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Take a breath, find your place, and read deeply. Discover the joy of reading God’s word with the Immerse New Living Translation (NLT) Bible.
This daily Bible podcast will take you through the Bible in a year following the Immerse Bible Reading Experience. So grab your family and small group and go through the Bible in a year together with Immerse. Each of the 6 volumes is available online or at your favorite Christian bookstore.
Nancy: Welcome To Immerse: The
Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 200 and 45
Listen to this message that the
Lord has spoken against you.
Oh people of Israel against the
entire family I rescued from Egypt.
From among all the families on the earth,
I have been intimate with you alone.
That is why I must punish
you for all your sins.
Can two people walk together
without a agreeing on the direction?
Does a lion ever roar in a thicket
without first finding a victim?
Does a young lion growl in its den
without first catching its prey?
Does a bird ever get caught
in a trap that has no bait?
Does a trap spring shut when
there's nothing to catch?
When the ram's horn blows a warning?
Shouldn't the people be alarmed?
Does disaster come to a city
unless the Lord has planned it?
Indeed, the sovereign Lord never
does anything until he reveals
his plans to his servants, the
prophets, the lion has roared.
So who isn't frightened?
The sovereign Lord has spoken.
So who can refuse to proclaim his message?
Announce this to the leaders of
Philistia and to the great ones of Egypt.
Take your seats now on the hills
around Samaria and witness the
chaos and oppression in Israel.
My people have forgotten how
to do right, says the Lord.
The fortresses are filled with
wealth, taken by theft and violence.
Therefore, says the sovereign
Lord an enemy is coming.
He will surround them and
shatter their defenses.
Then he will plunder all their fortresses.
This is what the Lord says.
A shepherd who tries to rescue a
sheep from a lion's mouth will recover
only two legs or peace of an ear.
So it will be for the Israelites
in Samaria lying on luxurious
beds, and for the people of
Damascus reclining on couches.
Now listen to this and announce it.
Throughout all Israel says The Lord.
The Lord God of heaven's armies.
On the very day I punish Israel
for its sins, I will destroy
the pagan altars at Bethel.
The horns of the altar will be cut off
and fall to the ground, and I will destroy
the beautiful homes of the wealthy.
Their winter mansions and
their summer houses too.
All their palaces filled
with ivory says the Lord.
Listen to me, you fat
cows living in Samaria.
You women who oppress the poor and crush
the needy and who are always calling to
your husbands, 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'll be led out through
the ruins of the wall.
You'll be thrown from your
fortresses, says the Lord.
Go ahead and offer sacrifices
to the idols at Bethel.
Keep on disobeying at Gilgal.
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 Israelites
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.
I kept the rain from falling when
your crops needed it the most.
I sent rain on one town, but
withheld it from another.
Rain fell on one field while
another field withered away.
People staggered from town
to town looking for water.
But there was never enough, but still,
you would not return to me, says the Lord.
I struck your farms in vineyards with
blight and mildew, locusts, devoured all
your fig in olive trees, but still you
would not return to me, says the Lord.
I sent plagues on you like the
plagues I sent on Egypt long ago.
I killed your young men in war
and led all your horses away.
The stench of death filled the
air, but still, you would not
return to me, says the Lord.
I destroyed some of your cities
as I destroyed Sodom and Gamora.
Those of you who survived were
like charred sticks, pulled from
a fire, but still you would not
return to me, says the Lord.
Therefore, I will bring upon you
all the disasters I have announced.
Prepare to meet your God and
judgment you people of Israel.
For the Lord is the one who shaped
the mountains, stirs up the winds
and reveals his thoughts to mankind.
He turns the light of dawn into darkness
and treads on the heights of the earth.
The Lord God of heaven's
armies is his name.
Listen, you people of Israel listen
to this funeral song I am singing.
The Virgin Israel has
fallen never to rise again.
She lies abandoned on the ground
with no one to help her up.
The sovereign Lord says, when a city sends
a thousand men to battle, only a hundred
will return When a town sends a hundred.
Only 10 will come back alive.
Now this is what the Lord
says to the family of Israel.
Come back to me and live.
Don't worship at the
pagan altars at Bethel.
Don't go to the shrines at Gilgal or Bear
Sheba, for the people of Gilgal will be
dragged off into exile and the people
of Bethel will be reduced to nothing.
Come back to the Lord and live.
Otherwise he will roar through Israel
like a fire devouring you completely.
Your gods in Bethel won't be
able to quench the flames.
You twist justice, making it a
bitter pill for the oppressed.
You treat the righteous like dirt.
It is the Lord who created the
stars, the Pleiades and Orion.
He turns darkness into
mourning and day and tonight.
He draws up water from the oceans and
pours it down as rain on the land.
The Lord is his name.
With blinding speed and power, he destroys
the strong, crushing all their defenses.
How you hate honest judges, how you
despise people who tell the truth.
You trample the poor, stealing their
grain through taxes and unfair rent.
Therefore, though you build beautiful
stone houses, you will never live in them.
Though you plant lush vineyards,
you will never drink wine from them.
For I know the vast number of your
sins and the depth of your rebellions.
You oppress good people by
taking bribes and deprive the
poor of justice in the courts.
So those who are smart, keep their
mouths shut for it is an evil time.
Do what is good and run from evil so
that you may live then the Lord God of
heaven's armies will be your helper.
Just as you have claimed hate evil
and love what is good, turn your
courts into true halls of justice.
Perhaps even yet, the Lord God of
heaven's armies will have mercy
on the remnant of his people.
Therefore, this is what the Lord,
the Lord God of heaven's armies says
There will be crying in all the public
squares and mourning in every street.
Call for the farmers to weep with you
and summon professional mourners to wail.
There will be wailing in every
vineyard for I will destroy
them all, says the Lord.
What sorrow awaits you who say, if
only the day of the Lord were here, you
have no idea what you are wishing for.
That day will bring darkness, not
light, and that day you will be like
a man who runs from a lion only to
meet a bear escaping from the bear.
He leans his hand against a wall in
his house and he's bitten by a snake.
Yes, the day of the Lord will be dark and
hopeless without a ray of joy or hope.
I hate all your show and pretense
the hypocrisy of your religious
festivals and solemn assemblies.
I will not accept your burnt
offerings and grain offerings.
I won't even notice all your
choice, peace offerings.
Away with your noisy hymns
of praise, I will not listen
to the music of your harps.
Instead, I want to see a
mighty flood of justice.
An endless river of righteous living
was it to me.
You were bringing sacrifices
and offerings during the 40
years in the wilderness Israel.
No, you served your pagan gods, sako,
your king God, and kiwan your star God,
the images you made for yourselves.
So I will send you into exile to a land
east of Damascus, says the Lord, whose
name is the God of heaven's armies.
What sorrow awaits you, who
lounge in luxury in Jerusalem and
you who feel secure in Samaria.
You are famous and popular in Israel
and people go to you for help, but go
over to Kna and see what happened there.
Then go to the great city of Hamath and
down to the Philistine city of Gath.
You are no better than they were.
And look at how they were destroyed.
You push away every thought of coming
disaster, but your actions only
bring the day of judgment closer.
How terrible for you who sprawl on
ivory beds and lounge on your couches?
Eating the meat of tender lambs from
the flock and of choice calves fattened
In the stall, you sing trivial songs
to the sound of the harp and fancy
yourselves to be great musicians.
Like David, you drink wine
by the bowl full and perfume
yourselves with fragrant lotions.
You care nothing about
the ruin of your nation.
Therefore, you will be the first
to be led away as captives.
Suddenly, all your parties will end.
The sovereign Lord has sworn by
his own name and this is what he,
the Lord God of heaven's armies
says, I despise the arrogance of
Israel and I hate their fortresses.
I will give this city and
everything in it to their enemies.
If there are 10 men left in
one house, they will all die.
And when a relative who is responsible
to dispose of the dead goes into
the house to carry out the bodies,
he will ask the last survivor.
Is anyone else with you?
When the person begins to swear, no, by.
He will interrupt and say, stop.
Don't even mention the name of the Lord.
When the Lord gives the command
homes, both great and small
will be smashed to pieces.
Can horses gallop over?
Boulders?
Can oxen be used to plow them?
But that's how foolish you are when you
turn justice into poison and the sweet
fruit of righteousness into bitterness.
And you brag about your
conquest of low die, you boast.
Didn't we take cardium
by our own strength?
Oh people of Israel.
I am about to bring in enemy
nation against you, says the
Lord God of heaven's armies.
They will oppress you throughout
your land from Libo, Hamath in the
north to Aba Valley in the South.
The sovereign Lord showed me a vision.
I saw him preparing to send a vast
swarm of locusts over the land.
This was after the king's share had been
harvested from the fields, and as the
main crop was coming up in my vision, the
locusts ate every green plant in sight.
Then I said, oh, sovereign Lord, please
forgive us or we will not survive.
For Israel is so small, so the
Lord relented from his plan.
I will not do it.
He said.
Then the sovereign Lord
showed me another vision.
I saw him preparing to punish
his people with a great fire.
The fire had burned up the depths of the
sea and was devouring the entire land.
Then I said, Sovereign Lord,
please stop or we will not survive.
For Israel is so small then the
Lord relented from this plan too.
I will not do that either.
Said the sovereign Lord.
Then he showed me another vision.
I saw the Lord standing beside a wall
that had been built using a plumb line.
He was using a plumb line to see if
it was still straight, and the Lord
said to me, Amos, what do you see?
I answered a plumb line, and
the Lord replied, I will test
my people with this plumb line.
I'll no longer ignore all their sins.
The pagan shrines of your ancestors
will be ruined and the temples
of Israel will be destroyed.
I will bring the dynasty of
King Je Boem to a sudden end
then Amiah, the priest of Bethel sent
a message to Jere Boem, king of Israel.
Amos is hatching a plot against you
right here on your very doorstep.
What he is saying is intolerable.
He is saying Jeroboam will soon
be killed and the people of Israel
will be sent away into exile.
Then Amiah sent orders to Amos.
Get out of here you prophet.
Go on back to the land of Judah and
earn your living by prophesying there.
Don't bother us with your
prophecies here in Bethel.
This is the king's sanctuary and
the national place of worship.
But Amos replied, I'm not a professional
prophet and I was never trained to be one.
I'm just a shepherd and I take
care of sycamore fig trees.
But the Lord called me away from
my flock and told me, go and
prophesy to my people in Israel.
Now then listen to this
message from the Lord.
You say, don't prophesy against Israel.
Stop preaching against my people,
but this is what the Lord says.
Your wife will become a prostitute
in this city, and your sons
and daughters will be killed.
Your land will be divided up and you
yourself will die in a foreign land.
And the people of Israel will
certainly become captives in
exile far from their homeland.
Then the sovereign Lord showed
me another vision in it.
I saw a basket filled with ripe fruit.
What do you see, Amos?
He asked, 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 trampled 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 pair of sandals.
Now the Lord has sworn this oath by
his own name, the Pride of Israel.
I will never forget the
wicked things you have done.
The earth will tremble for your
deeds and everyone will mourn.
The ground will rise like
the Nile River at flood time.
It will hea up then
sink again in that day.
Says the sovereign Lord, I will make
the sun go down at noon and darken
the earth while it is still day.
I will turn your celebrations into times
of mourning and your singing into weeping.
You will wear funeral clothes
and shave your heads to show your
sorrow as if your only son had died,
how very bitter that day will be.
The time is surely coming.
Says the sovereign Lord, when I
will send a famine on the land,
not a famine of bread or water, but
of hearing the words of the Lord.
People will stagger from sea to sea
and wander from border to border,
searching for the word of the
Lord, but they will not find it.
Beautiful girls and strong young
men will grow faint in that day.
Thirsting for the Lord's word.
And those who swear by the shameful
idols of Samaria, who take Oves in the
name of the God of Dan and make vows in
the name of the God of Beersheba, they
will all fall down, never to rise again.
Then I saw a vision of the
Lord standing beside the altar.
He said, strike the tops of the temple
columns so that the foundation will shake.
Bring down the roof on the heads of the
people below, I will kill with the sword.
Those who survive, no one will escape.
Even if they dig down to the place of the
dead, I will reach down and pull them up.
Even if they climb up into the
heavens, I will bring them down.
Even if they hide at the very
top of Mount Carmel, I will
search them out and capture them.
Even if they hide at the bottom
of the ocean, I will send the sea
serpent after them to bite them.
Even if their enemies drive
them into exile, I will
command the sword to kill them.
There I am determined to bring disaster
upon them and not to help them.
The Lord, the Lord of heaven's
armies touches the land and it
melts, and all its people mourn.
The ground rises like the Nile River
at flood time, and then it sinks again.
The Lord's home reaches up to the heavens
while its foundation is on the earth.
He draws up water from the oceans and
pours it down as rain on the land.
The Lord is his name.
Are you Israelites more important
to me than the Ethiopians?
Ask the Lord.
I brought Israel out of Egypt, but
I also brought the Philistines from
Crete and led the Aramean out of Kiir.
I, the sovereign Lord, am watching
the sinful nation of Israel.
I will destroy it from the face of
the earth, but I will never completely
destroy the family of Israel, says
the Lord, for I will give the command.
Will shake Israel along with the other
nations as grain is shaken in a sieve,
yet not one true kernel will be lost, but
all the sinners will die by the sword.
All those who say nothing
bad will happen to us
in that day.
I will restore the fallen house of David.
I will repair its damaged walls.
From the ruins, I will rebuild it and
restore its former glory, and Israel
will possess what is left of Edem and
all the nations I have called to be mine.
The Lord has spoken and
he will do these things.
The time will come, says the Lord.
When the grain and grapes will grow
faster, then they can be harvested.
Then the terrorist vineyards on the hills
of Israel will drip with sweet wine.
I will bring my exiled people of
Israel back from distant lands,
and they will rebuild their ruined
cities and live in them again.
They will plant vineyards and gardens.
They will eat their crops
and drink their wine.
I will firmly plant them
there in their own land.
They will never again be uprooted
from the land I have given
them, says the Lord your God.
This concludes today's
immerse reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.