Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today we wrap up the book of Amos
with chapters 6 through 9. Chapter 6 Woe to you
who are at ease in Zion and trust in Mount Samaria,
notable persons in the chief nation to whom the
house of Israel comes. Go over to Calne and see,
and from there go to Hamad the Great, then go
down to Gad of the Philistines. Are you better
than these kingdoms, or is their territory greater
than your territory? Woe to you who put far off
the day of doom, who cause the seat of violence
to come near, who lie on beds of ivory, stretch
out on your couches, eat lambs from the flock
and calves from the midst of the stall, who sing
idly to the sound of stringed instruments and
invent for yourselves musical instruments like
David, who drink wine from bowls and anoint yourselves
with the best ointments. but are not grieved
for the affliction of joseph therefore they shall
now go captive as the first of the captives and
those who recline at banquets shall be removed
the lord god has sworn by himself the lord god
of hosts says i abhor the pride of jacob and
hate his palaces therefore i will deliver up
the city and all that is in it then it shall
come to pass that if ten men remain in one house
they shall die and when a relative of the dead
with one who will burn the bodies, picks up the
bodies to take them out of the house. He will
say to one inside the house, Are there any more
with you? Then someone will say, None. And he
will say, Hold your tongue, for we dare not mention
the name of the Lord. For behold, the Lord gives
a command. He will break the great house into
bits, and the little house into pieces. Do horses
run on rocks? Does one plow there with oxen?
Yet you have turned justice into gall, and the
fruit of righteousness into wormwood. You who
rejoice over Lo -Debar, who say, Have we not
taken Qarnaym for ourselves by our own strength?
But behold, I will raise up a nation against
you, O house of Israel, says the Lord God of
hosts, and they will afflict you from the entrance
of Hamad to the valley of the Araba. Chapter
7 Thus the Lord God showed me. Behold, he formed
locust swarms as at the beginning of the late
crop. Indeed, it was the late crop after the
king's mowings. And so it was, when they had
finished eating the grass of the land, that I
said, O Lord God, forgive, I pray, O that Jacob
may stand, for he is small. So the Lord relented
concerning this. It shall not be, said the Lord.
Thus the Lord God showed me. Behold, the Lord
God called for conflict by fire, and it consumed
the great deep and devoured the territory. Then
I said, O Lord God, cease, I pray. O that Jacob
may stand, for he is small. So the Lord relented
concerning this. This also shall not be, said
the Lord God. Thus he showed me. Behold, the
Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line,
with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said
to me, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A plumb
line. Then the Lord said, Behold, I am setting
a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel.
I will not pass by them any more. The high places
of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries
of Israel shall be laid waste. I will rise with
the sword against the house of Jeroboam. 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. For thus
Amos has said, Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
and Israel shall surely be led away captive from
their own land. Then Amaziah said to Amos, Go
you seer. flee to the land of Judah. There eat
bread, and there prophesy. But never again prophesy
at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and
it is the royal residence. Then Amos answered
and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, nor was
I a son of a prophet, but I was a sheep breeder,
and a tender of sycamore fruit. Then the Lord
took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord
said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel.
Now therefore hear the word of the Lord. You
say, Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not
spout against the house of Isaac. Therefore thus
says the Lord, Your wife shall be a harlot in
the city, your sons and daughters shall fall
by the sword, your land shall be divided by survey
line, you shall die in a defiled land, and Israel
shall surely be led away captive from his own
land. Chapter 8 Thus the Lord God showed me.
Behold a basket of summer fruit. And he said,
Amos, what do you see? So I said, A basket of
summer fruit. Then the Lord said to me, The end
has come upon my people Israel. I will not pass
by them any more, and the songs of the temple
shall be wailing in that day, says the Lord God.
Many dead bodies everywhere, they shall be thrown
out in silence. Hear this, you who swallow up
the needy, and make the poor of the land fail,
saying, When will the new moon be passed, that
we may sell grain? and the sabbath that we may
trade wheat making the efe small and the shekel
large falsifying the scales by deceit that we
may buy the poor for silver and the needy for
a pair of sandals even sell the bad wheat the
lord has sworn by the pride of jacob surely i
will never forget any of their works shall the
land not tremble for this and every one mourn
who dwells in it all of it shall swell like the
river Heave and subside, like the river of Egypt,
and it shall come to pass in that day, says the
Lord God, that I will make the sun go down at
noon, and I will darken the earth in broad daylight.
I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all
your songs into lamentation. I will bring sackcloth
on every waist, and baldness on every head. I
will make it like mourning for an only son, and
its end like a bitter day. Behold, the days are
coming, says the Lord God, that I will send a
famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor
a thirst for water, but of hearing the words
of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea,
and from north to east. They shall run to and
fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall
not find it. In that day the fair virgins and
strong young men shall faint from thirst, those
who swear by the sin of Samaria, who say, As
your God lives, O Dan, and as the way of Beersheba
lives. They shall fall and never rise again.
Chapter 9 I saw the Lord standing by the altar,
and he said, Strike the doorposts, that the thresholds
may shake, and break them on the heads of them
all. I will slay the last of them with the sword.
He who flees from them shall not get away, and
he who escapes from them shall not be delivered.
Though they dig into hell, from there my hand
shall take them. Though they climb up to heaven,
from there I will bring them down. And though
they hide themselves on top of Carmel, from there
I will search and take them. Though they hide
from my sight at the bottom of the sea, from
there I will command the serpent and it shall
bite them. Though they go into captivity before
their enemies, from there I will command the
sword and it shall slay them. I will set my eyes
on them for harm and not for good. The Lord God
of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts,
and all who dwell there mourn, all of it shall
swell like the river. and subside like the river
of Egypt, he who builds his layers in the sky,
and has founded his strata in the earth, who
calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them
out on the face of the earth, the Lord is his
name. Are you not like the people of Ethiopia
to me, O children of Israel, says the Lord? Did
I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,
the Philistines from Kaphtor, and the Syrians
from Kir? behold the eyes of the lord god are
on the sinful kingdom and i will destroy it from
the face of the earth yet i will not utterly
destroy the house of jacob says the lord for
surely i will command and will sift the house
of israel among all nations as grain is sifted
in a sieve yet not the smallest grain shall fall
to the ground all the sinners of my people shall
die by the sword who say the calamity shall not
overtake nor confront us on that day i will raise
up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen
down, and repair its damages. I will raise up
its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old,
that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and
all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says
the Lord who does this thing. Behold, the days
are coming, says the Lord, when the plowman shall
overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes,
him who sows seed. The mountains shall drip with
sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with
it. I will bring back the captives of my people
Israel. They shall build the waste cities and
inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and
drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens
and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in
their land, and no longer shall they be pulled
up from the land I have given them, says the
Lord your God. I hope you enjoyed today's reading
as much as I did. And I look forward to seeing
you again tomorrow to continue on our journey.
God bless you and have a great day.