Day 352 of 365

Amos 5:1–7:17

5:1 Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.

5:2 "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."

5:3 For 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."

5:4 For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: "Seek me, and you will live;

5:5 but 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.

5:6 Seek 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.

5:7 You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth:

5:8 seek 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,

5:9 who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress.

5:10 They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.

5:11 Forasmuch 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.

5:12 For 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.

5:13 Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.

5:14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you say.

5:15 Hate 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."

5:16 Therefore 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.

5:17 In all vineyards there will be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of you," says the Lord.

5:18 "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.

5:19 As 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.

5:20 Won't the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?

5:21 I hate, I despise your feasts, and I can't stand your solemn assemblies.

5:22 Yes, 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.

5:23 Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

5:24 But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

5:25 "Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?

5:26 You also carried the tabernacle of Moloch, and Rephan your star god, your images which you made for yourselves.

5:27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus," says the Lord, whose name is the God of Hosts.

6:1 Woe 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!

6:2 Go 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?

6:3 Those who put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;

6:4 Who 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;

6:5 who strum on the strings of a harp; who invent for themselves instruments of music, like David;

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

6:7 Therefore they will now go captive with the first who go captive; and the feasting and lounging will end.

6:8 "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.

6:9 It will happen, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.

6:10 "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.'

6:11 "For, behold, the Lord commands, and the great house will be smashed to pieces, and the little house into bits.

6:12 Do 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;

6:13 you who rejoice in a thing of nothing, who say, 'Haven't we taken for ourselves horns by our own strength?'

6:14 For, 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."

7:1 Thus 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.

7:2 It 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."

7:3 The Lord relented concerning this. "It shall not be," says the Lord.

7:4 Thus 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.

7:5 Then I said, "Lord God, stop, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small."

7:6 The Lord relented concerning this. "This also shall not be," says the Lord God.

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

7:8 The 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.

7:9 The 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."

7:10 Then 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.

7:11 For Amos says, 'Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.'"

7:12 Amaziah also said to Amos, "You seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:

7:13 but do not prophesy again any more at Bethel; for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal house!"

7:14 Then 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;

7:15 and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'

7:16 Now therefore listen to the word of the Lord: 'You say, Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not proclaim against the house of Isaac.'

7:17 Therefore 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.'"

Rev 10:1–11

1 I saw another mighty angel coming down out of the sky, clothed with a cloud. A rainbow was on his head. His face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire.

2 He had in his hand a little open scroll. He set his right foot on the sea, and his left on the land.

3 He shouted with a loud voice, as a lion roars. When he shouted, the seven thunders uttered their voices.

4 When the seven thunders sounded, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from the sky saying, "Seal up the things which the seven thunders said, and do not write them."

5 The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to the sky,

6 and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there will no longer be delay,

7 but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as he declared to his servants, the prophets.

8 The voice which I heard from heaven, again speaking with me, said, "Go, take the scroll which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land."

9 I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it, and eat it up. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey."

10 I took the little scroll out of the angel's hand, and ate it up. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth. When I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.

11 They told me, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings."

Job 39:14–26

14 For she leaves her eggs on the earth, warms them in the dust,

15 and forgets that the foot may crush them, or that the wild animal may trample them.

16 She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers. Though her labor is in vain, she is without fear,

17 because God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has he imparted to her understanding.

18 When she lifts up herself on high, she scorns the horse and his rider.

19 "Have you given the horse might? Have you clothed his neck with a quivering mane?

20 Have you made him to leap as a locust? The glory of his snorting is awesome.

21 He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength. He goes out to meet the armed men.

22 He mocks at fear, and is not dismayed, neither does he turn back from the sword.

23 The quiver rattles against him, the flashing spear and the javelin.

24 He eats up the ground with fierceness and rage, neither does he stand still at the sound of the trumpet.

25 As often as the trumpet sounds he snorts, 'Aha!' He smells the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

26 "Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and stretches her wings toward the south?