The Bible:

The Prophets

|Amos| |Hosea| |Isaiah|

Amos

Chapter 1:

  1. The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Teko'a, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzzi'ah king of Judah and in the days of Jerobo'am the son of Jo'ash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.
  2. And he said: "The LORD roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers."
  3. Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron.
  4. So I will send a fire upon the house of Haz'ael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-ha'dad.
  5. I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him that holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir," says the LORD....

Chapter 2:

  1. Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom.
  2. So I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ker'ioth, and Moab shall die amid uproar, amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet;
  3. I will cut off the ruler from its midst, and will slay all its princes with him," says the LORD.
  4. Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they have rejected the law of the LORD, and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray, after which their fathers walked.
  5. So I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem."
  6. 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 shoes--
  7. they that trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same maiden, so that my holy name is profaned;
  8. they lay themselves down beside every altar upon garments taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.
  9. "Yet I 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 roots beneath.
  10. Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.
  11. 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?" says the LORD.
  12. "But you made the Nazirites drink wine, and commanded the prophets, saying, 'You shall not prophesy.'
  13. "Behold, I will press you down in your place, as a cart full of sheaves presses down.
  14. Flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not retain his strength, nor shall the mighty save his life;
  15. he who handles the bow shall not stand, and he who is swift of foot shall not save himself, nor shall he who rides the horse save his life;
  16. and he who is stout of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day," says the LORD.

Back to top.

Hosea

Chapter 13:

  1. When E'phraim spoke, men trembled; he was exalted in Israel; but he incurred guilt through Ba'al and died.
  2. And now they sin more and more, and make for themselves molten images, idols skilfully made of their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. Sacrifice to these, they say. Men kiss calves!
  3. Therefore they shall be like the morning mist or like the dew that goes early away, like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor or like smoke from a window.
  4. I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior.
  5. It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought;
  6. but when they had fed to the full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me.
  7. So I will be to them like a lion, like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.
  8. I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs, I will tear open their breast, and there I will devour them like a lion, as a wild beast would rend them.
  9. I will destroy you, O Israel; who can help you?
  10. Where now is your king, to save you; where are all your princes, to defend you--those of whom you said, "Give me a king and princes"?
  11. I have given you kings in my anger, and I have taken them away in my wrath.
  12. The iniquity of E'phraim is bound up, his sin is kept in store.
  13. The pangs of childbirth come for him, but he is an unwise son; for now he does not present himself at the mouth of the womb.
  14. Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from Death? O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your destruction? Compassion is hid from my eyes.
  15. Though he may flourish as the reed plant, the east wind, the wind of the LORD, shall come, rising from the wilderness; and his fountain shall dry up, his spring shall be parched; it shall strip his treasury of every precious thing.
  16. Sama'ria shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God; they shall fall by the sword, their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.

Back to top.

Isaiah

Chapter 45:

  1. Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and ungird the loins of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed:
  2. "I will go before you and level the mountains, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut asunder the bars of iron,
  3. I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.
  4. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I surname you, though you do not know me.
  5. I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I gird you, though you do not know me,
  6. that men may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.
  7. I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe, I am the LORD, who do all these things.
  8. "Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation may sprout forth, and let it cause righteousness to spring up also; I the LORD have created it.
  9. "Woe to him who strives with his Maker, an earthen vessel with the potter! Does the clay say to him who fashions it, 'What are you making'? or 'Your work has no handles'?
  10. Woe to him who says to a father, 'What are you begetting?' or to a woman, 'With what are you in travail?'"
  11. Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: "Will you question me about my children, or command me concerning the work of my hands?
  12. I made the earth, and created man upon it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.
  13. I have aroused him in righteousness, and I will make straight all his ways; he shall build my city and set my exiles free, not for price or reward," says the LORD of hosts.
  14. Thus says the LORD: "The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabe'ans, men of stature, shall come over to you and be yours, they shall follow you; they shall come over in chains and bow down to you. They will make supplication to you, saying: 'God is with you only, and there is no other, no god besides him.'"
  15. Truly, thou art a God who hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior.
  16. All of them are put to shame and confounded, the makers of idols go in confusion together.
  17. But Israel is saved by the LORD with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity.
  18. For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it a chaos, he formed it to be inhabited!): "I am the LORD, and there is no other.
  19. I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, 'Seek me in chaos.' I the LORD speak the truth, I declare what is right.
  20. "Assemble yourselves and come, draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save.
  21. Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me.
  22. "Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
  23. By myself I have sworn, from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness a word that shall not return: 'To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.'
  24. "Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed, all who were incensed against him.
  25. In the LORD all the offspring of Israel shall triumph and glory."

Chapter 53:

  1. Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
  2. For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
  3. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
  4. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
  5. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.
  6. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
  7. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.
  8. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
  9. And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
  10. Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief; when he makes himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand;
  11. he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities.
  12. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Back to top.

|Bible| |Readings| |Western Civilization| |CVC Home|