Study Desk

It is bad for those who are taking it easy in Zion, and for those who feel safe on the mountain of Samaria, you great men of the most important nation, to whom the people of Israel come!

How bad it will be for you who lie on beds of ivory and spread out upon your long seats! You eat lambs from the flock and calves from the cattle-house.

You sing songs to the sound of the harp. Like David you write songs for yourselves.

The dead man's brother, who is to take care of the body, will lift him up to carry his bones from the house. And he will say to the one inside the house, "Is anyone else with you?" That one will say, "No." Then he will say, "Keep quiet! For the name of the Lord must not be spoken."

For the Lord is going to say that the great house must be broken apart and the small house into pieces.

When they had finished eating the grass I said, "Lord God, forgive! O that Jacob may stay alive for he is so small!"

This is what the Lord God showed me: The Lord God was calling for a punishment by fire. It dried up the deep waters and began to destroy the farm land.

Then I said, "Lord God, I beg You to stop! How can Jacob stay alive, for he is so small?"

For this is what Amos is saying: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and the people of Israel will be taken away from their own land to a strange land.'"

But never speak about your special dreams again at Bethel. For it is a holy place of the king, a place where the nation worships."

And the Lord said, "What do you see, Amos?" I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the Lord said to me, "The end has come for My people Israel. I will not change My mind again about punishing them.

We will buy the poor for money, and those in need for shoes. And we will sell the part of the grain that is of no worth."

The Lord has promised by the pride of Jacob, "For sure I will never forget anything they have done.

"The days are coming," says the Lord God, "when I will send a time upon the land when the people will be very hungry. They will not be hungry for bread or thirsty for water, but they will be hungry to hear the Words of the Lord.

People will go from sea to sea, and from the north to the east. They will go from place to place to look for the Word of the Lord, but they will not find it.

As for those who swear by the false gods of Samaria, saying, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,' and ‘As the way of Beersheba lives,' they will fall and never rise again."

The Lord builds His upper rooms in the heavens and sets His sky over the earth. He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the earth. The Lord is His name.

"If robbers came to you during the night, O how you will be destroyed! Would they not steal only enough for themselves? If those who gather grapes came to you, would they not leave some behind?

O how Esau will be robbed! His hidden riches will be looked for until they are found.

All the men you have made an agreement with will drive you from the country. The men at peace with you will lie to you and get power over you. Those who eat your bread will set a trap for you, but you will not know it."