Today's Reading

¹Thus the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit.

²He said, "Amos, what do you see?" I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the Lord said to me, "The end has come on my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more.

³The songs of the temple will be wailings in that day," says the Lord God. "The dead bodies will be many. In every place they will throw them out with silence.

⁴Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,

⁵Saying, 'When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel large, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit;

⁶that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the sweepings with the wheat?'"

⁷The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob, "Surely I will never forget any of their works.

⁸Won't the land tremble for this, and everyone mourn who dwells in it? Yes, it will rise up wholly like the River; and it will be stirred up and sink again, like the River of Egypt.

⁹It will happen in that day," says the Lord God, "that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.

¹⁰I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies, and baldness on every head. I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and its end like a bitter day.

¹¹Behold, the days come," says the Lord God, "that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.

¹²They will wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they will run back and forth to seek the word of the Lord, and will not find it.

¹³In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint for thirst.

¹⁴Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, 'As your god, Dan, lives;' and, 'As the way of Beersheba lives;' they will fall, and never rise up again."

¹I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said, "Strike the tops of the pillars, that the thresholds may shake; and break them in pieces on the head of all of them; and I will kill the last of them with the sword: there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape.

²Though they dig into Sheol, there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down.

³Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out there; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them.

⁴Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good.

⁵For the Lord, the Lord of hosts, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn; and it will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again, like the River of Egypt.

⁶It is he who builds his chambers in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the earth; he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth; the Lord is his name.

⁷Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians to me, children of Israel?" says the Lord. "Haven't I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?

⁸Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob," says the Lord.

⁹"For, behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least kernel will fall on the earth.

¹⁰All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, 'Evil won't overtake nor meet us.'

¹¹In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen, and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old;

¹²that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by my name," says the Lord who does this.

¹³"Behold, the days come," says the Lord, "that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the one treading grapes him who sows seed; and sweet wine will drip from the mountains, and flow from the hills.

¹⁴I will bring my people Israel back from captivity, and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

¹⁵I will plant them on their land, and they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them," says the Lord your God.

¹The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Lord God says about Edom. We have heard news from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, "Arise, and let's rise up against her in battle.

²Behold, I have made you small among the nations. You are greatly despised.

³The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, 'Who will bring me down to the ground?'

⁴Though you mount on high as the eagle, and though your nest is set among the stars, I will bring you down from there," says the Lord.

⁵"If thieves came to you, if robbers by night-oh, what disaster awaits you-wouldn't they only steal until they had enough? If grape pickers came to you, wouldn't they leave some gleaning grapes?

⁶How Esau will be ransacked! How his hidden treasures are sought out!

⁷All the men of your alliance have brought you on your way, even to the border. The men who were at peace with you have deceived you, and prevailed against you. Friends who eat your bread lay a snare under you. There is no understanding in him."

⁸"Won't I in that day," says the Lord, "destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mountain of Esau?

⁹Your mighty men, Teman, will be dismayed, to the end that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter.

¹⁰For the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be cut off forever.

¹¹In the day that you stood on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots for Jerusalem, even you were like one of them.

¹²But do not look down on your brother in the day of his disaster, and do not rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction. Do not speak proudly in the day of distress.

¹³Do not enter into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Do not look down on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither seize their wealth on the day of their calamity.

¹⁴Do not stand in the crossroads to cut off those of his who escape. Do not deliver up those of his who remain in the day of distress.

¹⁵For the day of the Lord is near all the nations! As you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return upon your own head.

¹⁶For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so will all the nations drink continually. Yes, they will drink, swallow down, and will be as though they had not been.

¹⁷But in Mount Zion, there will be those who escape, and it will be holy. The house of Jacob will possess their possessions.

¹⁸The house of Jacob will be a fire, the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble. They will burn among them, and devour them. There will not be any remaining to the house of Esau." Indeed, the Lord has spoken.

¹⁹Those of the Negev will possess the mountain of Esau, and those of the lowland, the Philistines. They will possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria. Benjamin will possess Gilead.

²⁰The captives of this army of the children of Israel, who are among the Canaanites, will possess even to Zarephath; and the captives of Jerusalem, who are in Sepharad, will possess the cities of the Negev.

²¹Saviors will go up on Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom will be the Lord's.

¹The elder, to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth; and not I only, but also all those who know the truth;

²for the truth's sake, which remains in us, and it will be with us forever:

³Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father, and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

⁴I rejoice greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, even as we have been commanded by the Father.

⁵Now I beg you, dear lady, not as though I wrote to you a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.

⁶This is love, that we should walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, even as you heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.

⁷For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the Anti-Christ.

⁸Watch yourselves, that you do not lose the things which we have accomplished, but that you receive a full reward.

⁹Whoever goes on and does not remain in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. He who remains in the teaching, the same has both the Father and the Son.

¹⁰If anyone comes to you, and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not welcome him,

¹¹for he who welcomes him participates in his evil works.

¹²Having many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink, but I hope to come to you, and to speak face to face, that our joy may be made full.

¹³The children of your chosen sister greet you.

¹Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than he who is perverse in his lips and is a fool.

²It isn't good to have zeal without knowledge; nor being hasty with one's feet and missing the way.

³The foolishness of man subverts his way; his heart rages against the Lord.

⁴Wealth adds many friends, but the poor is separated from his friend.

⁵A false witness shall not be unpunished. He who pours out lies shall not go free.

⁶Many will entreat the favor of a ruler, and everyone is a friend to a man who gives gifts.

⁷All the relatives of the poor shun him: how much more do his friends avoid him! He pursues them with pleas, but they are gone.

⁸He who gets wisdom loves his own soul. He who keeps understanding shall find good.

⁹A false witness shall not be unpunished. He who utters lies shall perish.

¹⁰Delicate living is not appropriate for a fool, much less for a servant to have rule over princes.

¹¹The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger. It is his glory to overlook an offense.

¹²The king's wrath is like the roaring of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.

¹³A foolish son is the calamity of his father. A wife's quarrels are a continual dripping.

¹⁴House and riches are an inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord.

¹⁵Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep. The idle soul shall suffer hunger.

¹⁶He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul, but he who is contemptuous in his ways shall die.

¹⁷He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord; he will reward him.

¹⁸Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death.

¹⁹A hot-tempered man must pay the penalty, for if you rescue him, you must do it again.

²⁰Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter end.

²¹There are many plans in a man's heart, but the Lord's counsel will prevail.

²²That which makes a man to be desired is his kindness. A poor man is better than a liar.

²³The fear of the Lord leads to life, then contentment; he rests and will not be touched by trouble.

²⁴The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he will not so much as bring it to his mouth again.

²⁵Flog a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; rebuke one who has understanding, and he will gain knowledge.

²⁶He who robs his father and drives away his mother, is a son who causes shame and brings reproach.

²⁷If you stop listening to instruction, my son, you will stray from the words of knowledge.

²⁸A corrupt witness mocks justice, and the mouth of the wicked gulps down iniquity.

²⁹Penalties are prepared for scoffers, and beatings for the backs of fools.