTER 5
(Hosea 5:1-15)
1 Hear this, O priests! Give heed, O house of
king! For the judgment pertains to you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah, and
a net spread upon Tabor,
2 and a pit dug deep in Shittim; but I will punish all of them.
3 I know Ephraim, and
played the whore;
4 Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of
whoredom is within them, and they do not know the LORD.
5
also stumbles with them.
6 With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the LORD, but they will not
find him; he has withdrawn from them.
7 They have dealt faithlessly with the LORD; for they have borne illegitimate
children. Now the new moon shall devour them along with their fields.
8 Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah. Sound the alarm at Beth-aven;
look behind you, Benjamin!
9 Ephraim shall become a desolation in the day of punishment; among the tribes
of
10 The princes of
I will pour out my wrath like water.
11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was determined to go
after vanity.
12 Therefore I am like maggots to Ephraim, and like rottenness to the house of
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and
wound.
14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of
rescue.
15 I will return again to my place until they acknowledge
their guilt and seek
my face. In their distress they will beg my favor:
(Hosea 6)
1
"Come, let us return to the LORD; for it is he who has torn, and he will
heal
us; he has struck down, and he will bind us up.
2
After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that
we may live before him.
3
Let us know, let us press on to know the LORD; his appearing is as sure as the
dawn; he will come to us like the showers, like the spring
rains that water the
earth."
4
What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your
love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes away
early.
5
Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have killed them by the words of
my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light.
6
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather
than burnt offerings. (on to next passage)
7 But at Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with
me.
8
9 As robbers lie in wait for someone, so the priests are banded together; they
murder on the road to Shechem, they commit a monstrous crime.
10 In the house of
there,
11 For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed. When I would restore the
fortunes of my people,
(Hosea 7)
CHAPTER 7
(Hosea 7:1-16)
1 when I would heal
wicked deeds of
bandits raid outside.
2 But they do not consider that I remember all their wickedness. Now their deeds
surround them, they are before my face.
3 By their wickedness they make the king glad, and the officials by their
treachery.
4 They are all adulterers; they are like a heated oven, whose baker does not
need to stir the fire, from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.
5 On the day of our king the officials became sick with the heat of wine; he
stretched out his hand with mockers.
6 For they are kindled like an oven, their heart burns within them; all night
their anger smolders; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
7 All of them are hot as an oven, and they devour their rulers. All their kings
have fallen; none of them calls upon me.
8 Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned.
9 Foreigners devour his strength, but he does not know it; gray hairs are
sprinkled upon him, but he does not know it.
10
their God, or seek him, for all this.
11 Ephraim has become like a dove, silly and without sense; they call upon
12 As they go, I will cast my net over them; I will bring them down like birds
of the air; I will discipline them according to the report made to their
assembly.
13 Woe to them, for they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, for they
have rebelled against me! I would redeem them, but they speak lies against me.
14 They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds; they
gash themselves for grain and wine; they rebel against me.
15 It was I who trained and strengthened their arms, yet they plot evil against
me.
16 They turn to that which does not profit; they have become like a defective
bow; their officials shall fall by the sword because of the rage of their
tongue. So
much for their babbling in the
(Hosea 8)
CHAPTER 8
(Hosea 8:1-14)
1 Set the trumpet to your lips! One like a vulture is over the house of the
LORD, because they have broken my covenant, and transgressed my law.
2
3
4 They made kings, but not through me; they set up princes, but without my
knowledge. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction.
5 Your calf is rejected, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will
they be incapable of innocence?
6 For it is from
shall be broken to pieces.
7 For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain
has no heads, it shall yield no meal; if it were to yield, foreigners would
devour it.
8
9 For they have gone up to
bargained for lovers.
10 Though they bargain with the nations, I will now gather them up. They shall
soon writhe under the burden of kings and princes.
11 When Ephraim multiplied altars to expiate sin, they became to him altars for
sinning.
12 Though I write for him the multitude of my instructions, they are regarded as
a strange thing.
13 Though they offer choice sacrifices, though they eat flesh, the LORD does not
accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and punish their sins; they
shall return to
14
fortified cities; but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour
his strongholds.
(Hosea 9)
CHAPTER 9
(Hosea 9:1-17)
1 Do not rejoice, O Israel! Do not exult as other nations do; for you have
played the whore, departing from your God. You have loved a prostitute's pay on
all threshing floors.
2 Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail
them.
3 They shall not remain in the land of the LORD; but Ephraim shall return to
4 They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the LORD, and their sacrifices
shall not please him. Such sacrifices shall be like mourners' bread; all who eat
of it shall be defiled; for their bread shall be for their hunger only; it shall
not come to the house of the LORD.
5 What will you do on the day of appointed festival, and on the day of the
festival of the LORD?
6 For even if they escape destruction,
bury them. Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver; thorns shall
be in their tents.
7 The days of punishment have come, the days of
recompense have come;
cries, "The prophet is a fool, the man of the spirit is mad!" Because of your
great iniquity, your hostility is great.
8 The prophet is a sentinel for my God over Ephraim, yet a fowler's snare is on
all his ways, and hostility in the house of his God.
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah; he will
remember their iniquity, he will punish their sins.
10 Like grapes in the wilderness, I found
fig tree, in its first season, I saw your ancestors. But they came to Baal-peor,
and consecrated themselves to a thing of shame, and became detestable like the
thing they loved.
11 Ephraim's glory shall fly away like a bird-- no birth, no pregnancy, no
conception!
12 Even if they bring up children, I will bereave them until no one is left. Woe
to them indeed when I depart from them!
13 Once I saw Ephraim as a young palm planted in a lovely meadow, but now
Ephraim must lead out his children for slaughter.
14 Give them, O LORD-- what will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry
breasts.
15 Every evil of theirs began at Gilgal; there I came to hate them. Because of
the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love
them no more; all their officials are rebels.
16 Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit. Even
though they give birth, I will kill the cherished offspring of their womb.
17 Because they have not listened to him, my God will reject them; they shall
become wanderers among the nations.
(Hosea 10)
CHAPTER 10
(Hosea 10:1-15)
1
the more altars he built; as his country improved, he improved his pillars.
2 Their heart is false; now they must bear their guilt. The LORD will break down
their altars, and destroy their pillars.
3 For now they will say: "We have no king, for we do not fear the LORD, and a
king--what could he do for us?"
4 They utter mere words; with empty oaths they make covenants; so litigation
springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.
5 The inhabitants of
mourn for it, and its idolatrous priests shall wail over it, over its glory that
has departed from it.
6 The thing itself shall be carried to
Ephraim shall be put to shame, and
7
8 The high places of Aven, the
sin of
thistle shall grow up on their altars. They shall say to the mountains, Cover
us, and to the hills, Fall on us.
9 Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel; there they have continued.
Shall not war overtake them in Gibeah?
10 I will come against the wayward people to punish them; and nations shall be
gathered against them when they are punished for their double iniquity.
11 Ephraim was a trained heifer that loved to thresh, and I spared her fair
neck; but I will make Ephraim
break the ground;
harrow for himself.
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow
ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness
upon you.
13 You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice, you have eaten the
fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your power and in the multitude of
your warriors,
14 therefore the tumult of war shall rise against your people, and all your
fortresses shall be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth- arbel on the day of
battle when mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.
15 Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel, because of your great wickedness. At
dawn the king of
(Hosea 11)
CHAPTER 11
(Hosea 11:1-12)
1 When
2 The more I called them, the more they went from me; they kept sacrificing to
the Baals, and offering incense to idols.
3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they
did not know that I healed them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them
like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.
5 They shall return to the
because they have refused to return to me.
6 The sword rages in their cities, it consumes their oracle-priests, and devours
because of their schemes.
7 My people are bent on turning away from me. To the Most High they call, but he
does not raise them up at all.
8 How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I
make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within
me; my compassion grows warm and tender.
9 I will not execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am
God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.
10 They shall go after the LORD, who roars like a lion; when he roars, his
children shall come trembling from the west.
11 They shall come trembling like birds from
of
12 Ephraim has surrounded me with lies, and the house of
(Hosea 12)
CHAPTER 12
(Hosea 12:1-14)
1 Ephraim herds the wind, and pursues the east wind all day long; they multiply
falsehood and violence; they
make a treaty with
2 The LORD has an indictment against
his ways, and repay him according to his deeds.
3 In the womb he tried to supplant his brother, and in his manhood he strove
with God.
4 He strove with the angel and prevailed, he wept and sought his favor; he met
him at
5 The LORD the God of hosts, the LORD is his name!
6 But as for you, return to your God, hold fast to love and justice, and wait
continually for your God.
7 A trader, in whose hands are false balances, he loves to oppress.
8 Ephraim has said, "Ah, I am rich, I have gained wealth for myself; in all of
my gain no offense has been found in me that would be sin."
9 I am the LORD your God from the
again, as in the days of the appointed festival.
10 I spoke to the prophets; it was I who multiplied visions, and through the
prophets I will bring destruction.
11 In
they sacrifice bulls, so their altars shall be like stone heaps on the furrows
of the field.
12 Jacob fled to the
wife he guarded sheep.
13 By a prophet the LORD brought
guarded.
14 Ephraim has given bitter offense, so his Lord will bring his crimes down on
him and pay him back for his insults.
(Hosea 13)
CHAPTER 13
(Hosea 13:1-16)
1 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he was exalted
in
incurred guilt through Baal and died.
2 And now they keep on sinning and make a cast image for themselves, idols of
silver made according to their understanding, all of them the work of artisans.
"Sacrifice to these," they say. People are kissing calves!
3 Therefore they shall be like the morning mist or like the dew that goes away
early, like chaff that swirls from the threshing floor or like smoke from a
window.
4 Yet I have been the LORD your God ever since the
God but me, and besides me there is no savior.
5 It was I who fed you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.
6 When I fed them, they were satisfied; they were satisfied, and their heart was
proud; therefore they forgot me.
7 So I will become like a lion to them, like a leopard I will lurk beside the
way.
8 I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs, and will tear open the
covering of their heart; there I will devour them like a lion, as a wild animal
would mangle them.
9 I will destroy you, O Israel; who can help you?
10 Where now is your king, that he may save you? Where in all your cities are
your rulers, of whom you said, "Give me a king and rulers"?
11 I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my wrath.
12 Ephraim's iniquity is bound up; his sin is kept in store.
13 The pangs of childbirth come for him, but he is an unwise son; for at the
proper time he does not present himself at the mouth of the womb.
14 Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from Death?
O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your destruction? Compassion
is hidden from my eyes.
15 Although he may flourish among rushes, the east wind shall come, a blast from
the LORD, rising from the wilderness; and his fountain shall dry up, his spring
shall be parched. It shall strip his treasury of every precious thing.
16
shall fall by the sword, their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their
pregnant women ripped open.
(Hosea 14)
CHAPTER 14
(Hosea 14:1-9)
1 Return, O Israel, 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
guilt;
accept that which is good, and we will offer the fruit of our
lips.
3
'Our God,' to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds
mercy."
4 I
will heal their disloyalty; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned
from them.
5 I
will be like the dew to
strike root like the forests of
6
His shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive tree, and his
fragrance like that of
7
They shall again live beneath my shadow, they shall flourish as a garden; they
shall blossom like the vine, their fragrance shall be like the
wine of
8 O
Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after
you. I am like an evergreen cypress; your faithfulness comes
from me.
9
Those who are wise understand these things; those who are discerning know
them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright
walk in them, but
transgressors stumble in them.
Amos
CHAPTER 1
(Amos 1:1-15)
1 The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw
concerning
Jeroboam son of Joash of
Israel, two years before the earthquake.
(back to lesson)
2 And he said: The LORD roars from
the pastures of the shepherds
wither, and the top of
3 Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of
not revoke the punishment;
because they have threshed
sledges of iron.
4 So I will send a fire on the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the
strongholds of Ben-hadad.
5 I will break the gate bars of
of
6 Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of
revoke the punishment; because they carried into exile entire communities, to
hand them over to
7 So I will send a fire on the wall of
strongholds.
8 I will cut off the inhabitants from
from
Philistines shall perish, says the Lord GOD.
9 Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of
revoke the punishment; because
they delivered entire communities over to
and did not remember the covenant of kinship.
10 So I will send a fire on the wall of
strongholds.
11 Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of
not revoke the punishment; because he pursued his brother with the sword and
cast off all pity; he maintained his anger perpetually, and kept his wrath
forever.
12 So I will send a fire on Teman, and it shall devour the strongholds of
Bozrah.
13 Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four,
I will not revoke the punishment; because they have ripped open pregnant women
in
14 So I will kindle a fire against the wall of Rabbah, fire that shall devour
its strongholds, with shouting on the day of battle, with a storm on the day of
the whirlwind;
15 then their king shall go into exile, he and his officials together, says the
LORD.
(Amos 2)
CHAPTER 2
(Amos 2:1-16)
1 Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of
revoke the punishment; because
he burned to lime the bones of the king of
2 So I will send a fire on
and
3 I will cut off the ruler from its midst, and will kill all its officials with
him, says the LORD.
4 Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of
not revoke the punishment; because they have rejected the law of the LORD, and
have not kept his statutes, but they have been led astray by the same lies after
which their ancestors walked.
5 So I will send a fire on
6 Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of
not revoke the punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver, and the
needy for a pair of sandals--
7 they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the
afflicted out of the way; father and son go in to the same girl, so that my holy
name is profaned;
8 they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge; and
in the house of their God they drink wine bought with fines they imposed.
9 Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of
cedars, and who was as strong as oaks; I destroyed his fruit above, and his
roots beneath.
10 Also I brought you up out of the
the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.
11 And I raised up some of your children to be prophets and some of your youths
to be nazirites.
Is it not indeed so, O people of
12 But you made the nazirites drink wine, and commanded the prophets, saying,
"You shall not prophesy."
13 So, I will press you down in your place, just as a cart presses down when it
is full of sheaves.
14 Flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not retain their
strength, nor shall the mighty save their lives;
15 those who handle the bow shall not stand, and those who are swift of foot
shall not save themselves, nor shall those who ride horses save their lives;
16 and those who are stout of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked in
that day, says the LORD.
(Amos 3)
CHAPTER 3
(Amos 3:1-15)
1 Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O
people of
against the whole family that I
brought up out of the
2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will
punish you for all your iniquities.
3 Do two walk together unless they have made an appointment?
4 Does a lion roar in the forest, when it has no prey? Does a young lion cry out
from its den, if it has caught nothing?
5 Does a bird fall into a snare on the earth, when there is no trap for it? Does
a snare spring up from the ground, when it has taken nothing?
6 Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster
befall a city, unless the LORD has done it?
7 Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants
the prophets.
8 The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but
prophesy?
9 Proclaim to the strongholds in
tumults are within it, and what oppressions are in its midst."
10 They do not know how to do right, says the LORD, those who store up violence
and robbery in their strongholds.
11 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: An adversary shall surround the land, and
strip you of your defense; and your strongholds shall be plundered.
12 Thus says the LORD: As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two
legs, or a piece of an ear, so
shall the people of
rescued, with the corner of a couch and part of a bed.
13 Hear, and testify against the house of Jacob, says the Lord GOD, the God of
hosts:
14 On the day I punish
of
15 I will tear down the winter house as well as the summer house; and the houses
of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall come to an end, says the LORD.
(Amos 4)
CHAPTER 4
(Amos 4:1-13)
1 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan
who are on
poor, who crush the needy, who say to their husbands, "Bring something to
drink!"
2 The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness: The time is surely coming upon you,
when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks.
3 Through breaches in the wall you shall leave, each one straight ahead; and you
shall be flung out into Harmon, says the LORD.
4 Come to
your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days;
5 bring a thank-offering of leavened bread, and proclaim freewill offerings,
publish them; for so you love to
do, O people of
6 I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all
your places, yet you did not return to me, says the LORD.
7 And I also withheld the rain from you when there were still three months to
the harvest; I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city;
one field would be rained upon, and the field on which it did not rain withered;
8 so two or three towns wandered to one town to drink water, and were not
satisfied; yet you did not return to me, says the LORD.
9 I struck you with blight and mildew; I laid waste your gardens and your
vineyards; the locust devoured your fig trees and your olive trees; yet you did
not return to me, says the LORD.
10 I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of
men with the sword; I carried away your horses; and I made the stench of your
camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me, says the LORD.
11 I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew
were like a brand snatched from the fire; yet you did not return to me, says the
LORD.
12 Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, O Israel!
13 For lo, the one who forms the mountains, creates the wind, reveals his
thoughts to mortals, makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of
the earth-- the LORD, the God of hosts, is his name!
(Amos 5)
CHAPTER 5
(Amos 5:1-27)
1 Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation,
O house of
2 Fallen, no more to rise, is maiden
to raise her up.
3 For thus says the Lord GOD: The city that marched out a thousand shall have a
hundred left, and that which marched out a hundred shall have ten left.
4 For thus says the LORD to the house of
5 but do not seek
Beer-sheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and
nothing.
6 Seek the LORD and live, or he will break out against the house of Joseph like
fire, and it will devour
7 Ah, you that turn justice to wormwood, and bring righteousness to the ground!
8 The one who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the
morning, and darkens the 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,
9 who makes destruction flash out against the strong, so that destruction comes
upon the fortress.
10 They hate the one who reproves in the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks
the truth.
11 Therefore because you trample on the poor and take from them levies of grain,
you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not live in them; you have
planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.
12 For I know how many are your transgressions, and how great are your sins--
you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and push aside the needy in the
gate.
13 Therefore the prudent will keep silent in such a time; for it is an evil
time.
14 Seek good and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts,
will be with you, just as you have said.
15 Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that
the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord: In all the squares
there shall be wailing; and in all the streets they shall say, "Alas! alas!"
They shall call the farmers to mourning, and those skilled in lamentation, to
wailing;
17 in all the vineyards there shall be wailing, for I will pass through the
midst of you, says the LORD.
18 Alas for you who desire the day of the LORD! Why do you want the day of the
LORD? It is darkness, not light;
19 as if someone fled from a lion, and was met by a bear; or went into the house
and rested a hand against the wall, and was bitten by a snake.
20 Is not the day of the LORD darkness, not light, and gloom with no brightness
in it?
21 I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn
assemblies.
22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not
accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not
look upon.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of
your harps.
24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing
stream.
25 Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings the forty years in the
wilderness, O house of
26 You shall take up Sakkuth your king, and Kaiwan your star-god, your images,
which you made for yourselves;
27 therefore I will take you into exile beyond
name is the God of hosts.
(Amos 6)
CHAPTER 6
(Amos 6:1-14)
1 Alas for those who are at ease in
resorts!
2 Cross over to Calneh, and see; from there go to Hamath the great; then go down
to
territory greater than their territory,
3 O you that put far away the evil day, and bring near a reign of violence?
4 Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory, and lounge on their couches, and eat
lambs from the flock, and calves from the stall;
5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp, and like David improvise on
instruments of music;
6 who drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are
not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!
7 Therefore they shall now be the first to go into exile, and the revelry of the
loungers shall pass away.
8 The Lord GOD has sworn by himself (says the LORD, the God of hosts): I abhor
the pride of Jacob and hate his strongholds; and I will deliver up the city and
all that is in it.
9 If ten people remain in one house, they shall die.
10 And if a relative, one who burns the dead, shall take up the body to bring it
out of the house, and shall say to someone in the innermost parts of the house,
"Is anyone else with you?" the answer will come, "No." Then the relative shall
say, "Hush! We must not mention the name of the LORD."
11 See, the LORD commands, and the great house shall be shattered to bits, and
the little house to pieces.
12 Do horses run on rocks? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned
justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood--
13 you who rejoice in Lo-debar, who say, "Have we not by our own strength taken
Karnaim for ourselves?"
14 Indeed, I am raising up against you a nation, O house
of
LORD, the God of hosts, and they shall oppress you from Lebo- hamath to the
Wadi Arabah.
(Amos 7)
CHAPTER 7
(Amos 7:1-17)
1 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: he was forming locusts at the time the
latter growth began to sprout (it was the latter growth after the king's
mowings).
2 When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said, "O Lord GOD,
forgive, I beg you! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!"
3 The LORD relented concerning this; "It shall not be," said the LORD.
4 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: the Lord GOD was calling for a shower of
fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land.
5 Then I said, "O Lord GOD, cease, I beg you! How can Jacob stand? He is so
small!"
6 The LORD relented concerning this; "This also shall not be," said the Lord
GOD.
7 This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built 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, "See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people
9 the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and
the sanctuaries of
shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the
sword."
10 Then Amaziah, the priest of
"Amos has conspired against you in the very center
of the house of
land is not able to bear all his words.
11 For thus Amos has said, 'Jeroboam shall die by the
sword, and
into exile away from his land.'"
12 And Amaziah said to Amos,
"O seer, go, flee away to the
your bread there, and prophesy there;
13 but never again prophesy at
a temple of the kingdom."
14 Then Amos answered Amaziah, "I am no prophet, nor a prophet's son; but I am a
herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees,
15 and the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, 'Go,
prophesy to my people
16 "Now therefore hear the word of the LORD. You say, 'Do not prophesy against
17 Therefore thus says the LORD: 'Your wife shall become a prostitute in the
city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land
shall be parceled out by line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and
(Amos 8)
CHAPTER 8
(Amos 8:1-14)
1 This is what the Lord GOD showed me--a basket of summer fruit.
2 He said, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then
the LORD said to me, The end has
come upon my people
pass them by.
3 The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day," says the Lord GOD;
"the dead bodies shall be many, cast out in every place. Be silent!"
4 Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the
land,
5 saying, "When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the
sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and
the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances,
6 buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling
the sweepings of the wheat."
7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget any of
their deeds.
8 Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who lives in
it, and all of it rise like the
the Nile of
9 On that day, says the Lord GOD, I will make the sun go down at noon, and
darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; I
will bring sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head; I will make it
like the mourning for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day.
11 The time is surely coming, says the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on
the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but 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 they shall not find it.
13 In that day the beautiful young women and the young men shall faint for
thirst.
14 Those who swear by Ashimah of Samaria, and say, "As your god lives, O Dan,"
and, "As the way of Beer-sheba lives"-- they shall fall, and never rise again.
(Amos 9)
CHAPTER 9
(Amos 9:1-15)
1 I saw the LORD standing beside the altar, and he said: Strike the capitals
until the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people; and
those who are left I will kill with the sword; not one of them shall flee away,
not one of them shall escape.
2 Though they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; though they
climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down.
3 Though they hide themselves on the top of
and take them; and though they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea,
there I will command the sea-serpent, and it shall bite them.
4 And though they go into captivity in front of their enemies, there I will
command the sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes on them for
harm and not for good.
5 The Lord, GOD of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who
live in it mourn, and all of it
rises like the
Nile of
6 who builds his upper chambers in the heavens, and founds his vault upon the
earth; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the surface
of the earth-- the LORD is his name.
7 Are you not like the Ethiopians to me, O people of
I not bring
and the Arameans from Kir?
8 The eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it
from the face of the earth --except that I will not utterly destroy the house of
Jacob, says the LORD.
9 For lo, I will command, and shake the house of
one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the ground.
10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, "Evil shall not
overtake or meet us."
11 On that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen, and repair its
breaches, and raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old;
12 in order that they may possess the remnant of
are called by my name, says the LORD who does this.
13 The time is surely coming, says the LORD, when the one who plows shall
overtake the one who reaps, and the treader of grapes the one who sows the seed;
the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.
14 I will restore the fortunes of my people
ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,
and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant them upon their land, and they shall never again be plucked up
out of the land that I have given them, says the LORD your God.