Amos 4; Amos 5; Amos 6; Revelation 7

Amos 4

1 says the LORD. Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on Mount Samaria, who cheat the weak, who crush the needy, who say to their husbands, "Bring drinks, so we can get drunk!"

2 The LORD God has solemnly promised by his holiness: The days are surely coming upon you, when they will take you away with hooks, even the last one of you with fishhooks.

3 You will go out through the broken wall, each one after another; and you will be flung out into Harmon,

4 says the LORD. Come to Bethel—and commit a crime; multiply crimes at Gilgal. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tenth-part gifts every three days.

5 Offer a thanksgiving sacrifice of leavened bread, and publicize your gifts to the LORD; for so you love to do, people of Israel!

6 says the LORD God. I have sent a famine in all your cities, and not provided enough bread in all your places, yet you didn't return to me,

7 says the LORD. I also withheld rain from you when there were still three months to the harvest. I allowed no rain to fall on one city, no rain to fall on another city. One field was rained on, and the field dried up where it didn't rain.

8 So two or three thirsty towns went to one city to drink water, and weren't satisfied; yet you didn't return to me,

9 says the LORD. I struck you with disease and mildew. I destroyed your gardens and your vineyards. The locust devoured your fig trees and your olive trees; yet you didn't return to me,

10 says the LORD. I sent a plague against you like the one in Egypt. I killed your young men with the sword. I carried away your horses. I made the stink of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you didn't return to me,

11 says the LORD. I destroyed some of you, as when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning coal plucked out of the fire; yet you didn't return to me,

12 says the LORD. Truly, Israel, I will act in this way toward you; therefore, I will do this to you. Prepare to meet your God, Israel!

13 The one who forms the mountains, creates the wind, makes known his thoughts to humankind, makes the morning darkness, and moves over the heights of the earth— the LORD, the God of heavenly forces is his name!

Amos 5

1 Hear this word—a funeral song—that I am lifting up against you, house of Israel:

2 Fallen, no more to rise, is virgin Israel, deserted on her land, with no one to raise her up.

3 The LORD God proclaims: The city that marched out one thousand people will have one hundred left, and the city that marched out one hundred will have ten left in the house of Israel.

4 The LORD proclaims to the house of Israel: Seek me and live.

5 But don't seek Bethel, don't enter into Gilgal, or cross over to Beer-sheba; for Gilgal will go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing.

6 Seek the LORD and live, or else God might rush like a fire against the house of Joseph. The fire will burn up Bethel, with no one to put it out.

7 Doom to you who turn justice into poison, and throw righteousness to the ground!

8 The one who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning, and darkens the day into night; who summons the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth— this one's name is the LORD—

9 who causes destruction to flash out against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

10 They hate the one who judges at the city gate, and they reject the one who speaks the truth.

11 Truly, because you crush the weak, and because you tax their grain, you have built houses of carved stone, but you won't live in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you won't drink their wine.

12 I know how many are your crimes, and how numerous are your sins— afflicting the righteous, taking money on the side, turning away the poor who seek help.

13 Therefore, the one who is wise will keep silent in that time; it is an evil time.

14 Seek good and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of heavenly forces, will be with you just as you have said.

15 Hate evil, love good, and establish justice at the city gate. Perhaps the LORD God of heavenly forces will be gracious to what is left of Joseph.

16 Truly, the LORD proclaims, the God of heavenly forces, the Lord: Crying will be heard in all the squares. In all the streets they will say, "Oh no! Oh no!" They will call upon the farmers to wail, and those skilled in mourning to lament.

17 In all the vineyards there will be bitter crying because I will pass through your midst,

18 says the LORD. Doom to those who desire the day of the LORD! Why do you want the day of the LORD? It is darkness, not light;

19 as if someone fled from a lion, and was met by a bear; or sought refuge in a house, rested a hand against the wall, and was bitten by a snake.

20 Isn't the day of the LORD darkness, not light; all dark with no brightness in it?

21 I hate, I reject your festivals; I don't enjoy your joyous assemblies.

22 If you bring me your entirely burned offerings and gifts of food— I won't be pleased; I won't even look at your offerings of well-fed animals.

23 Take away the noise of your songs; I won't listen to the melody of your harps.

24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

25 Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, house of Israel?

26 You will take up Sakkuth your king, and Kaiwan your star-god, your images, which you made for yourselves.

27 Therefore, I will take you away beyond Damascus, says the LORD, whose name is the God of heavenly forces.

Amos 6

1 Doom to those resting comfortably in Zion and those trusting in Mount Samaria, the chiefs of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes!

2 Cross over to Calneh and see; from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is your territory greater than their territory?

3 Doom to those who ignore the evil day and make violent rule draw near:

4 who lie on beds of ivory, stretch out on their couches, eat lambs from the flock, and bull calves from the stall;

5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp, and, like David, compose tunes on musical instruments;

6 who drink bowls of wine, put the best of oils on themselves, but who aren't grieved over the ruin of Joseph!

7 Therefore, they will now be the first to be taken away, and the feast of those who lounged at the table will pass away.

8 The LORD God has solemnly sworn, says the LORD, the God of heavenly forces: I reject the pride of Jacob. I hate his fortresses. I will hand over the city and all that is in it.

9 If ten people remain in one house, then they will die.

10 If a relative, someone who burns the dead, picks up the body to bring it out of the house, and says to someone inside the house, "Is anyone else with you?" the answer will be, "No." Then the relative will say, "Hush! We mustn't mention the name of the LORD."

11 Look, the LORD is giving an order; he will shatter the great house into bits and the little house into pieces.

12 Do horses run on rocks? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness—

13 you who rejoice in Lo-debar, who say, "Haven't we by our own strength taken Karnaim for ourselves?"

14 Indeed, I will raise up against you a nation, house of Israel, says the LORD God of heavenly forces, and they will oppress you from Lebo-hamath to the desert ravine.

Revelation 7

1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. They held back the earth's four winds so that no wind would blow against the earth, the sea, or any tree.

2 I saw another angel coming up from the east, holding the seal of the living God. He cried out with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given the power to damage the earth and sea.

3 He said, "Don't damage the earth, the sea, or the trees until we have put a seal on the foreheads of those who serve our God."

4 Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed from every tribe of the Israelites:

5 From the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand were sealed; from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand;

6 from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand;

7 from the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand;

8 from the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed.

9 After this I looked, and there was a great crowd that no one could number. They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language. They were standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They wore white robes and held palm branches in their hands.

10 They cried out with a loud voice: "Victory belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."

11 All the angels stood in a circle around the throne, and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell facedown before the throne and worshipped God,

12 saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and always. Amen."

13 Then one of the elders said to me, "Who are these people wearing white robes, and where did they come from?"

14 I said to him, "Sir, you know." Then he said to me, "These people have come out of great hardship. They have washed their robes and made them white in the Lamb's blood.

15 This is the reason they are before God's throne. They worship him day and night in his temple, and the one seated on the throne will shelter them.

16 They won't hunger or thirst anymore. No sun or scorching heat will beat down on them,

17 because the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them. He will lead them to the springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."