Amos 9

1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said, “Strike the tops of the pillars, that the thresholds may shake; and break them in pieces on the head of all of them; and I will kill the last of them with the sword: there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape.

2 Though they dig into Sheol,there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down.

3 Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out there; and though they be hidden from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them.

4 Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good.

5 For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn; and it will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again, like the River of Egypt.

6 It is he who builds his rooms in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the earth; he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth; Yahweh is his name.

7 Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians to me, children of Israel?” says Yahweh. “Haven’t I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?

8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” says Yahweh.

9 “For, behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least kernel will fall on the earth.

10 All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, ‘Evil won’t overtake nor meet us.’

11 In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen, and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old;

12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by my name,” says Yahweh who does this.

13 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh,

“that the plowman shall overtake the reaper,

and the one treading grapes him who sows seed;

and sweet wine will drip from the mountains,

and flow from the hills.

14 I will bring my people Israel back from captivity,

and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them;

and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them.

They shall also make gardens,

and eat their fruit.

15 I will plant them on their land,

and they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them,”

says Yahweh your God.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/AMO/9-ba1588e2ee744d5a4e7199c31f4c1b56.mp3?version_id=206—

Joel 1

1 Yahweh’sword that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.

2 Hear this, you elders,

And listen, all you inhabitants of the land.

Has this ever happened in your days,

or in the days of your fathers?

3 Tell your children about it,

and have your children tell their children,

and their children, another generation.

4 What the swarming locust has left, the great locust has eaten.

What the great locust has left, the grasshopper has eaten.

What the grasshopper has left, the caterpillar has eaten.

5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!

Wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine;

for it is cut off from your mouth.

6 For a nation has come up on my land, strong, and without number.

His teeth are the teeth of a lion,

and he has the fangs of a lioness.

7 He has laid my vine waste,

and stripped my fig tree.

He has stripped its bark, and thrown it away.

Its branches are made white.

8 Mourn like a virgin dressed in sackcloth for the husband of her youth!

9 The meal offering and the drink offering are cut off from Yahweh’s house.

The priests, Yahweh’s ministers, mourn.

10 The field is laid waste.

The land mourns, for the grain is destroyed,

The new wine has dried up,

and the oil languishes.

11 Be confounded, you farmers!

Wail, you vineyard keepers;

for the wheat and for the barley;

for the harvest of the field has perished.

12 The vine has dried up, and the fig tree withered;

the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree,

even all of the trees of the field are withered;

for joy has withered away from the sons of men.

13 Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests!

Wail, you ministers of the altar.

Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God,

for the meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from your God’s house.

14 Sanctify a fast.

Call a solemn assembly.

Gather the elders,

and all the inhabitants of the land, to the house of Yahweh, your God,

and cry to Yahweh.

15 Alas for the day!

For the day of Yahweh is at hand,

and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

16 Isn’t the food cut off before our eyes;

joy and gladness from the house of our God?

17 The seeds rot under their clods.

The granaries are laid desolate.

The barns are broken down, for the grain has withered.

18 How the animals groan!

The herds of livestock are perplexed, because they have no pasture.

Yes, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

19 Yahweh, I cry to you,

For the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness,

and the flame has burned all the trees of the field.

20 Yes, the animals of the field pant to you,

for the water brooks have dried up,

And the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JOL/1-0207b8bc6e6f86e5821e6a141a5de182.mp3?version_id=206—

Joel 2

1 Blow the trumpet in Zion,

and sound an alarm in my holy mountain!

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,

for the day of Yahweh comes,

for it is close at hand:

2 A day of darkness and gloominess,

a day of clouds and thick darkness.

As the dawn spreading on the mountains,

a great and strong people;

there has never been the like,

neither will there be any more after them,

even to the years of many generations.

3 A fire devours before them,

and behind them, a flame burns.

The land is as the garden of Eden before them,

and behind them, a desolate wilderness.

Yes, and no one has escaped them.

4 Their appearance is as the appearance of horses,

and as horsemen, so do they run.

5 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains do they leap,

like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble,

as a strong people set in battle array.

6 At their presence the peoples are in anguish.

All faces have grown pale.

7 They run like mighty men.

They climb the wall like warriors.

They each march in his line, and they don’t swerve off course.

8 Neither does one jostle another;

they march everyone in his path,

and they burst through the defenses,

and don’t break ranks.

9 They rush on the city.

They run on the wall.

They climb up into the houses.

They enter in at the windows like thieves.

10 The earth quakes before them.

The heavens tremble.

The sun and the moon are darkened,

and the stars withdraw their shining.

11 Yahweh thunders his voice before his army;

for his forces are very great;

for he is strong who obeys his command;

for the day of Yahweh is great and very awesome,

and who can endure it?

12 “Yet even now,” says Yahweh, “turn to me with all your heart,

and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”

13 Tear your heart, and not your garments,

and turn to Yahweh, your God;

for he is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness,

and relents from sending calamity.

14 Who knows? He may turn and relent,

and leave a blessing behind him,

even a meal offering and a drink offering to Yahweh, your God.

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion!

Sanctify a fast.

Call a solemn assembly.

16 Gather the people.

Sanctify the assembly.

Assemble the elders.

Gather the children, and those who nurse from breasts.

Let the bridegroom go out of his room,

and the bride out of her room.

17 Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, weep between the porch and the altar,

and let them say, “Spare your people, Yahweh,

and don’t give your heritage to reproach,

that the nations should rule over them.

Why should they say among the peoples,

‘Where is their God?’”

18 Then Yahweh was jealous for his land,

And had pity on his people.

19 Yahweh answered his people,

“Behold,I will send you grain, new wine, and oil,

and you will be satisfied with them;

and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.

20 But I will remove the northern army far away from you,

and will drive it into a barren and desolate land,

its front into the eastern sea,

and its back into the western sea;

and its stench will come up,

and its bad smell will rise.”

Surely he has done great things.

21 Land, don’t be afraid.

Be glad and rejoice, for Yahweh has done great things.

22 Don’t be afraid, you animals of the field;

for the pastures of the wilderness spring up,

for the tree bears its fruit.

The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.

23 “Be glad then, you children of Zion,

and rejoice in Yahweh, your God;

for he gives you the former rain in just measure,

and he causes the rain to come down for you,

the former rain and the latter rain,

as before.

24 The threshing floors will be full of wheat,

and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

25 I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten,

the great locust, the grasshopper, and the caterpillar,

my great army, which I sent among you.

26 You will have plenty to eat, and be satisfied,

and will praise the name of Yahweh, your God,

who has dealt wondrously with you;

and my people will never again be disappointed.

27 You will know that I am among Israel,

and that I am Yahweh, your God, and there is no one else;

and my people will never again be disappointed.

28 “It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;

and your sons and your daughters will prophesy.

Your old men will dream dreams.

Your young men will see visions.

29 And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days,

I will pour out my Spirit.

30 I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:

blood, fire, and pillars of smoke.

31 The sun will be turned into darkness,

and the moon into blood,

before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.

32 It will happen that whoever will call on Yahweh’s name shall be saved;

for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape,

as Yahweh has said,

and among the remnant, those whom Yahweh calls.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JOL/2-b05900cbd5f47b378502762da6e17a75.mp3?version_id=206—

Joel 3

1 “For, behold, in those days,

and in that time,

when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

2 I will gather all nations,

and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat;

and I will execute judgment on them there for my people,

and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations.

They have divided my land,

3 and have cast lots for my people,

and have given a boy for a prostitute,

and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.

4 “Yes, and what are you to me, Tyre, and Sidon,

and all the regions of Philistia?

Will you repay me?

And if you repay me,

I will swiftly and speedily return your repayment on your own head.

5 Because you have taken my silver and my gold,

and have carried my finest treasures into your temples,

6 and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks,

that you may remove them far from their border.

7 Behold, I will stir them up out of the place where you have sold them,

and will return your repayment on your own head;

8 and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah,

and they will sell them to the men of Sheba,

to a faraway nation,

for Yahweh has spoken it.”

9 Proclaim this among the nations:

“Prepare for war!

Stir up the mighty men.

Let all the warriors draw near.

Let them come up.

10 Beat your plowshares into swords,

and your pruning hooks into spears.

Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’

11 Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations,

and gather yourselves together.”

Cause your mighty ones to come down there, Yahweh.

12 “Let the nations arouse themselves,

and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat;

for there will I sit to judge all the surrounding nations.

13 Put in the sickle;

for the harvest is ripe.

Come, tread, for the wine press is full,

the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.”

14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!

For the day of Yahweh is near, in the valley of decision.

15 The sun and the moon are darkened,

and the stars withdraw their shining.

16 Yahweh will roar from Zion,

and thunder from Jerusalem;

and the heavens and the earth will shake;

but Yahweh will be a refuge to his people,

and a stronghold to the children of Israel.

17 “So you will know that I am Yahweh, your God,

dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain.

Then Jerusalem will be holy,

and no strangers will pass through her any more.

18 It will happen in that day,

that the mountains will drop down sweet wine,

the hills will flow with milk,

all the brooks of Judah will flow with waters,

and a fountain will flow out from Yahweh’s house,

and will water the valley of Shittim.

19 Egypt will be a desolation,

and Edom will be a desolate wilderness,

for the violence done to the children of Judah,

because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

20 But Judah will be inhabited forever,

and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

21 I will cleanse their blood,

that I have not cleansed:

for Yahweh dwells in Zion.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JOL/3-cbd5388625a9c24bcf82bab431caf4bb.mp3?version_id=206—

Hosea 1

1 Yahweh’sword that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

2 When Yahweh spoke at first by Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and children of unfaithfulness; for the land commits great adultery, forsaking Yahweh.”

3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived, and bore him a son.

4 Yahweh said to him, “Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.

5 It will happen in that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”

6 She conceived again, and bore a daughter.

Then he said to him, “Call her name Lo-Ruhamah; for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, that I should in any way pardon them.

7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by Yahweh their God,and will not save them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen.”

8 Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived, and bore a son.

9 He said, “Call his name Lo-Ammi; for you are not my people, and I will not be yours.

10 Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can’t be measured or counted; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’

11 The children of Judah and the children of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint themselves one head, and will go up from the land; for great will be the day of Jezreel.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/HOS/1-97b65275e4b9a377f8b8732c5179f642.mp3?version_id=206—

Hosea 2

1 “Say to your brothers, ‘My people!’

and to your sisters, ‘My loved one!’

2 Contend with your mother!

Contend, for she is not my wife,

neither am I her husband;

and let her put away her prostitution from her face,

and her adulteries from between her breasts;

3 Lest I strip her naked,

and make her bare as in the day that she was born,

and make her like a wilderness,

and set her like a dry land,

and kill her with thirst.

4 Indeed, on her children I will have no mercy;

for they are children of unfaithfulness;

5 For their mother has played the prostitute.

She who conceived them has done shamefully;

for she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,

who give me my bread and my water,

my wool and my flax,

my oil and my drink.’

6 Therefore behold,I will hedge up your way with thorns,

and I will build a wall against her,

that she can’t find her way.

7 She will follow after her lovers,

but she won’t overtake them;

and she will seek them,

but won’t find them.

Then she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband;

for then was it better with me than now.’

8 For she did not know that I gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil,

and multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.

9 Therefore I will take back my grain in its time,

and my new wine in its season,

and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.

10 Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers,

and no one will deliver her out of my hand.

11 I will also cause all her celebrations to cease:

her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.

12 I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,

about which she has said, ‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me;

and I will make them a forest,’

and the animals of the field shall eat them.

13 I will visit on her the days of the Baals,

to which she burned incense,

when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels,

and went after her lovers,

and forgot me,” says Yahweh.

14 “Therefore behold, I will allure her,

and bring her into the wilderness,

and speak tenderly to her.

15 I will give her vineyards from there,

and the valley of Achor for a door of hope;

and she will respond there,

as in the days of her youth,

and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

16 It will be in that day,” says Yahweh,

“that you will call me ‘my husband,’

and no longer call me ‘my master.’

17 For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth,

and they will no longer be mentioned by name.

18 In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field,

and with the birds of the sky,

and with the creeping things of the ground.

I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land,

and will make them lie down safely.

19 I will betroth you to me forever.

Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion.

20 I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness;

and you shall know Yahweh.

21 It will happen in that day, I will respond,” says Yahweh,

“I will respond to the heavens,

and they will respond to the earth;

22 and the earth will respond to the grain, and the new wine, and the oil;

and they will respond to Jezreel.

23 I will sow her to me in the earth;

and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy;

and I will tell those who were not my people, ‘You are my people;’

and they will say, ‘My God!’”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/HOS/2-f5db1e0693f2b10a5c68af2d476edc61.mp3?version_id=206—

Hosea 3

1 Yahweh said to me, “Go again, love a woman loved by another, and an adulteress, even as Yahweh loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods, and love cakes of raisins.”

2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and a homerand a half of barley.

3 I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days. You shall not play the prostitute, and you shall not be with any other man. I will also be so toward you.”

4 For the children of Israel shall live many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without sacred stone, and without ephod or idols.

5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings in the last days.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/HOS/3-e445028bcb179fef9c781f01b29f2f47.mp3?version_id=206—

Hosea 4

1 Hear Yahweh’s word, you children of Israel;

for Yahweh has a charge against the inhabitants of the land:

“Indeed there is no truth,

nor goodness,

nor knowledge of God in the land.

2 There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery;

they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed.

3 Therefore the land will mourn,

and everyone who dwells therein will waste away.

all living things in her,

even the animals of the field and the birds of the sky;

yes, the fish of the sea also die.

4 “Yet let no man bring a charge, neither let any man accuse; For your people are like those who bring charges against a priest.

5 You will stumble in the day,

and the prophet will also stumble with you in the night;

and I will destroy your mother.

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you,

that you may be no priest to me.

Because you have forgotten your God’s law,

I will also forget your children.

7 As they were multiplied, so they sinned against me.

I will change their glory into shame.

8 They feed on the sin of my people,

and set their heart on their iniquity.

9 It will be, like people, like priest;

and I will punish them for their ways,

and will repay them for their deeds.

10 They will eat, and not have enough.

They will play the prostitute, and will not increase;

because they have abandoned giving to Yahweh.

11 Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding.

12 My people consult with their wooden idol,

and answer to a stick of wood.

Indeed the spirit of prostitution has led them astray,

and they have been unfaithful to their God.

13 They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains,

and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths,

because its shade is good.

Therefore your daughters play the prostitute,

and your brides commit adultery.

14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute,

nor your brides when they commit adultery;

because the men consort with prostitutes,

and they sacrifice with the shrine prostitutes;

so the people without understanding will come to ruin.

15 “Though you, Israel, play the prostitute,

yet don’t let Judah offend;

and don’t come to Gilgal,

neither go up to Beth Aven,

nor swear, ‘As Yahweh lives.’

16 For Israel has behaved extremely stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer.

Then how will Yahweh feed them like a lamb in a meadow.

17 Ephraim is joined to idols.

Leave him alone!

18 Their drink has become sour.

They play the prostitute continually.

Her rulers dearly love their shameful way.

19 The wind has wrapped her up in its wings;

and they shall be disappointed because of their sacrifices.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/HOS/4-8c4ed377a6d4a1f1c9a2ea534eccf3c8.mp3?version_id=206—

Hosea 5

1 “Listen to this, you priests!

Listen, house of Israel,

and give ear, house of the king!

For the judgment is against you;

for you have been a snare at Mizpah,

and a net spread on Tabor.

2 The rebels are deep in slaughter;

but I discipline all of them.

3 I know Ephraim,

and Israel is not hidden from me;

for now, Ephraim, you have played the prostitute.

Israel is defiled.

4 Their deeds won’t allow them to turn to their God;

for the spirit of prostitution is within them,

and they don’t know Yahweh.

5 The pride of Israel testifies to his face.

Therefore Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity.

Judah also will stumble with them.

6 They will go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Yahweh;

but they won’t find him.

He has withdrawn himself from them.

7 They are unfaithful to Yahweh;

for they have borne illegitimate children.

Now the new moon will devour them with their fields.

8 “Blow the cornet in Gibeah,

and the trumpet in Ramah!

Sound a battle cry at Beth Aven, behind you, Benjamin!

9 Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke.

Among the tribes of Israel, I have made known that which will surely be.

10 The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark.

I will pour out my wrath on them like water.

11 Ephraim is oppressed,

he is crushed in judgment;

Because he is intent in his pursuit of idols.

12 Therefore I am to Ephraim like a moth,

and to the house of Judah like rottenness.

13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness,

and Judah his wound,

Then Ephraim went to Assyria,

and sent to king Jareb:

but he is not able to heal you,

neither will he cure you of your wound.

14 For I will be to Ephraim like a lion,

and like a young lion to the house of Judah.

I myself will tear in pieces and go away.

I will carry off, and there will be no one to deliver.

15 I will go and return to my place,

until they acknowledge their offense,

and seek my face.

In their affliction they will seek me earnestly.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/HOS/5-6a4bfdde6a053f3f0dca2edf83a0e8fc.mp3?version_id=206—

Hosea 6

1 “Come, and let us return to Yahweh;

for he has torn us to pieces,

and he will heal us;

he has injured us,

and he will bind up our wounds.

2 After two days he will revive us.

On the third day he will raise us up,

and we will live before him.

3 Let us acknowledge Yahweh.

Let us press on to know Yahweh.

As surely as the sun rises,

Yahweh will appear.

He will come to us like the rain,

like the spring rain that waters the earth.”

4 “Ephraim, what shall I do to you?

Judah, what shall I do to you?

For your love is like a morning cloud,

and like the dew that disappears early.

5 Therefore I have cut them to pieces with the prophets;

I killed them with the words of my mouth.

Your judgments are like a flash of lightning.

6 For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice;

and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

7 But they, like Adam, have broken the covenant.

They were unfaithful to me, there.

8 Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity;

it is stained with blood.

9 As gangs of robbers wait to ambush a man,

so the company of priests murder on the path toward Shechem,

committing shameful crimes.

10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing.

There is prostitution in Ephraim.

Israel is defiled.

11 “Also, Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you,

when I restore the fortunes of my people.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/HOS/6-212ee3fc15c407a52e61756d06ae2460.mp3?version_id=206—