Today's Reading

¹Thus says the Lord: "For three transgressions of Moab, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime;

²but I will send a fire on Moab, and it will devour the palaces of Kerioth; and Moab will die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet;

³and I will cut off the judge from their midst, and will kill all its princes with him," says the Lord.

⁴Thus says the Lord: "For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have rejected the Lord's law, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have led them astray, after which their fathers walked;

⁵But I will send a fire on Judah, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem."

⁶Thus says the Lord: "For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes;

⁷They trample on the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and deny justice to the oppressed; and a man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name;

⁸and they lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.

⁹Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.

¹⁰Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.

¹¹I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites. Isn't this true, you children of Israel?" says the Lord.

¹²"But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, 'Do not prophesy!'

¹³Behold, I will crush you in your place, as a cart crushes that is full of grain.

¹⁴Flight will perish from the swift; and the strong won't strengthen his force; neither shall the mighty deliver himself;

¹⁵neither shall he stand who handles the bow; and he who is swift of foot won't escape; neither shall he who rides the horse deliver himself;

¹⁶and he who is courageous among the mighty will flee away naked on that day," says the Lord.

¹Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying:

²"You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all of your sins."

³Do two walk together, unless they have agreed?

⁴Will a lion roar in the thicket, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing?

⁵Can a bird fall in a trap on the earth, where no snare is set for him? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when there is nothing to catch?

⁶Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city, without the people being afraid? Does disaster happen to a city, unless the Lord has done it?

⁷Surely the Lord God will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.

⁸The lion has roared. Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken. Who can but prophesy?

⁹Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, "Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see what unrest is in her, and what oppression is among them."

¹⁰"Indeed they do not know to do right," says the Lord, "Who hoard plunder and loot in their palaces."

¹¹Therefore thus says the Lord God: "An adversary will overrun the land; and he will pull down your strongholds, and your fortresses will be plundered."

¹²Thus says the Lord: "As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be rescued who sit in Samaria on the corner of a couch, and on the silken cushions of a bed."

¹³"Listen, and testify against the house of Jacob," says the Lord God, the God of Hosts.

¹⁴"For in the day that I visit the transgressions of Israel on him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel; and the horns of the altar will be cut off, and fall to the ground.

¹⁵I will strike the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory will perish, and the great houses will have an end," says the Lord.

¹Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, "Bring us drinks!"

²The Lord God has sworn by his holiness that behold, "The days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks, and the last of you with fish hooks.

³You will go out at the breaks in the wall, everyone straight before her; and you will cast yourselves into Harmon," says the Lord.

⁴"Go to Bethel, and sin; to Gilgal, and sin more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days,

⁵offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim free will offerings and brag about them: for this pleases you, you children of Israel," says the Lord God.

⁶"I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in every town; yet you haven't returned to me," says the Lord.

⁷"I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city. One place was rained on, and the piece where it did not rain withered.

⁸So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet you haven't returned to me," says the Lord.

⁹"I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards; and your fig trees and your olive trees have the swarming locust devoured: yet you haven't returned to me," says the Lord.

¹⁰"I sent plagues among you like I did Egypt. I have slain your young men with the sword, and have carried away your horses; and I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp, yet you haven't returned to me," says the Lord.

¹¹"I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire; yet you haven't returned to me," says the Lord.

¹²"Therefore thus will I do to you, Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, Israel.

¹³For, behold, he who forms the mountains, and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought; who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the high places of the Earth: The Lord, the God of Hosts, is his name."

¹Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

²By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,

³and every spirit who does not confess Jesus is not of God, and this is the spirit of the Anti-Christ, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already.

⁴You are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.

⁵They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them.

⁶We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

⁷Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God.

⁸He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

⁹By this God's love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

¹⁰In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

¹¹Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.

¹²No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us.

¹³By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

¹⁴We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world.

¹⁵Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God.

¹⁶We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

¹⁷In this love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so are we in this world.

¹⁸There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love.

¹⁹We love, because he first loved us.

²⁰If a man says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.

²¹This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother.

¹Better is a dry morsel with quietness, than a house full of feasting with strife.

²A servant who deals wisely will rule over a son who causes shame, and shall have a part in the inheritance among the brothers.

³The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the hearts.

⁴An evildoer heeds wicked lips. A liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.

⁵Whoever mocks the poor reproaches his Maker. He who is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished.

⁶Children's children are the crown of old men; the glory of children are their parents.

⁷Arrogant speech isn't fitting for a fool, much less do lying lips fit a prince.

⁸A bribe is a precious stone in the eyes of him who gives it; wherever he turns, he prospers.

⁹He who covers an offense promotes love; but he who repeats a matter separates best friends.

¹⁰A rebuke enters deeper into one who has understanding than a hundred lashes into a fool.

¹¹An evil man seeks only rebellion; therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.

¹²Let a bear robbed of her cubs meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.

¹³Whoever rewards evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.

¹⁴The beginning of strife is like breaching a dam, therefore stop contention before quarreling breaks out.

¹⁵He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.

¹⁶Why is there money in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, seeing he has no understanding?

¹⁷A friend loves at all times; and a brother is born for adversity.

¹⁸A man void of understanding strikes hands, and becomes collateral in the presence of his neighbor.

¹⁹He who loves disobedience loves strife. One who builds a high gate seeks destruction.

²⁰One who has a perverse heart doesn't find prosperity, and one who has a deceitful tongue falls into trouble.

²¹He who becomes the father of a fool grieves. The father of a fool has no joy.

²²A cheerful heart makes good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

²³A wicked man receives a bribe in secret, to pervert the ways of justice.

²⁴Wisdom is before the face of one who has understanding, but the eyes of a fool wander to the ends of the earth.

²⁵A foolish son brings grief to his father, and bitterness to her who bore him.

²⁶Also to punish the righteous is not good, nor to flog officials for their integrity.

²⁷He who spares his words has knowledge. He who is even tempered is a man of understanding.

²⁸Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is counted wise. When he shuts his lips, he is thought to be discerning.