May 20

 

The Plumbline of God

 

Amos 7:7-17;  Psalms 60:3-5;  Proverbs 13:25

 

Thus He showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. And the LORD said to me, "Amos, what do you see?"

And I said, "A plumb line."

Then the Lord said:

"Behold, I am setting a plumb line

In the midst of My people Israel;

I will not pass by them anymore.

The high places of Isaac shall be desolate,

And the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste.

I will rise with the sword against the house of Jeroboam."

 

Thus the Lord GOD showed me: Behold, a basket of summer fruit. And He said, "Amos, what do you see?"

 

So I said, "A basket of summer fruit."

Then the LORD said to me:

"The end has come upon My people Israel;

I will not pass by them anymore.

And the songs of the temple

Shall be wailing in that day,"

Says the Lord GOD-

"Many dead bodies everywhere,

They shall be thrown out in silence."

Hear this, you who swallow up the needy,

And make the poor of the land fail,

Saying:

"When will the New Moon be past,

That we may sell grain?

And the Sabbath,

That we may trade wheat?

Making the ephah small and the shekel large,

Falsifying the scales by deceit,

That we may buy the poor for silver,

And the needy for a pair of sandals-

Even sell the bad wheat?"

The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob:

"Surely I will never forget any of their works.

Shall the land not tremble for this,

And everyone mourn who dwells in it?

All of it shall swell like the River,

Heave and subside

Like the River of Egypt.

 

"And it shall come to pass in that day," says the Lord GOD, "That I will make the sun go down at noon,

 

And I will darken the earth in broad daylight;

I will turn your feasts into mourning,

And all your songs into lamentation;

I will bring sackcloth on every waist,

And baldness on every head;

I will make it like mourning for an only son,

And its end like a bitter day.

"Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord GOD,

"That I will send a famine on the land,

Not a famine of bread,

Nor a thirst for water,

But of hearing the words of the LORD.

They shall wander from sea to sea,

And from north to east;

They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD,

But shall not find it.

I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and He said:

"Strike the doorposts, that the thresholds may shake,

And break them on the heads of them all.

I will slay the last of them with the sword.

He who flees from them shall not get away,

And he who escapes from them shall not be delivered.

"Though they dig into hell,

From there My hand shall take them;

Though they climb up to heaven,

From there I will bring them down;

And though they hide themselves on top of Carmel,

From there I will search and take them;

Though they hide from My sight at the bottom of the sea,

 

From there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them; Though they go into captivity before their enemies,

 

From there I will command the sword,

And it shall slay them.

I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good."

The Lord GOD of hosts,

He who touches the earth and it melts,

And all who dwell there mourn;

All of it shall swell like the River,

And subside like the River of Egypt.

He who builds His layers in the sky,

And has founded His strata in the earth;

Who calls for the waters of the sea,

And pours them out on the face of the earth-

The LORD is His name.

"Are you not like the people of Ethiopia to Me,

O children of Israel?" says the LORD.

"Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,

The Philistines from Caphtor,

And the Syrians from Kir?

 

"Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, And I will destroy it from the face of the earth;

 

Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,"

Says the LORD.

"For surely I will command,

And will sift the house of Israel among all nations,

As grain is sifted in a sieve;

Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.

All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword,

 

Who say, 'The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.' "On that day I will raise up

 

The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down,

And repair its damages;

I will raise up its ruins,

And rebuild it as in the days of old;

That they may possess the remnant of Edom,

And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,"

Says the LORD who does this thing.

"Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD,

"When the plowman shall overtake the reaper,

And the treader of grapes him who sows seed;

The mountains shall drip with sweet wine,

And all the hills shall flow with it.

I will bring back the captives of My people Israel;

They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them;

They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them;

They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them.

I will plant them in their land,

And no longer shall they be pulled up

From the land I have given them,"

Says the LORD your God.

Amos 7:7-9; 8:1-12; 9:1-15

 

WORSHIP

You have shown Your people hard things;

You have made us drink the wine of confusion.

You have given a banner to those who fear You,

That it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah

That Your beloved may be delivered,

Save with Your right hand, and hear me.

Psalm 60:3-5

 

WISDOM

The righteous eats to the satisfying of his soul,

But the stomach of the wicked shall be in want.

Proverbs 13:25