Amos 7; Amos 8; Amos 9; Revelation 8

Amos 7

1 The Lord God showed me this: He was forming a swarm of locusts at the time the spring crop first began to sprout-after the cutting of the king's hay.

2 When the locusts finished eating the vegetation of the land, I said, "Lord God , please forgive! How will Jacob survive since he is so small?"

3 The Lord relented concerning this. "It will not happen," He said.

4 The Lord God showed me this: The Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land.

5 Then I said, "Lord God , please stop! How will Jacob survive since he is so small?"

6 The Lord relented concerning this. "This will not happen either," said the Lord God .

7 He showed me this: The Lord was standing there by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand.

8 The Lord asked me, "What do you see, Amos?" I replied, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "I am setting a plumb line among My people Israel; I will no longer spare them:

9 Isaac's high places will be deserted, and Israel's sanctuaries will be in ruins; I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with a sword."

10 Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent [word] to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, "Amos has conspired against you [right here] in the house of Israel. The land cannot endure all his words,

11 for Amos has said this: 'Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will certainly go into exile from its homeland.' "

12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, "Go away, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah. Earn your living and give [your] prophecies there,

13 but don't ever prophesy at Bethel again, for it is the king's sanctuary and a royal temple."

14 So Amos answered Amaziah, "I was not a prophet or the son of a prophet; rather, I was a herdsman, and I took care of sycamore figs.

15 But the Lord took me from following the flock and said to me, 'Go, prophesy to My people Israel.' "

16 Now hear the word of the Lord. You say: Do not prophesy against Israel; do not preach against the house of Isaac.

17 Therefore, this is what the Lord says: Your wife will be a prostitute in the city, your sons and daughters will fall by the sword, and your land will be divided up with a measuring line. You yourself will die on pagan soil, and Israel will certainly go into exile from its homeland.

Amos 8

1 The Lord God showed me this: A basket of summer fruit.

2 He asked me, "What do you see, Amos?" I replied, "A basket of summer fruit." The Lord said to me, "The end has come for My people Israel; I will no longer spare them.

3 In that day the temple songs will become wailing"-the Lord God 's declaration. "Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere! Silence!"

4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy and do away with the poor of the land,

5 asking, "When will the New Moon be over so we may sell grain, and the Sabbath, so we may market wheat? We can reduce the measure while increasing the price and cheat with dishonest scales.

6 We can buy the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and even sell the wheat husks!"

7 The Lord has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: I will never forget all their deeds.

8 Because of this, won't the land quake and all who dwell in it mourn? All of it will rise like the Nile; it will surge and then subside like the Nile in Egypt.

9 And in that day- [this is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the declaration of the Lord God - I will make the sun go down at noon; I will darken the land in the daytime.

10 I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth and every head to be shaved. I will make that grief like mourning for an only son and its outcome like a bitter day.

11 Hear this! The days are coming- [this is] the declaration of the Lord God - when I will send a famine through the land: not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.

12 People will stagger from sea to sea and roam from north to east, seeking the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.

13 In that day the beautiful young women, the young men also, will faint from thirst.

14 Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria and say, "As your god lives, Dan," or "As the wayof Beer-sheba lives"- they will fall, never to rise again.

Amos 9

1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said: Strike the capitals of the pillars so that the thresholds shake; knock them down on the heads of all the people. Then I will kill the rest of them with the sword. None of those who flee will get away; none of their fugitives will escape.

2 If they dig down to Sheol, from there My hand will take them; if 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 track them down and seize them; if they conceal themselves from My sight on the sea floor, from there I will command the [sea] serpent to bite them.

4 And if they are driven by their enemies into captivity, from there I will command the sword to kill them. I will fix My eyes on them for harm and not for good.

5 The Lord, the God of Hosts- He touches the earth; it melts, and all who dwell on it mourn; all of it rises like the Nile and subsides like the Nile of Egypt.

6 He builds His upper chambers in the heavens and lays the foundation of His vault on the earth. He summons the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth. Yahweh is His name.

7 Israelites, are you not like the Cushites to Me? [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration. Didn't I bring Israel from the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Arameans from Kir?

8 Look, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. However, I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob- the Lord's declaration-

9 for I am about to give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations, as one shakes a sieve, but not a pebble will fall to the ground.

10 All the sinners among My people, who say: Disaster will never overtake or confront us, will die by the sword.

11 In that day I will restore the fallen booth of David: I will repair its gaps, restore its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old,

12 so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that are called by My name- [this is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration- He will do this.

13 Hear this! The days are coming- the Lord's declaration- when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the one who treads grapes, the sower of seed. The mountains will drip with sweet wine, and all the hills will flow [with it].

14 I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel. They will rebuild and occupy ruined cities, plant vineyards and drink their wine, make gardens and eat their produce.

15 I will plant them on their land, and they will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them. Yahweh your God has spoken.

Revelation 8

1 When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand in the presence of God; seven trumpets were given to them.

3 Another angel, with a gold incense burner, came and stood at the altar. He was given a large amount of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the gold altar in front of the throne.

4 The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up in the presence of God from the angel's hand.

5 The angel took the incense burner, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth; there were thunders, rumblings, lightnings, and an earthquake.

6 And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

7 The first [angel] blew his trumpet, and hail and fire, mixed with blood, were hurled to the earth. So a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain ablaze with fire was hurled into the sea. So a third of the sea became blood,

9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from heaven. It fell on a third of the rivers and springs of water.

11 The name of the star is Wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood. So, many of the people died from the waters, because they had been made bitter.

12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day was without light, and the night as well.

13 I looked, and I heard an eagle, flying in mid-heaven, saying in a loud voice, "Woe! Woe! Woe to those who live on the earth, because of the remaining trumpet blasts that the three angels are about to sound!"