Today's Reading

¹Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.

²"The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up."

³For thus says the Lord God: "The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel."

⁴For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: "Seek me, and you will live;

⁵but do not seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and do not pass to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.

⁶Seek the Lord, and you will live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.

⁷You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth:

⁸seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the Lord is his name,

⁹who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress.

¹⁰They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.

¹¹Forasmuch therefore as you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.

¹²For I know how many your offenses, and how great are your sins- you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn aside the needy in the courts.

¹³Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.

¹⁴Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you say.

¹⁵Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that the Lord, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph."

¹⁶Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Hosts, the Lord: "Wailing will be in all the broad ways; and they will say in all the streets, 'Alas! Alas!' and they will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.

¹⁷In all vineyards there will be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of you," says the Lord.

¹⁸"Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light.

¹⁹As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; Or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him.

²⁰Won't the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?

²¹I hate, I despise your feasts, and I can't stand your solemn assemblies.

²²Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.

²³Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

²⁴But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

²⁵"Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?

²⁶You also carried the tabernacle of Moloch, and Rephan your star god, your images which you made for yourselves.

²⁷Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus," says the Lord, whose name is the God of Hosts.

¹Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who are secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come!

²Go to Calneh, and see; and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms? Or is their border greater than your border?

³Those who put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;

⁴Who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch themselves on their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;

⁵who strum on the strings of a harp; who invent for themselves instruments of music, like David;

⁶who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

⁷Therefore they will now go captive with the first who go captive; and the feasting and lounging will end.

⁸"The Lord God has sworn by himself," says the Lord, the God of Hosts: "I abhor the pride of Jacob, and detest his fortresses. Therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is in it.

⁹It will happen, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.

¹⁰"When a man's relative carries him, even he who burns him, to bring bodies out of the house, and asks him who is in the innermost parts of the house, 'Is there yet any with you?' And he says, 'No;' then he will say, 'Hush! Indeed we must not mention the name of the Lord.'

¹¹"For, behold, the Lord commands, and the great house will be smashed to pieces, and the little house into bits.

¹²Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness;

¹³you who rejoice in a thing of nothing, who say, 'Haven't we taken for ourselves horns by our own strength?'

¹⁴For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, house of Israel," says the Lord, the God of Hosts; "and they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah."

¹Thus the Lord God showed me: and behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and behold, it was the latter growth after the king's harvest.

²It happened that, when they made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, "Lord God, forgive, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small."

³The Lord relented concerning this. "It shall not be," says the Lord.

⁴Thus the Lord God showed me and behold, the Lord God called for judgment by fire; and it dried up the great deep, and would have devoured the land.

⁵Then I said, "Lord God, stop, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small."

⁶The Lord relented concerning this. "This also shall not be," says the Lord God.

⁷Thus he showed me and behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.

⁸The Lord said to me, "Amos, what do you see?" I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "Behold, I will set a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more.

⁹The high places of Isaac will be desolate, the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword."

¹⁰Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, "Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words.

¹¹For Amos says, 'Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.'"

¹²Amaziah also said to Amos, "You seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:

¹³but do not prophesy again any more at Bethel; for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal house!"

¹⁴Then Amos answered Amaziah, "I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was a herdsman, and a farmer of sycamore figs;

¹⁵and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'

¹⁶Now therefore listen to the word of the Lord: 'You say, Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not proclaim against the house of Isaac.'

¹⁷Therefore thus says the Lord: 'Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line; and you yourself shall die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.'"

¹Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Whoever loves the Father also loves the child who is born of him.

²By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and do his commandments.

³For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous.

⁴For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.

⁵Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

⁶This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

⁷For there are three who testify:

⁸the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and the three agree as one.

⁹If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is God's testimony that he has testified concerning his Son.

¹⁰He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son.

¹¹The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

¹²He who has the Son has the life. He who does not have God's Son does not have the life.

¹³These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

¹⁴This is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us.

¹⁵And if we know that he listens to us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.

¹⁶If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life for those who sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death. I do not say that he should make a request concerning this.

¹⁷All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.

¹⁸We know that whoever is born of God does not sin, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

¹⁹We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

²⁰We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

²¹Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

¹An unfriendly man pursues selfishness, and defies all sound judgment.

²A fool has no delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own opinion.

³When wickedness comes, contempt also comes, and with shame comes disgrace.

⁴The words of a man's mouth are like deep waters. The fountain of wisdom is like a flowing brook.

⁵To be partial to the faces of the wicked is not good, nor to deprive the innocent of justice.

⁶A fool's lips come into strife, and his mouth invites beatings.

⁷A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are a snare to his soul.

⁸The words of a gossip are like dainty morsels: they go down into a person's innermost parts.

⁹One who is slack in his work is brother to him who is a master of destruction.

¹⁰The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe.

¹¹The rich man's wealth is his strong city, like an unscalable wall in his own imagination.

¹²Before destruction the heart of man is proud, but before honor is humility.

¹³He who gives answer before he hears, that is folly and shame to him.

¹⁴A man's spirit will sustain him in sickness, but a crushed spirit, who can bear?

¹⁵The heart of the discerning gets knowledge. The ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

¹⁶A man's gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.

¹⁷He who pleads his cause first seems right; until another comes and questions him.

¹⁸The lot settles disputes, and keeps strong ones apart.

¹⁹A brother offended is more difficult than a fortified city; and disputes are like the bars of a castle.

²⁰A man's stomach is filled with the fruit of his mouth. With the harvest of his lips he is satisfied.

²¹Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.

²²Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor of the Lord.

²³The poor plead for mercy, but the rich answer harshly.

²⁴A man of many companions may be ruined, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.