Amos 7–9; Psalm 120; 2 John; 3 John; Jude

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Amos 7–9

Warning Visions

1 This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, he was forming glocusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. 2 When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said,

“O Lord God, please forgive!

How can Jacob stand?

He is so small!”

3  The Lord hrelented concerning this:

“It shall not be,” said the Lord.

4 This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. 5 Then I said,

“O Lord God, please cease!

How can Jacob stand?

He is so small!”

6  The Lord relented concerning this:

“This also shall not be,” said the Lord God.

7 This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a iplumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the Lord said to me, “Amos, jwhat 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 never again pass by them;

9  the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,

and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,

and I will rise against the house of kJeroboam with the sword.”

Amos Accused

10 lThen Amaziah the priest of mBethel 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. 11 For thus Amos has said,

“‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,

and Israel must go into nexile

away from his land.’”

12 And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, 13 but onever again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”

14 Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was1 no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but pI was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. 15 But the Lord took me qfrom following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16 Now therefore hear the word of the Lord.

“You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,

and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’

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 up with a measuring line;

you yourself shall die in an unclean land,

and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’”

The Coming Day of Bitter Mourning

1 This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. 2 And he said, “Amos, rwhat do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me,

“The end2 has come upon my people Israel;

I will never again pass by them.

3  The songs of the temple3 shall become wailings4 in that day,”

declares the Lord God.

“So many dead bodies!”

“They are thrown everywhere!”

s“Silence!”

4  Hear this, you who ttrample on the needy

and bring the poor of the land to an end,

5  saying, “When will the unew moon be over,

that we may sell grain?

And the Sabbath,

that we may offer wheat for sale,

that we may make the ephah small and the shekel5 great

and deal deceitfully with vfalse balances,

6  that we may wbuy the poor for silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals

and sell the chaff of the wheat?”

7  The Lord has sworn by the xpride of Jacob:

“Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.

8  Shall not the land tremble on this account,

and everyone mourn who dwells in it,

and all of it yrise like the Nile,

and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?”

9  “And on that day,” declares the Lord God,

z“I will make the sun go down at noon

and adarken the earth in broad daylight.

10  I will turn your feasts into mourning

and ball your songs into lamentation;

cI will bring sackcloth on every waist

and dbaldness on every head;

I will make it like the mourning efor an only son

and the end of it like a bitter day.

11  “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God,

“when I will send a famine on the land—

not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,

but fof hearing the words of the Lord.

12  They shall wander from sea to sea,

and from north to east;

they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord,

but they shall not find it.

13  “In that day the lovely virgins and the young men

shall faint for thirst.

14  Those who swear by the Guilt of Samaria,

and say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’

and, ‘As the Way of gBeersheba lives,’

they shall fall, and never rise again.”

The Destruction of Israel

1 I saw the Lord standing beside6 the altar, and he said:

“Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake,

and shatter them on the heads of all the people;7

and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword;

not one of them shall flee away;

not one of them shall escape.

2  h“If they dig into Sheol,

from there shall my hand take them;

iif they climb up to heaven,

from there I will bring them down.

3  If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,

from there I will search them out and take them;

and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea,

there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them.

4  And if they go into captivity before their enemies,

there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them;

and I will fix my eyes upon them

jfor evil and not for good.”

5  The Lord God of hosts,

he who touches the earth and it melts,

and kall who dwell in it mourn,

and all of it rises like the Nile,

and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt;

6  who builds his upper chambers in the heavens

and founds his vault upon the earth;

lwho calls for the waters of the sea

and pours them out upon the surface of the earth—

the Lord is his name.

7  “Are you not like the Cushites to me,

O people of Israel?” declares the Lord.

“Did I not bring up mIsrael from the land of Egypt,

and the Philistines from nCaphtor and the Syrians from oKir?

8  Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom,

and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground,

except that pI will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”

declares the Lord.

9  “For behold, I will command,

and shake the house of Israel among all the nations

as one shakes with a qsieve,

but no pebble shall fall to the earth.

10  All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,

rwho say, s‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’

The Restoration of Israel

11  t“In that day I will raise up

the booth of David that is fallen

and repair its breaches,

and raise up its ruins

and urebuild it as in the days of old,

12  that they may possess the remnant of Edom

and all the nations who are vcalled by my name,”8

declares the Lord who does this.

13  “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,

w“when the plowman shall overtake the reaper

and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed;

xthe mountains shall drip sweet wine,

and all the hills shall flow with it.

14  yI will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,

and they shall rebuild the zruined cities and inhabit them;

they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,

and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.

15  aI will plant them on their land,

and they shall never again be uprooted

out of the land that I have given them,”

says the Lord your God.


Psalm 120

Deliver Me, O Lord

A Song of Ascents.

1  eIn my fdistress I called to the Lord,

and ghe answered me.

2  Deliver me, O Lord,

from lying lips,

from a deceitful tongue.

3  What shall be given to you,

and what more shall be done to you,

you deceitful tongue?

4  A warrior’s sharp arrows,

with hglowing coals of the broom tree!

5  Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech,

that I dwell among the itents of Kedar!

6  Too long have I had my dwelling

among those who hate peace.

7  I am for peace,

but when I speak, they are for war!


2 John

Greeting

1 aThe elder to the belect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who cknow the truth, 2 because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever:

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

Walking in Truth and Love

4 I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children ewalking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. 5 And now I ask you, dear lady—fnot as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we glove one another. 6 And hthis is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, ijust as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. 7 For jmany kdeceivers have gone out into the world, those who ldo not confess the coming of Jesus Christ min the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the nantichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we1 have worked for, but may win a full oreward. 9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever pabides in the teaching qhas both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, rdo not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.

Final Greetings

12 sThough I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead tI hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that uour joy may be complete.

13 The children of your elect sister greet you.


3 John

Greeting

1 aThe elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.

2 Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. 3 For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers1 came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are bwalking in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Support and Opposition

5 Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, cstrangers as they are, 6 who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. 7 For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing dfrom the Gentiles. 8 Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.

9 I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, ewho likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. 10 So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.

11 Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. fWhoever does good is from God; gwhoever does evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that hour testimony is true.

Final Greetings

13 iI had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. 14 jI hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.

15 Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, keach by name.


Jude

Greeting

1 Jude, a servant1 of Jesus Christ and brother of James,

To those who are acalled, bbeloved in God the Father and kept for2 Jesus Christ:

2 May mercy, peace, and love be cmultiplied to you.

Judgment on False Teachers

3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our dcommon salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain people have ecrept in unnoticed who flong ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into gsensuality and hdeny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, iwho saved3 a people out of the land of Egypt, jafterward destroyed kthose who did not believe. 6 lAnd the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— 7 mjust as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise nindulged in sexual immorality and pursued ounnatural desire,4 serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, preject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 9 But when the qarchangel rMichael, contending with the devil, was disputing about sthe body of Moses, he tdid not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, u“The Lord rebuke you.” 10 vBut these people blaspheme all that wthey do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. 11 Woe to them! For they walked in xthe way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to yBalaam’s zerror and perished in aKorah’s rebellion. 12 bThese are hidden reefs5 at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, cshepherds feeding themselves; dwaterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13 ewild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

14 It was also about these that fEnoch, gthe seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with hten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are iloud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.

A Call to Persevere

17 But jyou must remember, beloved, the predictions of the kapostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They6 said to you, l“In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” 19 It is these who mcause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. 20 But you, beloved, nbuilding yourselves up in your most holy faith and opraying in the Holy Spirit, 21 pkeep yourselves in the love of God, qwaiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even rthe garment7 stained by the flesh.

Doxology

24 sNow to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you tblameless ubefore the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, vbe glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time8 and now and forever. Amen.