Israel's Guilt and Punishment

Amos 3

1 Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying:

2 "You a only have I known of all the families of the earth;
b Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities."

3 Can two walk together, unless they are agreed? 4 Will a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey?
Will a young lion 1 cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing? 5 Will a bird fall into a snare on the earth, where there is no 2 trap for it?
Will a snare spring up from the earth, if it has caught nothing at all? 6 If a 3 trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid?
c If there is calamity in a city, will not the LORD have done it?

7 Surely the Lord GOD does nothing,
Unless d He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. 8 A lion has roared!
Who will not fear?
The Lord GOD has spoken!
e Who can but prophesy?

9 "Proclaim in the palaces at 4 Ashdod,
And in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say:
'Assemble on the mountains of Samaria;
See great tumults in her midst,
And the 5 oppressed within her. 10 For they f do not know to do right,'
Says the LORD,
'Who store up violence and 6 robbery in their palaces.' "

11 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:
"An adversary shall be all around the land;
He shall sap your strength from you,
And your palaces shall be plundered."

12 Thus says the LORD:
"As a shepherd 7 takes from the mouth of a lion
Two legs or a piece of an ear,
So shall the children of Israel be taken out
Who dwell in Samaria -
In the corner of a bed and 8 on the edge 9 of a couch!

13 Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,"
Says the Lord GOD, the God of hosts, 14 "That in the day I punish Israel for their transgressions,
I will also visit destruction on the altars of g Bethel;
And the horns of the altar shall be cut off
And fall to the ground. 15 I will 10 destroy h the winter house along with i the summer house;
The j houses of ivory shall perish,
And the great houses shall have an end,"
Says the LORD.

Amos 4

1 Hear this word, you a cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria,
Who oppress the b poor,
Who crush the needy,
Who say to 11 your husbands, "Bring wine, let us c drink!" 2 d The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness:
"Behold, the days shall come upon you
When He will take you away e with fishhooks,
And your posterity with fishhooks. 3 f You will go out through broken walls,
Each one straight ahead of her,
And you will 12 be cast into Harmon,"
Says the LORD.

4 "Come g to Bethel and transgress,
At h Gilgal multiply transgression;
i Bring your sacrifices every morning,
j Your tithes every three 13 days. 14 5 k Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven,
Proclaim and announce l the freewill offerings;
For this you love,
You children of Israel!"
Says the Lord GOD.

  1. Cross References
    Genesis 18:19
    "For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him."
    Exodus 19:5
    Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.
    Exodus 19:6
    'And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."
    Deuteronomy 7:6
    For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.
    Psalms 147:19
    He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and His judgments to Israel.
  2. Cross References
    Jeremiah 14:10
    Thus says the LORD to this people: "Thus they have loved to wander; They have not restrained their feet. Therefore the LORD does not accept them; He will remember their iniquity now, And punish their sins.
    Ezekiel 20:36
    Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you," says the Lord GOD.
    Daniel 9:12
    And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.
    Matthew 11:22
    But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.
    Romans 2:9
    Tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek.
  3. Cross References
    Isaiah 45:7
    I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.
  4. Cross References
    Genesis 6:13
    And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
    Genesis 18:17
    And the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing.
    Jeremiah 23:22
    But if they had stood in My counsel, And had caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way And from the evil of their doings.
    Daniel 9:22
    And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, "O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand.
    John 15:15
    No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
  5. Cross References
    Jeremiah 20:9
    Then I said, "I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name." But His word was in my heart like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not.
    Micah 3:8
    But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the LORD, And of justice and might, To declare to Jacob his transgression And to Israel his sin.
    Acts 4:20
    "For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard."
    1 Corinthians 9:16
    For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!
  6. Cross References
    Psalms 14:4
    Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call on the LORD?
    Jeremiah 4:22
    "For My people are foolish, They have not known Me. They are silly children, And they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, But to do good they have no knowledge."
    Amos 5:7
    You who turn justice to wormwood, And lay righteousness to rest in the earth!
    Amos 6:12
    Do horses run on rocks? Does one plow there with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into gall, And the fruit of righteousness into wormwood.
  7. Cross References
    2 Kings 23:15
    Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and crushed it to powder, and burned the wooden image.
    Hosea 10:5 - 8
    The inhabitants of Samaria fear Because of the calf of Beth Aven. For its people mourn for it, And its priests shriek for it - Because its glory has departed from it.
    Hosea 10:14
    Therefore tumult shall arise among your people, And all your fortresses shall be plundered As Shalman plundered Beth Arbel in the day of battle - A mother dashed in pieces upon her children.
    Hosea 10:15
    Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel, Because of your great wickedness. At dawn the king of Israel Shall be cut off utterly.
    Amos 4:4
    Come to Bethel and transgress, At Gilgal multiply transgression; Bring your sacrifices every morning, Your tithes every three days.
  8. Cross References
    Jeremiah 36:22
    Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning on the hearth before him.
  9. Cross References
    Judges 3:20
    So Ehud came to him (now he was sitting upstairs in his cool private chamber). Then Ehud said, "I have a message from God for you." So he arose from his seat.
  10. Cross References
    1 Kings 22:39
    Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, the ivory house which he built and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
    Psalms 45:8
    All Your garments are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia, Out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad.
  11. Cross References
    Psalms 22:12
    Many bulls have surrounded Me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.
    Ezekiel 39:18
    You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, Drink the blood of the princes of the earth, Of rams and lambs, Of goats and bulls, All of them fatlings of Bashan.
  12. Cross References
    Amos 2:6
    Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because they sell the righteous for silver, And the poor for a pair of sandals.
  13. Cross References
    Proverbs 23:20
    Do not mix with winebibbers, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat.
  14. Cross References
    Psalms 89:35
    Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David:
  15. Cross References
    Jeremiah 16:16
    Behold, I will send for many fishermen," says the LORD, "and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
    Ezekiel 29:4
    But I will put hooks in your jaws, And cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales; I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers, And all the fish in your rivers will stick to your scales.
    Habakkuk 1:15
    They take up all of them with a hook, They catch them in their net, And gather them in their dragnet. Therefore they rejoice and are glad.
  16. Cross References
    Ezekiel 12:5
    Dig through the wall in their sight, and carry your belongings out through it.
  17. Cross References
    Ezekiel 20:39
    As for you, O house of Israel," thus says the Lord GOD: "Go, serve every one of you his idols - and hereafter - if you will not obey Me; but profane My holy name no more with your gifts and your idols.
    Amos 3:14
    That in the day I punish Israel for their transgressions, I will also visit destruction on the altars of Bethel; And the horns of the altar shall be cut off And fall to the ground.
  18. Cross References
    Hosea 4:15
    Though you, Israel, play the harlot, Let not Judah offend. Do not come up to Gilgal, Nor go up to Beth Aven, Nor swear an oath, saying, 'As the LORD lives' -
  19. Cross References
    Numbers 28:3
    And you shall say to them, 'This is the offering made by fire which you shall offer to the LORD: two male lambs in their first year without blemish, day by day, as a regular burnt offering.
    Amos 5:21
    I hate, I despise your feast days, And I do not savor your sacred assemblies.
    Amos 5:22
    Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings.
  20. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 14:28
    At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates.
  21. Cross References
    Leviticus 7:13
    Besides the cakes, as his offering he shall offer leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offering.
  22. Cross References
    Leviticus 22:18
    Speak to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel, and say to them: 'Whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, who offers his sacrifice for any of his vows or for any of his freewill offerings, which they offer to the LORD as a burnt offering -
    Deuteronomy 12:6
    There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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