Amos 6-9; Psalms 127 - Prayer Tents

6What sorrow awaits you who lounge in luxury in Jerusalem, and you who feel secure in Samaria! You are famous and popular in Israel, and people go to you for help.H1945H7600H6726H982H2022H8111H5344H7225H1471H1004H3478H935 2But go over to Calneh and see what happened there. Then go to the great city of Hamath and down to the Philistine city of Gath. You are no better than they were, and look at how they were destroyed.H5674H3641H7200H3212H2574H7227H2579H3381H1661H6430H2896H4467H1366H7227H1366 3You push away every thought of coming disaster, but your actions only bring the day of judgment closer.H5077H7451H3117H7675H2555H5066 4How terrible for you who sprawl on ivory beds and lounge on your couches, eating the meat of tender lambs from the flock and of choice calves fattened in the stall.H7901H4296H8127H5628H6210H398H3733H6629H5695H8432H4770 5You sing trivial songs to the sound of the harp and fancy yourselves to be great musicians like David.H6527H6310H5035H2803H3627H7892H1732 6You drink wine by the bowlful and perfume yourselves with fragrant lotions. You care nothing about the ruin of your nation.H8354H3196H4219H4886H7225H8081H2470H7667H3130 7Therefore, you will be the first to be led away as captives. Suddenly, all your parties will end.H1540H7218H1540H4797H5628H5493 8The Sovereign Lord has sworn by his own name, and this is what he, the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, says: “I despise the arrogance of Israel, and I hate their fortresses. I will give this city and everything in it to their enemies.”H136H3069H7650H5315H5002H3068H430H6635H8374H1347H3290H8130H759H5462H5892H4393 9(If there are ten men left in one house, they will all die.H3498H6235H582H259H1004H4191 10And when a relative who is responsible to dispose of the dead goes into the house to carry out the bodies, he will ask the last survivor, “Is anyone else with you?” When the person begins to swear, “No, by . . .,” he will interrupt and say, “Stop! Don’t even mention the name of the Lord.”)H1730H5375H5635H3318H6106H1004H559H3411H1004H559H657H559H2013H2142H8034H3068 11When the Lord gives the command, homes both great and small will be smashed to pieces.H3068H6680H5221H1419H1004H7447H6996H1004H1233 12Can horses gallop over boulders? Can oxen be used to plow them? But that’s how foolish you are when you turn justice into poison and the sweet fruit of righteousness into bitterness.H5483H7323H5553H2790H1241H2015H4941H7219H6529H6666H3939 13And you brag about your conquest of Lo-debar. You boast, “Didn’t we take Karnaim by our own strength?”H8056H1697H3808H559H3947H7161H2392 14“O people of Israel, I am about to bring an enemy nation against you,” says the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies. “They will oppress you throughout your land—from Lebo-hamath in the north to the Arabah Valley in the south.”H6965H1471H1004H3478H5002H3068H430H6635H3905H935H2574H5158H6160

A Vision of Locusts

7The Sovereign Lord showed me a vision. I saw him preparing to send a vast swarm of locusts over the land. This was after the king’s share had been harvested from the fields and as the main crop was coming up.H136H3069H7200H3335H1462H8462H5927H3954H3954H310H4428H1488 2In my vision the locusts ate every green plant in sight. Then I said, “O Sovereign Lord, please forgive us or we will not survive, for Israel is so small.”H3615H398H6212H776H559H136H3069H5545H3290H6965H6996 3So the Lord relented from this plan. “I will not do it,” he said.H3068H5162H559H3068

A Vision of Fire

4Then the Sovereign Lord showed me another vision. I saw him preparing to punish his people with a great fire. The fire had burned up the depths of the sea and was devouring the entire land.H136H3069H7200H136H3069H7121H7378H784H398H7227H8415H398H2506 5Then I said, “O Sovereign Lord, please stop or we will not survive, for Israel is so small.”H559H136H3069H2308H3290H6965H6996 6Then the Lord relented from this plan, too. “I will not do that either,” said the Sovereign Lord.H3068H5162H559H136H3069

A Vision of a Plumb Line

7Then he showed me another vision. I saw the Lord standing beside a wall that had been built using a plumb line. He was using a plumb line to see if it was still straight.H7200H136H5324H2346H594H594H3027 8And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” I answered, “A plumb line.” And the Lord replied, “I will test my people with this plumb line. I will no longer ignore all their sins.H3068H559H5986H7200H559H594H559H136H7760H594H7130H5971H3478H3254H5674 9The pagan shrines of your ancestors will be ruined, and the temples of Israel will be destroyed; I will bring the dynasty of King Jeroboam to a sudden end.”H1116H3446H8074H4720H3478H2717H6965H1004H3379H2719

Amos and Amaziah

10Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent a message to Jeroboam, king of Israel: “Amos is hatching a plot against you right here on your very doorstep! What he is saying is intolerable.H558H3548H1008H7971H3379H4428H3478H559H5986H7194H7130H1004H3478H776H3201H3557H1697 11He is saying, ‘Jeroboam will soon be killed, and the people of Israel will be sent away into exile.’”H5986H559H3379H4191H2719H3478H1540H1540H127 12Then Amaziah sent orders to Amos: “Get out of here, you prophet! Go on back to the land of Judah, and earn your living by prophesying there!H558H559H5986H2374H3212H1272H776H3063H398H3899H5012 13Don’t bother us with your prophecies here in Bethel. This is the king’s sanctuary and the national place of worship!”H5012H3254H1008H4428H4720H4467H1004 14But Amos replied, “I’m not a professional prophet, and I was never trained to be one. I’m just a shepherd, and I take care of sycamore-fig trees.H6030H5986H559H558H5030H5030H1121H951H1103H8256 15But the Lord called me away from my flock and told me, ‘Go and prophesy to my people in Israel.’H3068H3947H310H6629H3068H559H3212H5012H5971H3478 16Now then, listen to this message from the Lord. “You say, ‘Don’t prophesy against Israel. Stop preaching against my people.’H8085H1697H3068H559H5012H3478H5197H1004H3446 17But this is what the Lord says. ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in this city, and your sons and daughters will be killed. Your land will be divided up, and you yourself will die in a foreign land. And the people of Israel will certainly become captives in exile, far from their homeland.’”H559H3068H802H2181H5892H1121H1323H5307H2719H127H2505H2256H4191H5921H2931H127H3478H1540H1540H127

A Vision of Ripe Fruit

8Then the Sovereign Lord showed me another vision. In it I saw a basket filled with ripe fruit.H136H3069H7200H3619H7019 2“What do you see, Amos?” he asked. I replied, “A basket full of ripe fruit.” Then the Lord said, “Like this fruit, Israel is ripe for punishment! I will not delay their punishment again.H559H5986H7200H559H3619H7019H559H3068H7093H935H5971H3478H3254H5674 3In that day the singing in the Temple will turn to wailing. Dead bodies will be scattered everywhere. They will be carried out of the city in silence. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”H7892H1964H3213H3117H5002H136H3069H7227H6297H4725H7993H2013 4Listen to this, you who rob the poor and trample down the needy!H8085H7602H34H7673H6041H6035H776H7673 5You can’t wait for the Sabbath day to be over and the religious festivals to end so you can get back to cheating the helpless. You measure out grain with dishonest measures and cheat the buyer with dishonest scales.H559H2320H5674H7666H7668H7676H6605H1250H374H6994H8255H1431H5791H3976H4820 6And you mix the grain you sell with chaff swept from the floor. Then you enslave poor people for one piece of silver or a pair of sandals.H7069H1800H3701H34H5275H7666H4651H1250 7Now the Lord has sworn this oath by his own name, the Pride of Israel. “I will never forget the wicked things you have done!H3068H7650H1347H3290H5331H7911H4639 8The earth will tremble for your deeds, and everyone will mourn. The ground will rise like the Nile River at floodtime; it will heave up, then sink again.H776H7264H56H3427H5927H2975H1644H8257H8248H216H4714 9“In that day,” says the Sovereign Lord, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth while it is still day.H3117H5002H136H3069H8121H935H6672H2821H776H216H3117 10I will turn your celebrations into times of mourning and your singing into weeping. You will wear funeral clothes and shave your heads to show your sorrow—as if your only son had died. How very bitter that day will be!H2015H2282H60H7892H7015H5927H8242H4975H7144H7218H7760H60H3173H319H4751H3117 11“The time is surely coming,” says the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or water but of hearing the words of the Lord.H3117H935H5002H136H3069H7971H7458H776H7458H3899H6772H4325H8085H1697H3068 12People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from border to border searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.H5128H3220H3220H6828H4217H7751H1245H1697H3068H4672 13Beautiful girls and strong young men will grow faint in that day, thirsting for the Lord’s word.H3117H3303H1330H970H5968H6772 14And those who swear by the shameful idols of Samaria—who take oaths in the name of the god of Dan and make vows in the name of the god of Beersheba—they will all fall down, never to rise again.”H7650H819H8111H559H430H1835H2416H1870H884H2416H5307H6965

A Vision of God at the Altar

9Then I saw a vision of the Lord standing beside the altar. He said, “Strike the tops of the Temple columns, so that the foundation will shake. Bring down the roof on the heads of the people below. I will kill with the sword those who survive. No one will escape!H7200H136H5324H4196H559H5221H3730H5592H7493H1214H7218H2026H319H2719H5127H5127H6412H4422 2“Even if they dig down to the place of the dead, I will reach down and pull them up. Even if they climb up into the heavens, I will bring them down.H2864H7585H3027H3947H5927H8064H3381 3Even if they hide at the very top of Mount Carmel, I will search them out and capture them. Even if they hide at the bottom of the ocean, I will send the sea serpent after them to bite them.H2244H7218H3760H2664H3947H5641H5869H7172H3220H6680H5175H5391 4Even if their enemies drive them into exile, I will command the sword to kill them there. I am determined to bring disaster upon them and not to help them.”H3212H7628H6440H341H6680H2719H2026H7760H5869H7451H2896 5The Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, touches the land and it melts, and all its people mourn. The ground rises like the Nile River at floodtime, and then it sinks again.H136H3069H6635H5060H776H4127H3427H56H5927H2975H8257H2975H4714 6The Lord’s home reaches up to the heavens, while its foundation is on the earth. He draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land. The Lord is his name!H1129H4609H8064H3245H92H776H7121H4325H3220H8210H6440H776H3068H8034 7“Are you Israelites more important to me than the Ethiopians?” asks the Lord. “I brought Israel out of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from Crete and led the Arameans out of Kir.H1121H3569H1121H3478H5002H3068H5927H3478H776H4714H6430H3731H758H7024 8“I, the Sovereign Lord, am watching this sinful nation of Israel. I will destroy it from the face of the earth. But I will never completely destroy the family of Israel,” says the Lord.H5869H136H3069H2403H4467H8045H6440H127H657H8045H8045H1004H3290H5002H3068 9“For I will give the command and will shake Israel along with the other nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, yet not one true kernel will be lost.H6680H5128H1004H3478H1471H5128H3531H6872H5307H776 10But all the sinners will die by the sword—all those who say, ‘Nothing bad will happen to us.’H2400H5971H4191H2719H559H7451H5066H6923

A Promise of Restoration

11“In that day I will restore the fallen house of David. I will repair its damaged walls. From the ruins I will rebuild it and restore its former glory.H3117H6965H5521H1732H5307H1443H6556H6965H2034H1129H3117H5769 12And Israel will possess what is left of Edom and all the nations I have called to be mine.” The Lord has spoken, and he will do these things.H3423H7611H123H1471H7121H8034H5002H3068H6213 13“The time will come,” says the Lord, “when the grain and grapes will grow faster than they can be harvested. Then the terraced vineyards on the hills of Israel will drip with sweet wine!H3117H935H5002H3068H2790H5066H7114H1869H6025H4900H2233H2022H5197H6071H1389H4127 14I will bring my exiled people of Israel back from distant lands, and they will rebuild their ruined cities and live in them again. They will plant vineyards and gardens; they will eat their crops and drink their wine.H7725H7622H5971H3478H1129H8074H5892H3427H5193H3754H8354H3196H6213H1593H398H6529 15I will firmly plant them there in their own land. They will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God.H5193H127H5428H127H5414H559H3068H430

127[A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem. A psalm of Solomon.] Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good.H7892H4609H8010H3068H1129H1004H5998H7723H1129H3068H8104H5892H8104H8245H7723 2It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.H7723H6965H7925H3427H309H398H3899H6089H5414H3039H8142 3Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.H1121H5159H3068H6529H990H7939 4Children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior’s hands.H2671H3027H1368H1121H5271 5How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates.H835H1397H827H4390H954H1696H341H8179