Day 353 of 365

Amos 8:1–9:15

8:1 Thus the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit.

8:2 He 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.

8:3 The 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.

8:4 Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,

8:5 Saying, '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;

8:6 that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the sweepings with the wheat?'"

8:7 The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob, "Surely I will never forget any of their works.

8:8 Won'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.

8:9 It 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.

8:10 I 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.

8:11 Behold, 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.

8:12 They 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.

8:13 In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint for thirst.

8:14 Those 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."

9:1 I 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.

9:2 Though they dig into Sheol, there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down.

9:3 Though 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.

9:4 Though 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.

9:5 For 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.

9:6 It 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.

9:7 Are 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?

9:8 Behold, 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.

9:9 "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.

9:10 All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, 'Evil won't overtake nor meet us.'

9:11 In 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;

9:12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by my name," says the Lord who does this.

9:13 "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.

9:14 I 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.

9:15 I 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.

Obad 1:1–21

1 The 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.

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

3 The 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?'

4 Though 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?

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

7 All 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?

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

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

11 In 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.

12 But 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.

13 Do 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.

14 Do 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.

15 For 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.

16 For 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.

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

18 The 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.

19 Those 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.

20 The 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.

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

Rev 11:1–19

1 A reed like a rod was given to me. Someone said, "Rise and measure God's temple, and the altar, and those who worship in it.

2 Leave out the court which is outside of the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations. They will tread the holy city under foot for forty-two months.

3 I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed in sackcloth."

4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands, standing before the Lord of the earth.

5 If anyone desires to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies. If anyone desires to harm them, he must be killed in this way.

6 These have the power to shut up the sky, that it may not rain during the days of their prophecy. They have power over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.

7 When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them, and kill them.

8 Their dead bodies will be in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

9 From among the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations people will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not allow their dead bodies to be placed in a tomb.

10 Those who dwell on the earth rejoice over them, and they will be glad. They will give gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.

11 After the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered into them, and they stood on their feet. Great fear fell on those who saw them.

12 I heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here!" They went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies saw them.

13 In that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

14 The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe comes quickly.

15 The seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ. He will reign forever and ever!"

16 The twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God's throne, fell on their faces and worshiped God,

17 saying: "We give you thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, the one who is and who was; because you have taken your great power, and reigned.

18 The nations were angry, and your wrath came, as did the time for the dead to be judged, and to give your bondservants the prophets, their reward, as well as to the saints, and those who fear your name, to the small and the great; and to destroy those who destroy the earth."

19 God's temple that is in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple. Lightnings, sounds, thunders, an earthquake, and great hail followed.

Job 39:27–40:5

39:27 Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up, and makes his nest on high?

39:28 On the cliff he dwells, and makes his home, on the point of the cliff, and the stronghold.

39:29 From there he spies out the prey. His eyes see it afar off.

39:30 His young ones also suck up blood. Where the slain are, there he is."

40:1 Moreover the Lord answered Job,

40:2 "Shall he who argues contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it."

40:3 Then Job answered the Lord,

40:4 "Behold, I am of small account. What shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.

40:5 I have spoken once, and I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further."