nkjv Amos:3-6. SEEK
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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 :
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You only have I known of all the families of the earth ;
Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities ."
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Can two walk together ,
unless they are agreed ?
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Will a lion roar in the forest ,
when he has no prey ?
Will a young lion cry out of his den ,
if he has caught nothing ?
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Will a bird fall into a snare on the earth ,
where there is no trap for it ?
Will a snare spring up from the earth ,
if it has caught nothing at all ?
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If a trumpet is blown in a city ,
will not the people be afraid ?
If there is calamity in a city ,
will not the LORD have done it ?
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Surely the Lord GOD does nothing ,
Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets .
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A lion has roared !
Who will not fear ?
The Lord GOD has spoken !
Who can but prophesy ?
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Proclaim in the palaces at 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 oppressed within her .
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For they do not know to do right ,'
Says the LORD , "
Who store up violence and robbery in their palaces ."'
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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 ."
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Thus says the LORD : "
As a shepherd 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 on the edge of a couch !
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Hear and testify against the house of Jacob ,"
Says the Lord GOD ,
the God of hosts ,
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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 .
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I will destroy the winter house along with the summer house ;
The houses of ivory shall perish ,
And the great houses shall have an end ,"
Says the LORD .
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Hear this word ,
you cows of Bashan ,
who are on the mountain of Samaria ,
Who oppress the poor ,
Who crush the needy ,
Who say to your husbands , "
Bring wine ,
let us drink !"
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The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness : "
Behold ,
the days shall come upon you When He will take you away with fishhooks ,
And your posterity with fishhooks .
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You will go out through broken walls ,
Each one straight ahead of her ,
And you will be cast into Harmon ,"
Says the LORD .
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Come to Bethel and transgress ,
At Gilgal multiply transgression ;
Bring your sacrifices every morning ,
Your tithes every three days .
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Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven ,
Proclaim and announce the freewill offerings ;
For this you love ,
You children of Israel !"
Says the Lord GOD .
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Also I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities .
And lack of bread in all your places ;
Yet you have not returned to Me ,"
Says the LORD .
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I also withheld rain from you ,
When there were still three months to the harvest .
I made it rain on one city ,
I withheld rain from another city .
One part was rained upon ,
And where it did not rain the part withered .
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So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water ,
But they were not satisfied ;
Yet you have not returned to Me ,"
Says the LORD .
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I blasted you with blight and mildew .
When your gardens increased ,
Your vineyards ,
Your fig trees ,
And your olive trees ,
The locust devoured them ;
Yet you have not returned to Me ,"
Says the LORD .
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I sent among you a plague after the manner of Egypt ;
Your young men I killed with a sword ,
Along with your captive horses ;
I made the stench of your camps come up into your nostrils ;
Yet you have not returned to Me ,"
Says the LORD .
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I overthrew some of you ,
As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah ,
And you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning ;
Yet you have not returned to Me ,"
Says the LORD .
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Therefore thus will I do to you ,
O Israel ;
Because I will do this to you ,
Prepare to meet your God ,
O Israel !"
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For behold ,
He who forms mountains ,
And creates the wind ,
Who declares to man what his thought is ,
And makes the morning darkness ,
Who treads the high places of the earth --
The LORD God of hosts is His name .
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Hear this word which I take up against you ,
a lamentation ,
O house of Israel :
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The virgin of Israel has fallen ;
She will rise no more .
She lies forsaken on her land ;
There is no one to raise her up .
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For thus says the Lord GOD : "
The city that goes out by a thousand Shall have a hundred left ,
And that which goes out by a hundred Shall have ten left to the house of Israel ."
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For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel : "
Seek Me and live ;
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But do not seek Bethel ,
Nor enter Gilgal ,
Nor pass over to Beersheba ;
For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity ,
And Bethel shall come to nothing .
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Seek the LORD and live ,
Lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph ,
And devour it ,
With no one to quench it in Bethel --
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You who turn justice to wormwood ,
And lay righteousness to rest in the earth !"
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He made the Pleiades and Orion ;
He turns the shadow of death into morning And makes the day dark as night ;
He calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the face of the earth ;
The LORD is His name .
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He rains ruin upon the strong ,
So that fury comes upon the fortress .
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They hate the one who rebukes in the gate ,
And they abhor the one who speaks uprightly .
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Therefore ,
because you tread down the poor And take grain taxes from him ,
Though you have built houses of hewn stone ,
Yet you shall not dwell in them ;
You have planted pleasant vineyards ,
But you shall not drink wine from them .
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For I know your manifold transgressions And your mighty sins :
Afflicting the just and taking bribes ;
Diverting the poor from justice at the gate .
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Therefore the prudent keep silent at that time ,
For it is an evil time .
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Seek good and not evil ,
That you may live ;
So the LORD God of hosts will be with you ,
As you have spoken .
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Hate evil ,
love good ;
Establish justice in the gate .
It may be that the LORD God of hosts Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph .
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Therefore the LORD God of hosts ,
the Lord ,
says this : "
There shall be wailing in all streets ,
And they shall say in all the highways , "
Alas !
Alas !'
They shall call the farmer to mourning ,
And skillful lamenters to wailing .
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In all vineyards there shall be wailing ,
For I will pass through you ,"
Says the LORD .
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Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD !
For what good is the day of the LORD to you ?
It will be darkness ,
and not light .
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It will be as though a man fled from a lion ,
And a bear met him !
Or as though he went into the house ,
Leaned his hand on the wall ,
And a serpent bit him !
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Is not the day of the LORD darkness ,
and not light ?
Is it not very dark ,
with no brightness in it ?
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I hate ,
I despise your feast days ,
And I do not savor your sacred assemblies .
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Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings ,
I will not accept them ,
Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings .
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Take away from Me the noise of your songs ,
For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments .
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But let justice run down like water ,
And righteousness like a mighty stream .
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Did you offer Me sacrifices and offerings In the wilderness forty years ,
O house of Israel ?
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You also carried Sikkuth your king And Chiun ,
your idols ,
The star of your gods ,
Which you made for yourselves .
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Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus ,"
Says the LORD ,
whose name is the God of hosts .
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Woe to you who are at ease in Zion ,
And trust in Mount Samaria ,
Notable persons in the chief nation ,
To whom the house of Israel comes !
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Go over to Calneh and see ;
And from there go to Hamath the great ;
Then go down to Gath of the Philistines .
Are you better than these kingdoms ?
Or is their territory greater than your territory ?
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Woe to you who put far off the day of doom ,
Who cause the seat of violence to come near ;
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Who lie on beds of ivory ,
Stretch out on your couches ,
Eat lambs from the flock And calves from the midst of the stall ;
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Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments ,
And invent for yourselves musical instruments like David ;
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Who drink wine from bowls ,
And anoint yourselves with the best ointments ,
But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph .
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Therefore they shall now go captive as the first of the captives ,
And those who recline at banquets shall be removed .
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The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself ,
The LORD God of hosts says : "
I abhor the pride of Jacob ,
And hate his palaces ;
Therefore I will deliver up the city And all that is in it ."
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Then it shall come to pass ,
that if ten men remain in one house ,
they shall die .
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And when a relative of the dead ,
with one who will burn the bodies ,
picks up the bodies to take them out of the house ,
he will say to one inside the house , "
Are there any more with you ?"
Then someone will say , "
None ."
And he will say , "
Hold your tongue !
For we dare not mention the name of the LORD ."
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For behold ,
the LORD gives a command :
He will break the great house into bits ,
And the little house into pieces .
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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 ,
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You who rejoice over Lo Debar ,
Who say , "
Have we not taken Karnaim for ourselves By our own strength ?"
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But ,
behold ,
I will raise up a nation against you ,
O house of Israel ,"
Says the LORD God of hosts ; "
And they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath To the Valley of the Arabah ."
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Thus the Lord GOD showed me :
Behold ,
He formed locust swarms at the beginning of the late crop ;
indeed it was the late crop after the king '
s mowings .