"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, that we may drink!' The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness that, behold, the days are coming upon you, when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks. And you shall go out through the breaches, every one straight ahead;...  Read More

“‘Hear, and testify against the house of Jacob,’ declares the Lord GOD, the God of hosts, ‘that on the day I punish Israel for his transgressions, I will punish the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground. I will strike the winter house along with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall come to an end,’ declare...  Read More

“Proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdod and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt, and say, ‘Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see the great tumults within her, and the oppressed in her midst.’ ‘They do not know how to do right,’ declares the LORD, ‘those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.’ Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘An adversary shall surround the ...  Read More

“For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy?”— Amos 3:7-8 (ESV) Notice the mercy hidden in these verses. Before God acts, He warns. The word “secret” pictures the inner circle of trusted friends, the place where private plans are shared. God does not ambush His people...  Read More

“Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet? Does a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out from his den, if he has taken nothing? Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth, when there is no trap for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when it has taken nothing? Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a ci...  Read More

“Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt: ‘You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.’”— Amos 3:1-2 (ESV) We often assume that being chosen by God means being shielded from His correction. Today’s text says the opposite. The word “kn...  Read More

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”— 1 Peter 2:9-10 (ESV) Amos ends in judgment, but the gospel does not end the...  Read More

“And I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites. Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel? declares the LORD. But you made the Nazirites drink wine, and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘You shall not prophesy.’”— Amos 2:11-12 (ESV)“For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD; who say to the seers,...  Read More

“Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars and who was as strong as the oaks; I destroyed his fruit above and his root beneath. Also it was I who brought you up out of the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.”— Amos 2:9-10 (ESV)“And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did ...  Read More

“Thus says the LORD: ‘…because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals— those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and push the afflicted out of the way…’”— Amos 2:6-7a (ESV)“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”— Micah 6:8 (ESV) G...  Read More

“Thus says the LORD: ‘For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals— those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and push the afflicted out of the way; a man and his father go in to the same girl, so that my name is profaned; they lay themselves down beside ev...  Read More

The God who roars is the same God who bled.  Read More