Today's Readings and Stuff -- Saturday, 12 December 2020

Been quiet here today.  Which makes looking around at our world, in the midst of collapse, all too evident.  We will be finding out how strong and sturdy the foundations and framework of that really is.  Strong?  Or molded, rusty, and weak.  Time to pray.  Constantly.

See Psalm 51:12, "Restore to me the JOY of thy salvation".  Yes, joy.  And an enthusiasm for the Lord and of serving Him.  Not much of that enthusiasm is visible, all too often in my life and walk.  Not good.

Song of the day: "On Christ The Solid Rock I Stand". Yes, all else is sinking sand, and we do wrong to put our trust in anything else.  Not kings or kingdoms, not money or connections or nations.  Or judges.  Or traditions.

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AMOS 7

First Vision: Locusts

1The 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. 2When the locusts finished eating the vegetation of the land,  I said, “Lord God, please forgive!  How will Jacob survive since he is so small? ” 

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

Second Vision: Fire

4The Lord God showed me this: The Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire.  It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. 5Then I said, “Lord God, please stop!  How will Jacob survive since he is so small? ”

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

Third Vision: A Plumb Line

7He showed me this: The Lord was standing there by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand. 8The 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: 

9Isaac’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.”

Amaziah’s Opposition

10Amaziah 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, 11for Amos has said this: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will certainly go into exile from its homeland.’ ” 

12Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer!  Flee to the land of Judah. Earn your living  and give your prophecies there, 13but don’t ever prophesy  at Bethel again, for it is the king’s sanctuary  and a royal temple.”

14So 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. 15But the Lord took me from following the flock  and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’ ” 

16Now hear the word of the Lord. You say:

Do not prophesy  against Israel;

do not preach  against the house of Isaac.

17Therefore, 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

Fourth Vision: A Basket of Summer Fruit

1The Lord God showed me this: A basket of summer fruit. 2He 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.  3In that day the temple  songs  will become wailing”  — this is the Lord God’s declaration. “Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere!  Silence! ” 

4Hear this, you who trample on the needy 

and do away with the poor of the land, 

5asking, “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. 

6We can buy the poor with silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals 

and even sell the chaff! ”

7The Lord has sworn  by the Pride of Jacob:  

I will never forget all their deeds. 

8Because 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. 

9And in that day —

this is the declaration of the Lord God —

I will make the sun go down at noon; 

I will darken the land in the daytime. 

10I 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.

11Hear 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. 

12People will stagger from sea to sea

and roam from north to east,

seeking the word of the Lord, 

but they will not find it.

13In that day the beautiful young women, 

the young men also, will faint from thirst. 

14Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria 

and say, “As your god lives, Dan,” 

or “As the way   of Beer-sheba lives”  —

they will fall, never to rise again. 

AMOS 9

Fifth Vision: The Lord beside the Altar

1I 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 the fugitives will escape.

2If 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.

3If 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. 

4And 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. 

5The Lord, the God of Hosts —

He touches the earth; 

it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn;

all of it rises like the Nile

and subsides like the Nile of Egypt. 

6He 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. 

Announcement of Judgment

7Israelites, are you not like the Cushites to Me? 

This is the Lord’s declaration.

Didn’t I bring Israel from the land of Egypt,

the Philistines from Caphtor,  

and the Arameans from Kir? 

8Look, 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  —

this is the Lord’s declaration —

9for 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.

10All the sinners among My people 

who say: “Disaster will never overtake 

or confront us,” 

will die by the sword.

Announcement of Restoration

11In 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, 

12so that they may possess

the remnant of Edom 

and all the nations

that are called by My name   —

this is the Lord’s declaration —

He will do this.

13Hear this! The days are coming —

this is 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. 

14I 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. 

15I 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.