BibleRead365

WEBC: World English Bible, Catholic Edition

View Reading Plan Day 276 of 365 76%

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Patriarchs
Egypt and Exodus
Desert Wanderings
Conquest and Judges
Royal Kingdom
Divided Kingdom
Exile
Royal Kingdom
Divided Kingdom
Exile
Return
Maccabean Revolt
Wisdom & Poetry
Exile
Divided Kingdom
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Messianic Fulfillment
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Day 276 of 365

about 18 minutes

Joel 3

Joel Chapter 3

¹“For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, ²I 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, ³and 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. ⁵Because you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my finest treasures into your temples, ⁶and 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. ⁷Behold, I will stir them up out of the place where you have sold them, and will return your repayment on your own head; ⁸and 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 the LORD has spoken it.” ⁹Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Stir up the mighty men. Let all the warriors draw near. Let them come up. ¹⁰Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ ¹¹Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves together.” Cause your mighty ones to come down there, LORD. ¹²“Let the nations arouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. ¹³Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.” ¹⁴Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. ¹⁵The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. ¹⁶The LORD will roar from Zion, and thunder from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will shake; but the LORD will be a refuge to his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel. ¹⁷“So you will know that I am the LORD, your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass through her any more. ¹⁸It 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 the LORD’s house, and will water the valley of Shittim. ¹⁹Egypt 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. ²⁰But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. ²¹I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed, for the LORD dwells in Zion.”

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 the LORD 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, LORD.

12: “Let the nations arouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will 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 the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

15: The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

16: The LORD will roar from Zion, and thunder from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will shake; but the LORD will be a refuge to his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel.

17: “So you will know that I am the LORD, 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 the LORD’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 the LORD dwells in Zion.”

Amos 1-5

Amos Chapter 1

¹The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. ²He said: “The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the pastures of the shepherds will mourn, and the top of Carmel will wither.” ³The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron; ⁴but I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, and it will devour the palaces of Ben Hadad. ⁵I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from the house of Eden; and the people of Syria shall go into captivity to Kir,” says the LORD. ⁶The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Gaza, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they carried away captive the whole community, to deliver them up to Edom; ⁷but I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it will devour its palaces. ⁸I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; and I will turn my hand against Ekron; and the remnant of the Philistines will perish,” says the Lord GOD. ⁹The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Tyre, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they delivered up the whole community to Edom, and didn’t remember the brotherly covenant; ¹⁰but I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, and it will devour its palaces.” ¹¹The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Edom, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity, and his anger raged continually, and he kept his wrath forever; ¹²but I will send a fire on Teman, and it will devour the palaces of Bozrah.” ¹³The LORD says: “For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead, that they may enlarge their border. ¹⁴But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it will devour its palaces, with shouting in the day of battle, with a storm in the day of the whirlwind; ¹⁵and their king will go into captivity, he and his princes together,” says the LORD.

1: The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

2: He said: “The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the pastures of the shepherds will mourn, and the top of Carmel will wither.”

3: The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron;

4: but I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, and it will devour the palaces of Ben Hadad.

5: I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from the house of Eden; and the people of Syria shall go into captivity to Kir,” says the LORD.

6: The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Gaza, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they carried away captive the whole community, to deliver them up to Edom;

7: but I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it will devour its palaces.

8: I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; and I will turn my hand against Ekron; and the remnant of the Philistines will perish,” says the Lord GOD.

9: The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Tyre, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they delivered up the whole community to Edom, and didn’t remember the brotherly covenant;

10: but I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, and it will devour its palaces.”

11: The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Edom, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity, and his anger raged continually, and he kept his wrath forever;

12: but I will send a fire on Teman, and it will devour the palaces of Bozrah.”

13: The LORD says: “For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead, that they may enlarge their border.

14: But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it will devour its palaces, with shouting in the day of battle, with a storm in the day of the whirlwind;

15: and their king will go into captivity, he and his princes together,” says the LORD.

Amos Chapter 2

¹The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Moab, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime; ²but I will send a fire on Moab, and it will devour the palaces of Kerioth; and Moab will die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet; ³and I will cut off the judge from among them, and will kill all its princes with him,” says the LORD. ⁴The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have rejected the LORD’s law, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have led them astray, after which their fathers walked; ⁵but I will send a fire on Judah, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem.” ⁶The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals; ⁷They trample the heads of the poor into the dust of the earth and deny justice to the oppressed. A man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name. ⁸They lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge. In the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined. ⁹Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. ¹⁰Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. ¹¹I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites. Isn’t this true, you children of Israel?” says the LORD. ¹²“But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘Don’t prophesy!’ ¹³Behold, I will crush you in your place, as a cart crushes that is full of grain. ¹⁴Flight will perish from the swift. The strong won’t strengthen his force. The mighty won’t deliver himself. ¹⁵He who handles the bow won’t stand. He who is swift of foot won’t escape. He who rides the horse won’t deliver himself. ¹⁶He who is courageous among the mighty will flee away naked on that day,” says the LORD.

1: The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Moab, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime;

2: but I will send a fire on Moab, and it will devour the palaces of Kerioth; and Moab will die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet;

3: and I will cut off the judge from among them, and will kill all its princes with him,” says the LORD.

4: The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have rejected the LORD’s law, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have led them astray, after which their fathers walked;

5: but I will send a fire on Judah, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem.”

6: The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals;

7: They trample the heads of the poor into the dust of the earth and deny justice to the oppressed. A man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name.

8: They lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge. In the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.

9: Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.

10: Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.

11: I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites. Isn’t this true, you children of Israel?” says the LORD.

12: “But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘Don’t prophesy!’

13: Behold, I will crush you in your place, as a cart crushes that is full of grain.

14: Flight will perish from the swift. The strong won’t strengthen his force. The mighty won’t deliver himself.

15: He who handles the bow won’t stand. He who is swift of foot won’t escape. He who rides the horse won’t deliver himself.

16: He who is courageous among the mighty will flee away naked on that day,” says the LORD.

Amos Chapter 3

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.

1: Hear 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.”

3: Do two walk together, unless they have agreed?

4: Will 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?

5: Can 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?

6: Does 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?

7: Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.

8: The lion has roared. Who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken. Who can but prophesy?

9: Proclaim 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.”

11: Therefore the Lord GOD says: “An adversary will overrun the land; and he will pull down your strongholds, and your fortresses will be plundered.”

12: The 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.

15: I 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.

Amos Chapter 4

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.”

1: Listen 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!”

2: The 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.

3: You 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,

5: offer 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.

8: So 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.

13: For, 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.”

Amos Chapter 5

¹Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel: ²“The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up.” ³For the Lord GOD says: “The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.” ⁴For the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek me, and you will live; ⁵but don’t seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don’t pass to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing. ⁶Seek the LORD, and you will live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel. ⁷You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth! ⁸Seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name, ⁹who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress. ¹⁰They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly. ¹¹Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take taxes from him of wheat, you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. ¹²For I know how many are your offenses, and how great are your sins— you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn away the needy in the courts. ¹³Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time. ¹⁴Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you say. ¹⁵Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that the LORD, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” ¹⁶Therefore the LORD, the God of Armies, the Lord, says: “Wailing will be in all the wide ways. They will say in all the streets, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing. ¹⁷In all vineyards there will be wailing, for I will pass through the middle of you,” says the LORD. ¹⁸“Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light. ¹⁹As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him. ²⁰Won’t the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it? ²¹I hate, I despise your feasts, and I can’t stand your solemn assemblies. ²²Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals. ²³Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. ²⁴But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream. ²⁵“Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel? ²⁶You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves. ²⁷Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Armies.

1: Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel:

2: “The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up.”

3: For the Lord GOD says: “The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”

4: For the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek me, and you will live;

5: but don’t seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don’t pass to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.

6: Seek the LORD, and you will live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.

7: You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth!

8: Seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name,

9: who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress.

10: They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.

11: Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take taxes from him of wheat, you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.

12: For I know how many are your offenses, and how great are your sins— you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn away the needy in the courts.

13: Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.

14: Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you say.

15: Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that the LORD, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

16: Therefore the LORD, the God of Armies, the Lord, says: “Wailing will be in all the wide ways. They will say in all the streets, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.

17: In all vineyards there will be wailing, for I will pass through the middle of you,” says the LORD.

18: “Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light.

19: As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him.

20: Won’t the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?

21: I hate, I despise your feasts, and I can’t stand your solemn assemblies.

22: Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.

23: Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

24: But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

25: “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?

26: You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.

27: Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Armies.

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Scripture text: World English Bible, Catholic Edition (WEBC) — public domain

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