Flaunting authority is always wrong. Talking about this authority when there is no reason to be talking about it often leads to abuse. The brandishing of authority for its own sake shows that the parent fails to recognize that the authority is given for the benefit of the child. Such assertion of authority often leads to the establishment of foolish and overly rigid rules. If “His commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3), why should ours be?
Jay Adams

Amos

Amos

{1:1} The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, whichhe saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and inthe days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years beforethe earthquake. {1:2} And he said, Jehovah will roar from Zion, andutter his voice from Jerusalem; and the pastures of the shepherds shallmourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither. {1:3} Thus saith Jehovah:For three transgressions of Damascus, yea, for four, I will not turnaway the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead withthreshing instruments of iron: {1:4} but I will send a fire into thehouse of Hazael, and it shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad. {1:5}And I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant fromthe valley of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house ofEden; and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saithJehovah. {1:6} Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Gaza,yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; becausethey carried away captive the whole people, to deliver them up to Edom:{1:7} but I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it shall devourthe palaces thereof. {1:8} And I will cut off the inhabitant fromAshdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon; and I will turnmy hand against Ekron; and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,saith the Lord Jehovah. {1:9} Thus saith Jehovah: For threetransgressions of Tyre, yea, for four, I will not turn away thepunishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole people to Edom,and remembered not the brotherly covenant: {1:10} but I will send afire on the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.{1:11} Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Edom, yea, forfour, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he didpursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and hisanger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever: {1:12} butI will send a fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the palaces ofBozrah. {1:13} Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of thechildren of Ammon, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishmentthereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead,that they may enlarge their border. {1:14} But I will kindle a fire inthe wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, withshouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of thewhirlwind; {1:15} and their king shall go into captivity, he and hisprinces together, saith Jehovah.

{2:1} Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Moab, yea, forfour, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burnedthe bones of the king of Edom into lime: {2:2} but I will send a fireupon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth; and Moab shalldie with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet;{2:3} and I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and willslay all the princes thereof with him, saith Jehovah. {2:4} Thus saithJehovah: For three transgressions of Judah, yea, for four, I will notturn away the punishment thereof; because they have rejected the law ofJehovah, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have causedthem to err, after which their fathers did walk: {2:5} but I will senda fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem. {2:6}Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, yea, for four,I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have sold therighteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes- {2:7} theythat pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turnaside the way of the meek: and a man and his father go unto the [same]maiden, to profane my holy name: {2:8} and they lay themselves downbeside every altar upon clothes taken in pledge; and in the house oftheir God they drink the wine of such as have been fined. {2:9} Yetdestroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the heightof the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruitfrom above, and his roots from beneath. {2:10} Also I brought you upout of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness, topossess the land of the Amorite. {2:11} And I raised up of your sonsfor prophets, and of your young men for Nazirites. Is it not even thus,O ye children of Israel? saith Jehovah. {2:12} But ye gave theNazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesynot. {2:13} Behold, I will press [you] in your place, as a cartpresseth that is full of sheaves. {2:14} And flight shall perish fromthe swift; and the strong shall not strengthen his force; neither shallthe mighty deliver himself; {2:15} neither shall he stand that handleththe bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver [himself];neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself; {2:16} and hethat is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day,saith Jehovah.

{3:1} Hear this word that Jehovah hath spoken against you, Ochildren of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out ofthe land of Egypt, saying, {3:2} You only have I known of all thefamilies of the earth: therefore I will visit upon you all youriniquities. {3:3} Shall two walk together, except they have agreed?{3:4} Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will ayoung lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? {3:5} Can abird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is [set] for him?shall a snare spring up from the ground, and have taken nothing at all?{3:6} Shall the trumpet be blown in a city, and the people not beafraid? shall evil befall a city, and Jehovah hath not done it? {3:7}Surely the Lord Jehovah will do nothing, except he reveal his secretunto his servants the prophets. {3:8} The lion hath roared; who willnot fear? The Lord Jehovah hath spoken; who can but prophesy? {3:9}Publish ye in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land ofEgypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, andbehold what great tumults are therein, and what oppressions in themidst thereof. {3:10} For they know not to do right, saith Jehovah, whostore up violence and robbery in their palaces. {3:11} Therefore thussaith the Lord Jehovah: An adversary [there shall be], even round aboutthe land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thypalaces shall be plundered. {3:12} Thus saith Jehovah: As the shepherdrescueth out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear,so shall the children of Israel be rescued that sit in Samaria in thecorner of a couch, and on the silken cushions of a bed. {3:13} Hear ye,and testify against the house of Jacob, saith the Lord Jehovah, the Godof hosts. {3:14} For in the day that I shall visit the transgressionsof Israel upon him, I will also visit the altars of Beth-el; and thehorns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground. {3:15} AndI will smite the winter-house with the summer-house; and the houses ofivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saithJehovah.

{4:1} Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain ofSamaria, that oppress the poor, that crush the needy, that say untotheir lords, Bring, and let us drink. {4:2} The Lord Jehovah hath swornby his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that theyshall take you away with hooks, and your residue with fish-hooks. {4:3}And ye shall go out at the breaches, every one straight before her; andye shall cast [yourselves] into Harmon, saith Jehovah. {4:4} Come toBeth-el, and transgress; to Gilgal, [and] multiply transgression; andbring your sacrifices every morning, [and] your tithes every threedays; {4:5} and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which isleavened, and proclaim freewill-offerings and publish them: for thispleaseth you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah. {4:6}And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, andwant of bread in all your places; yet have ye not returned unto me,saith Jehovah. {4:7} And I also have withholden the rain from you, whenthere were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rainupon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piecewas rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. {4:8}So two or three cities wandered unto one city to drink water, and werenot satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah. {4:9} Ihave smitten you with blasting and mildew: the multitude of yourgardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees haththe palmer-worm devoured: yet have ye not returned unto me, saithJehovah. {4:10} I have sent among you the pestilence after the mannerof Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have carriedaway your horses; and I have made the stench of your camp to come upeven into your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saithJehovah. {4:11} I have overthrown [cities] among you, as when Godoverthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a brand plucked out of theburning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah. {4:12}Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel; [and] because I will dothis unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. {4:13} For, lo, hethat formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth untoman what is his thought; that maketh the morning darkness, and treadethupon the high places of the Earth-jehovah, the God of hosts, is hisname.

{5:1} Hear ye this word which I take up for a lamentation over you,O house of Israel. {5:2} The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall nomore rise: she is cast down upon her land; there is none to raise herup. {5:3} For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: The city that went forth athousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundredshall have ten left, to the house of Israel. {5:4} For thus saithJehovah unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live; {5:5}but seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not toBeer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-elshall come to nought. {5:6} Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live; lest hebreak out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there benone to quench it in Beth-el. {5:7} Ye who turn justice to wormwood,and cast down righteousness to the earth, {5:8} [seek him] that makeththe Pleiades and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into themorning, and maketh the day dark with night; that calleth for thewaters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth(Jehovah is his name); {5:9} that bringeth sudden destruction upon thestrong, so that destruction cometh upon the fortress. {5:10} They hatehim that reproveth in the gate, and they abhor him that speakethuprightly. {5:11} Forasmuch therefore as ye trample upon the poor, andtake exactions from him of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone,but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, butye shall not drink the wine thereof. {5:12} For I know how manifold areyour transgressions, and how mighty are your sins-ye that afflict thejust, that take a bribe, and that turn aside the needy in the gate[from their right]. {5:13} Therefore he that is prudent shall keepsilence in such a time; for it is an evil time. {5:14} Seek good, andnot evil, that ye may live; and so Jehovah, the God of hosts, will bewith you, as ye say. {5:15} Hate the evil, and love the good, andestablish justice in the gate: it may be that Jehovah, the God ofhosts, will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph. {5:16} Thereforethus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, the Lord: Wailing shall be in allthe broad ways; and they shall say in all the streets, Alas! Alas! andthey shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful inlamentation to wailing. {5:17} And in all vineyards shall be wailing;for I will pass through the midst of thee, saith Jehovah. {5:18} Woeunto you that desire the day of Jehovah! Wherefore would ye have theday of Jehovah? It is darkness, and not light. {5:19} As if a man didflee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leanedhis hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. {5:20} Shall not the dayof Jehovah be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and nobrightness in it? {5:21} I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will takeno delight in your solemn assemblies. {5:22} Yea, though ye offer meyour burnt-offerings and meal-offerings, I will not accept them;neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fat beasts. {5:23}Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear themelody of thy viols. {5:24} But let justice roll down as waters, andrighteousness as a mighty stream. {5:25} Did ye bring unto mesacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house ofIsrael? {5:26} Yea, ye have borne the tabernacle of your king and theshrine of your images, the star of your god, which ye made toyourselves. {5:27} Therefore will I cause you to go into captivitybeyond Damascus, saith Jehovah, whose name is the God of hosts.

{6:1} Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and to them that aresecure in the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of thenations, to whom the house of Israel come! {6:2} Pass ye unto Calneh,and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great; then go down toGath of the Philistines: are they better than these kingdoms? or istheir border greater than your border? {6:3} -ye that put far away theevil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; {6:4} that lieupon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eatthe lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of thestall; {6:5} that sing idle songs to the sound of the viol; that inventfor themselves instruments of music, like David; {6:6} that drink winein bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief oils; but they are notgrieved for the affliction of Joseph. {6:7} Therefore shall they now gocaptive with the first that go captive; and the revelry of them thatstretched themselves shall pass away. {6:8} The Lord Jehovah hath swornby himself, saith Jehovah, the God of hosts: I abhor the excellency ofJacob, and hate his palaces; therefore will I deliver up the city withall that is therein. {6:9} And it shall come to pass, if there remainten men in one house, that they shall die. {6:10} And when a man’suncle shall take him up, even he that burneth him, to bring out thebones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is in the innermostparts of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No;then shall he say, Hold thy peace; for we may not make mention of thename of Jehovah. {6:11} For, behold, Jehovah commandeth, and the greathouse shall be smitten with breaches, and the little house with clefts.{6:12} Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow [there] with oxen?that ye have turned justice into gall, and the fruit of righteousnessinto wormwood; {6:13} ye that rejoice in a thing of nought, that say,Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength? {6:14} For, behold,I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah,the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entrance ofHamath unto the brook of the Arabah.

{7:1} Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me: and, behold, he formedlocusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and,lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. {7:2} And itcame to pass that, when they made an end of eating the grass of theland, then I said, O Lord Jehovah, forgive, I beseech thee: how shallJacob stand? for he is small. {7:3} Jehovah repented concerning this:It shall not be, saith Jehovah. {7:4} Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me:and, behold, the Lord Jehovah called to content by fire; and itdevoured the great deep, and would have eaten up the land. {7:5} Thensaid I, O Lord Jehovah, cease, I beseech thee: how shall Jacob stand?for he is small. {7:6} Jehovah repented concerning this: this alsoshall not be, saith the Lord Jehovah. {7:7} Thus he showed me: and,behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumb-line, with aplumb-line in his hand. {7:8} And Jehovah said unto me, Amos, whatseest thou? And I said, A plumb-line. Then said the Lord, Behold, Iwill set a plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel; I will notagain pass by them any more; {7:9} and the high places of Isaac shallbe desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and Iwill rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. {7:10} ThenAmaziah the priest of Beth-el sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying,Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel:the land is not able to bear all his words. {7:11} For thus Amos saith,Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led awaycaptive out of his land. {7:12} Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thouseer, go, flee thou away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread,and prophesy there: {7:13} but prophesy not again any more at Beth-el;for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a royal house. {7:14} Thenanswered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I aprophet’s son; but I was a herdsman, and a dresser of sycomore-trees:{7:15} and Jehovah took me from following the flock, and Jehovah saidunto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. {7:16} Now therefore hearthou the word of Jehovah: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, anddrop not [thy word] against the house of Isaac; {7:17} therefore thussaith Jehovah: Thy wife shall be a harlot in the city, and thy sons andthy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided byline; and thou thyself shalt die in a land that is unclean, and Israelshall surely be led away captive out of his land.

{8:1} Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me: and, behold, a basket ofsummer fruit. {8:2} And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, Abasket of summer fruit. Then said Jehovah unto me, The end is come uponmy people Israel; I will not again pass by them any more. {8:3} And thesongs of the temple shall be wailings in that day, saith the LordJehovah: the dead bodies shall be many: in every place shall they castthem forth with silence. {8:4} Hear this, O ye that would swallow upthe needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail, {8:5} saying, Whenwill the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? and the sabbath,that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekelgreat, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit; {8:6} that we maybuy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sellthe refuse of the wheat? {8:7} Jehovah hath sworn by the excellency ofJacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. {8:8} Shall notthe land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein?yea, it shall rise up wholly like the River; and it shall be troubledand sink again, like the River of Egypt. {8:9} And it shall come topass in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will cause the sun togo down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day. {8:10}And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs intolamentation; and I will bring sackcloth upon all loins, and baldnessupon every head; and I will make it as the mourning for an only son,and the end thereof as a bitter day. {8:11} Behold, the days come,saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will send a famine in the land, not afamine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words ofJehovah. {8:12} And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from thenorth even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word ofJehovah, and shall not find it. {8:13} In that day shall the fairvirgins and the young men faint for thirst. {8:14} They that swear bythe sin of Samaria, and say, As thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, As the wayof Beer-sheba liveth; they shall fall, and never rise up again.

{9:1} I saw the Lord standing beside the altar: and he said, Smitethe capitals, that the thresholds may shake; and break them in pieceson the head of all of them; and I will slay the last of them with thesword: there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not oneof them escape. {9:2} Though they dig into Sheol, thence shall my handtake them; and though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring themdown. {9:3} And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, Iwill search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from mysight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, andit shall bite them. {9:4} And though they go into captivity beforetheir enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them:and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good. {9:5}For the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, [is] he that toucheth the land and itmelteth, and all that dwell therein shall mourn; and it shall rise upwholly like the River, and shall sink again, like the River of Egypt;{9:6} [it is] he that buildeth his chambers in the heavens, and hathfounded his vault upon the earth; he that calleth for the waters of thesea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth; Jehovah is hisname. {9:7} Are ye not as the children of the Ethiopians unto me, Ochildren of Israel? saith Jehovah. Have not I brought up Israel out ofthe land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syriansfrom Kir? {9:8} Behold, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are upon thesinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth;save that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith Jehovah.{9:9} For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israelamong all the nations, like as [grain] is sifted in a sieve, yet shallnot the least kernel fall upon the earth. {9:10} All the sinners of mypeople shall die by the sword, who say, The evil shall not overtake normeet us. {9:11} In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of Davidthat is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise upits ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old; {9:12} that theymay possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations that are called bymy name, saith Jehovah that doeth this. {9:13} Behold, the days come,saith Jehovah, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and thetreader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall dropsweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. {9:14} And I will bring backthe captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the wastecities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink thewine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.{9:15} And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more beplucked up out of their land which I have given them, saith Jehovah thyGod.

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