Jo’s Place

Then the Sovereign Lord showed me another vision.  In it I saw a basket filled with ripe fruit.  “What do you see, Amos?” The Lord asked me. I replied,  “A basket full of ripe fruit.”  Then the Lord said, “Like this fruit, Israel is ripe for punishment!  I will not delay their punishment again.  In that day the singing in the temple will turn to wailing.  Dead bodies will be scattered everywhere.  They will be carried out of the city in silence.  I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”  Listen to this, you who rob the poor and trample down the needy!  You can’t wait for the Sabbath day to be over  and the religious festivals to end,  …so you can get back to cheating the helpless.  You measure out grain with dishonest measures  and cheat the buyer with dishonest scales.  And you mix the grain you sell  with chaff swept from the floor.  Then you enslave poor people  for one piece of silver or a pai...

Listen to me, you fat cows… you… who oppress the poor  and crush the needy,  (you) who are always calling…,  “Bring us another drink!”  The Sovereign Lord has sworn this by His holiness:  “The time will come, when you will be led away with hooks in your noses.  Every last one of you will be dragged away like a fish on a hook!  You will be led out through the ruins of the wall; …you will be thrown from your fortresses,” says the Lord.  “Go ahead and offer sacrifices (to your) idols...  Keep on disobeying...  Offer sacrifices each morning, and bring your tithes every three days.  Present your bread made with yeast, as an offering of thanksgiving.  Then give your extra voluntary offerings, so you can brag about it everywhere!  This is the kind of thing you…love to do,” says the Sovereign Lord.  “I brought hunger to every city  and famine… to every town… but still you would not return to Me,”  says the Lord....