Day 262 of 364

¹“For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, ²I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment on them there for my people, and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have divided my land, ³and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink. ⁴“Yes, and what are you to me, Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Will you repay me? And if you repay me, I will swiftly and speedily return your repayment on your own head. ⁵Because you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my finest treasures into your temples, ⁶and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, that you may remove them far from their border. ⁷Behold, I will stir them up out of the place where you have sold them, and will return your repayment on your own head; ⁸and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the men of Sheba, to a faraway nation, for the LORD has spoken it.” ⁹Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Stir up the mighty men. Let all the warriors draw near. Let them come up. ¹⁰Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ ¹¹Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves together.” Cause your mighty ones to come down there, LORD. ¹²“Let the nations arouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. ¹³Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.” ¹⁴Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. ¹⁵The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. ¹⁶The LORD will roar from Zion, and thunder from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will shake; but the LORD will be a refuge to his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel. ¹⁷“So you will know that I am the LORD, your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass through her any more. ¹⁸It will happen in that day, that the mountains will drop down sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, all the brooks of Judah will flow with waters; and a fountain will flow out from the LORD’s house, and will water the valley of Shittim. ¹⁹Egypt will be a desolation and Edom will be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. ²⁰But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. ²¹I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed, for the LORD dwells in Zion.”

^1:1The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. ^1:2He said: “The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the pastures of the shepherds will mourn, and the top of Carmel will wither.” ^1:3The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron; ^1:4but I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, and it will devour the palaces of Ben Hadad. ^1:5I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from the house of Eden; and the people of Syria shall go into captivity to Kir,” says the LORD. ^1:6The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Gaza, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they carried away captive the whole community, to deliver them up to Edom; ^1:7but I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it will devour its palaces. ^1:8I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; and I will turn my hand against Ekron; and the remnant of the Philistines will perish,” says the Lord GOD. ^1:9The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Tyre, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they delivered up the whole community to Edom, and didn’t remember the brotherly covenant; ^1:10but I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, and it will devour its palaces.” ^1:11The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Edom, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity, and his anger raged continually, and he kept his wrath forever; ^1:12but I will send a fire on Teman, and it will devour the palaces of Bozrah.” ^1:13The LORD says: “For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead, that they may enlarge their border. ^1:14But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it will devour its palaces, with shouting in the day of battle, with a storm in the day of the whirlwind; ^1:15and their king will go into captivity, he and his princes together,” says the LORD. ^2:1The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Moab, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime; ^2:2but I will send a fire on Moab, and it will devour the palaces of Kerioth; and Moab will die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet; ^2:3and I will cut off the judge from among them, and will kill all its princes with him,” says the LORD. ^2:4The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have rejected the LORD’s law, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have led them astray, after which their fathers walked; ^2:5but I will send a fire on Judah, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem.” ^2:6The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals; ^2:7They trample the heads of the poor into the dust of the earth and deny justice to the oppressed. A man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name. ^2:8They lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge. In the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined. ^2:9Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. ^2:10Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. ^2:11I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites. Isn’t this true, you children of Israel?” says the LORD. ^2:12“But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘Don’t prophesy!’ ^2:13Behold, I will crush you in your place, as a cart crushes that is full of grain. ^2:14Flight will perish from the swift. The strong won’t strengthen his force. The mighty won’t deliver himself. ^2:15He who handles the bow won’t stand. He who is swift of foot won’t escape. He who rides the horse won’t deliver himself. ^2:16He who is courageous among the mighty will flee away naked on that day,” says the LORD. ^3:1Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying: ^3:2“I have chosen only you of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all of your sins.” ^3:3Do two walk together, unless they have agreed? ^3:4Will a lion roar in the thicket, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing? ^3:5Can a bird fall in a trap on the earth, where no snare is set for him? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when there is nothing to catch? ^3:6Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city, without the people being afraid? Does evil happen to a city, and the LORD hasn’t done it? ^3:7Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets. ^3:8The lion has roared. Who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken. Who can but prophesy? ^3:9Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see what unrest is in her, and what oppression is among them.” ^3:10“Indeed they don’t know to do right,” says the LORD, “Who hoard plunder and loot in their palaces.” ^3:11Therefore the Lord GOD says: “An adversary will overrun the land; and he will pull down your strongholds, and your fortresses will be plundered.” ^3:12The LORD says: “As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be rescued who sit in Samaria on the corner of a couch, and on the silken cushions of a bed.” ^3:13“Listen, and testify against the house of Jacob,” says the Lord GOD, the God of Armies. ^3:14“For in the day that I visit the transgressions of Israel on him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel; and the horns of the altar will be cut off, and fall to the ground. ^3:15I will strike the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory will perish, and the great houses will have an end,” says the LORD. ^4:1Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!” ^4:2The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness, “Behold, the days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks, and the last of you with fish hooks. ^4:3You will go out at the breaks in the wall, everyone straight before her; and you will cast yourselves into Harmon,” says the LORD. ^4:4“Go to Bethel, and sin; to Gilgal, and sin more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days, ^4:5offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim free will offerings and brag about them; for this pleases you, you children of Israel,” says the Lord GOD. ^4:6“I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in every town; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD. ^4:7“I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city. One field was rained on, and the field where it didn’t rain withered. ^4:8So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD. ^4:9“I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards, and the swarming locusts have devoured your fig trees and your olive trees; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD. ^4:10“I sent plagues among you like I did Egypt. I have slain your young men with the sword, and have carried away your horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp, yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD. ^4:11“I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD. ^4:12“Therefore I will do this to you, Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, Israel. ^4:13For, behold, he who forms the mountains, creates the wind, declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the high places of the earth: The LORD, the God of Armies, is his name.”