Basket of Fruit and Israel’s Captivity

1Thus the Lord God showed me, and behold, there was a basket of summer fruit. 2He said, “What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel. I will spare them no longer. 3The songs of the palace will turn to wailing in that day,” declares the Lord God. “Many will be the corpses; in every place they will cast them forth in silence.”

4Hear this, you who trample the needy, to do away with the humble of the land, 5saying,

“When will the new moon be over,

So that we may sell grain,

And the sabbath, that we may open the wheat market,

To make the bushel smaller and the shekel bigger,

And to cheat with dishonest scales,

6So as to buy the helpless for money

And the needy for a pair of sandals,

And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?”

7The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob,

“Indeed, I will never forget any of their deeds.

8Because of this will not the land quake

And everyone who dwells in it mourn?

Indeed, all of it will rise up like the Nile,

And it will be tossed about

And subside like the Nile of Egypt.

9It will come about in that day,” declares the Lord God,

“That I will make the sun go down at noon

And make the earth dark in broad daylight.

10Then I will turn your festivals into mourning

And all your songs into lamentation;

And I will bring sackcloth on everyone’s loins

And baldness on every head.

And I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son,

And the end of it will be like a bitter day.

11“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord God,

“When I will send a famine on the land,

Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water,

But rather for hearing the words of the Lord.

12People will stagger from sea to sea

And from the north even to the east;

They will go to and fro to seek the word of the Lord,

But they will not find it.

13In that day the beautiful virgins

And the young men will faint from thirst.

14As for those who swear by the guilt of Samaria,

Who say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’

And, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives,’

They will fall and not rise again.”

Misuse of Riches

1Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. 2Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. 3Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! 4Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 5You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you.

1) How does Amos connect economic injustice with spiritual famine and national judgment?

2) How does James call out the same spirit of exploitation and self-indulgence among believers?

3) What practices help you pursue justice and contentment rather than greed or complacency?

The Lovers Speak

1“Oh that you were like a brother to me

Who nursed at my mother’s breasts.

If I found you outdoors, I would kiss you;

No one would despise me, either.

2I would lead you and bring you

Into the house of my mother, who used to instruct me;

I would give you spiced wine to drink from the juice of my pomegranates.

3Let his left hand be under my head

And his right hand embrace me.”

4“I want you to swear, O daughters of Jerusalem,

Do not arouse or awaken my love

Until she pleases.”

5“Who is this coming up from the wilderness

Leaning on her beloved?”

“Beneath the apple tree I awakened you;

There your mother was in labor with you,

There she was in labor and gave you birth.

6Put me like a seal over your heart,

Like a seal on your arm.

For love is as strong as death,

Jealousy is as severe as Sheol;

Its flashes are flashes of fire,

The very flame of the Lord.

7Many waters cannot quench love,

Nor will rivers overflow it;

If a man were to give all the riches of his house for love,

It would be utterly despised.”

8“We have a little sister,

And she has no breasts;

What shall we do for our sister

On the day when she is spoken for?

9If she is a wall,

We will build on her a battlement of silver;

But if she is a door,

We will barricade her with planks of cedar.”

10“I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers;

Then I became in his eyes as one who finds peace.

11Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;

He entrusted the vineyard to caretakers.

Each one was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.

12My very own vineyard is at my disposal;

The thousand shekels are for you, Solomon,

And two hundred are for those who take care of its fruit.”

13“O you who sit in the gardens,

My companions are listening for your voice—

Let me hear it!”

14“Hurry, my beloved,

And be like a gazelle or a young stag

On the mountains of spices.”

“Those at Ease in Zion”

1Woe to those who are at ease in Zion

And to those who feel secure in the mountain of Samaria,

The distinguished men of the foremost of nations,

To whom the house of Israel comes.

2Go over to Calneh and look,

And go from there to Hamath the great,

Then go down to Gath of the Philistines.

Are they better than these kingdoms,

Or is their territory greater than yours?

3Do you put off the day of calamity,

And would you bring near the seat of violence?

4Those who recline on beds of ivory

And sprawl on their couches,

And eat lambs from the flock

And calves from the midst of the stall,

5Who improvise to the sound of the harp,

And like David have composed songs for themselves,

6Who drink wine from sacrificial bowls

While they anoint themselves with the finest of oils,

Yet they have not grieved over the ruin of Joseph.

7Therefore, they will now go into exile at the head of the exiles,

And the sprawlers’ banqueting will pass away.

8The Lord God has sworn by Himself, the Lord God of hosts has declared:

“I loathe the arrogance of Jacob,

And detest his citadels;

Therefore I will deliver up the city and all it contains.”

9And it will be, if ten men are left in one house, they will die. 10Then one’s uncle, or his undertaker, will lift him up to carry out his bones from the house, and he will say to the one who is in the innermost part of the house, “Is anyone else with you?” And that one will say, “No one.” Then he will answer, “Keep quiet. For the name of the Lord is not to be mentioned.” 11For behold, the Lord is going to command that the great house be smashed to pieces and the small house to fragments.

12Do horses run on rocks?

Or does one plow them with oxen?

Yet you have turned justice into poison

And the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,

13You who rejoice in Lodebar,

And say, “Have we not by our own strength taken Karnaim for ourselves?”

14“For behold, I am going to raise up a nation against you,

O house of Israel,” declares the Lord God of hosts,

“And they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath

To the brook of the Arabah.”