The Burden of Knowing Better
Does having a relationship with God mean we get a pass on our mistakes, or does it make them worse?
The study notes for this passage are still being written. The passage itself is below — read it now, and the notes will be here when you return.
Amos 3:1-4:13
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1Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying:
2“I have chosen only you of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all of your sins.”
3Do two walk together, unless they have agreed?
4Will a lion roar in the thicket, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing?
5Can a bird fall in a trap on the earth, where no snare is set for him? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when there is nothing to catch?
6Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city, without the people being afraid? Does evil happen to a city, and the LORD hasn’t done it?
7Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.
8The lion has roared. Who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken. Who can but prophesy?
9Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see what unrest is in her, and what oppression is among them.”
10“Indeed they don’t know to do right,” says the LORD, “Who hoard plunder and loot in their palaces.”
11Therefore the Lord GOD says: “An adversary will overrun the land; and he will pull down your strongholds, and your fortresses will be plundered.”
12The LORD says: “As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be rescued who sit in Samaria on the corner of a couch, and on the silken cushions of a bed.”
13“Listen, and testify against the house of Jacob,” says the Lord GOD, the God of Armies.
14“For in the day that I visit the transgressions of Israel on him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel; and the horns of the altar will be cut off, and fall to the ground.
15I will strike the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory will perish, and the great houses will have an end,” says the LORD.
1Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!”
2The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness, “Behold, the days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks, and the last of you with fish hooks.
3You will go out at the breaks in the wall, everyone straight before her; and you will cast yourselves into Harmon,” says the LORD.
4“Go to Bethel, and sin; to Gilgal, and sin more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days,
5offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim free will offerings and brag about them; for this pleases you, you children of Israel,” says the Lord GOD.
6“I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in every town; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD.
7“I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city. One field was rained on, and the field where it didn’t rain withered.
8So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD.
9“I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards, and the swarming locusts have devoured your fig trees and your olive trees; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD.
10“I sent plagues among you like I did Egypt. I have slain your young men with the sword, and have carried away your horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp, yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD.
11“I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD.
12“Therefore I will do this to you, Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, Israel.
13For, behold, he who forms the mountains, creates the wind, declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the high places of the earth: The LORD, the God of Armies, is his name.”