Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹Sound the trumpet in Jerusalem ! Raise the alarm on my holy mountain! Let everyone tremble in fear because the day of the LORD is upon us.

²It is a day of darkness and gloom, a day of thick clouds and deep blackness. Suddenly, like dawn spreading across the mountains, a great and mighty army appears. Nothing like it has been seen before or will ever be seen again.

³Fire burns in front of them, and flames follow after them. Ahead of them the land lies as beautiful as the Garden of Eden. Behind them is nothing but desolation; not one thing escapes.

⁴They look like horses; they charge forward like warhorses.

⁵Look at them as they leap along the mountaintops. Listen to the noise they make — like the rumbling of chariots, like the roar of fire sweeping across a field of stubble, or like a mighty army moving into battle.

⁶Fear grips all the people; every face grows pale with terror.

⁷The attackers march like warriors and scale city walls like soldiers. Straight forward they march, never breaking rank.

⁸They never jostle each other; each moves in exactly the right position. They break through defenses without missing a step.

⁹They swarm over the city and run along its walls. They enter all the houses, climbing like thieves through the windows.

¹⁰The earth quakes as they advance, and the heavens tremble. The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars no longer shine.

¹¹The LORD is at the head of the column. He leads them with a shout. This is his mighty army, and they follow his orders. The day of the LORD is an awesome, terrible thing. Who can possibly survive?

¹²That is why the LORD says, “Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.

¹³Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish.

¹⁴Who knows? Perhaps he will give you a reprieve, sending you a blessing instead of this curse. Perhaps you will be able to offer grain and wine to the LORD your God as before.

¹⁵Blow the ram’s horn in Jerusalem! Announce a time of fasting; call the people together for a solemn meeting.

¹⁶Gather all the people — the elders, the children, and even the babies. Call the bridegroom from his quarters and the bride from her private room.

¹⁷Let the priests, who minister in the LORD’s presence, stand and weep between the entry room to the Temple and the altar. Let them pray, “Spare your people, LORD! Don’t let your special possession become an object of mockery. Don’t let them become a joke for unbelieving foreigners who say, ‘Has the God of Israel left them?’”

¹⁸Then the LORD will pity his people and jealously guard the honor of his land.

¹⁹The LORD will reply, “Look! I am sending you grain and new wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy your needs. You will no longer be an object of mockery among the surrounding nations.

²⁰I will drive away these armies from the north. I will send them into the parched wastelands. Those in the front will be driven into the Dead Sea, and those at the rear into the Mediterranean. The stench of their rotting bodies will rise over the land.” Surely the LORD has done great things!

²¹Don’t be afraid, O land. Be glad now and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things.

²²Don’t be afraid, you animals of the field, for the wilderness pastures will soon be green. The trees will again be filled with fruit; fig trees and grapevines will be loaded down once more.

²³Rejoice, you people of Jerusalem! Rejoice in the LORD your God! For the rain he sends demonstrates his faithfulness. Once more the autumn rains will come, as well as the rains of spring.

²⁴The threshing floors will again be piled high with grain, and the presses will overflow with new wine and olive oil.

²⁵The LORD says, “I will give you back what you lost to the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts, the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts. It was I who sent this great destroying army against you.

²⁶Once again you will have all the food you want, and you will praise the LORD your God, who does these miracles for you. Never again will my people be disgraced.

²⁷Then you will know that I am among my people Israel, that I am the LORD your God, and there is no other. Never again will my people be disgraced.

²⁸“Then, after doing all those things, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.

²⁹In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on servants — men and women alike.

³⁰And I will cause wonders in the heavens and on the earth — blood and fire and columns of smoke.

³¹The sun will become dark, and the moon will turn blood red before that great and terrible day of the LORD arrives.

³²But everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved, for some on Mount Zion in Jerusalem will escape, just as the LORD has said. These will be among the survivors whom the LORD has called.

¹“At the time of those events,” says the LORD, “when I restore the prosperity of Judah and Jerusalem,

²I will gather the armies of the world into the valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will judge them for harming my people, my special possession, for scattering my people among the nations, and for dividing up my land.

³They threw dice to decide which of my people would be their slaves. They traded boys to obtain prostitutes and sold girls for enough wine to get drunk.

⁴“What do you have against me, Tyre and Sidon and you cities of Philistia? Are you trying to take revenge on me? If you are, then watch out! I will strike swiftly and pay you back for everything you have done.

⁵You have taken my silver and gold and all my precious treasures, and have carried them off to your pagan temples.

⁶You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, so they could take them far from their homeland.

⁷“But I will bring them back from all the places to which you sold them, and I will pay you back for everything you have done.

⁸I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the people of Arabia, a nation far away. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

⁹Say to the nations far and wide: “Get ready for war! Call out your best warriors. Let all your fighting men advance for the attack.

¹⁰Hammer your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Train even your weaklings to be warriors.

¹¹Come quickly, all you nations everywhere. Gather together in the valley.” And now, O LORD, call out your warriors!

¹²“Let the nations be called to arms. Let them march to the valley of Jehoshaphat. There I, the LORD, will sit to pronounce judgment on them all.

¹³Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread the grapes, for the winepress is full. The storage vats are overflowing with the wickedness of these people.”

¹⁴Thousands upon thousands are waiting in the valley of decision. There the day of the LORD will soon arrive.

¹⁵The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will no longer shine.

¹⁶The LORD’s voice will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth will shake. But the LORD will be a refuge for his people, a strong fortress for the people of Israel.

¹⁷“Then you will know that I, the LORD your God, live in Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy forever, and foreign armies will never conquer her again.

¹⁸In that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. Water will fill the streambeds of Judah, and a fountain will burst forth from the LORD’s Temple, watering the arid valley of acacias.

¹⁹But Egypt will become a wasteland and Edom will become a wilderness, because they attacked the people of Judah and killed innocent people in their land.

²⁰“But Judah will be filled with people forever, and Jerusalem will endure through all generations.

²¹I will pardon my people’s crimes, which I have not yet pardoned; and I, the LORD, will make my home in Jerusalem with my people.”

¹This message was given to Amos, a shepherd from the town of Tekoa in Judah. He received this message in visions two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam II, the son of Jehoash, was king of Israel.

²This is what he saw and heard: “The LORD’s voice will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem! The lush pastures of the shepherds will dry up; the grass on Mount Carmel will wither and die.”

³This is what the LORD says: “The people of Damascus have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They beat down my people in Gilead as grain is threshed with iron sledges.

⁴So I will send down fire on King Hazael’s palace, and the fortresses of King Ben-hadad will be destroyed.

⁵I will break down the gates of Damascus and slaughter the people in the valley of Aven. I will destroy the ruler in Beth-eden, and the people of Aram will go as captives to Kir,” says the LORD.

⁶This is what the LORD says: “The people of Gaza have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They sent whole villages into exile, selling them as slaves to Edom.

⁷So I will send down fire on the walls of Gaza, and all its fortresses will be destroyed.

⁸I will slaughter the people of Ashdod and destroy the king of Ashkelon. Then I will turn to attack Ekron, and the few Philistines still left will be killed,” says the Sovereign LORD.

⁹This is what the LORD says: “The people of Tyre have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They broke their treaty of brotherhood with Israel, selling whole villages as slaves to Edom.

¹⁰So I will send down fire on the walls of Tyre, and all its fortresses will be destroyed.”

¹¹This is what the LORD says: “The people of Edom have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They chased down their relatives, the Israelites, with swords, showing them no mercy. In their rage, they slashed them continually and were unrelenting in their anger.

¹²So I will send down fire on Teman, and the fortresses of Bozrah will be destroyed.”

¹³This is what the LORD says: “The people of Ammon have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! When they attacked Gilead to extend their borders, they ripped open pregnant women with their swords.

¹⁴So I will send down fire on the walls of Rabbah, and all its fortresses will be destroyed. The battle will come upon them with shouts, like a whirlwind in a mighty storm.

¹⁵And their king and his princes will go into exile together,” says the LORD.

¹This is what the LORD says: “The people of Moab have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They desecrated the bones of Edom’s king, burning them to ashes.

²So I will send down fire on the land of Moab, and all the fortresses in Kerioth will be destroyed. The people will fall in the noise of battle, as the warriors shout and the ram’s horn sounds.

³And I will destroy their king and slaughter all their princes,” says the LORD.

⁴This is what the LORD says: “The people of Judah have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They have rejected the instruction of the LORD, refusing to obey his decrees. They have been led astray by the same lies that deceived their ancestors.

⁵So I will send down fire on Judah, and all the fortresses of Jerusalem will be destroyed.”

⁶This is what the LORD says: “The people of Israel have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They sell honorable people for silver and poor people for a pair of sandals.

⁷They trample helpless people in the dust and shove the oppressed out of the way. Both father and son sleep with the same woman, corrupting my holy name.

⁸At their religious festivals, they lounge in clothing their debtors put up as security. In the house of their gods, they drink wine bought with unjust fines.

⁹“But as my people watched, I destroyed the Amorites, though they were as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks. I destroyed the fruit on their branches and dug out their roots.

¹⁰It was I who rescued you from Egypt and led you through the desert for forty years, so you could possess the land of the Amorites.

¹¹I chose some of your sons to be prophets and others to be Nazirites. Can you deny this, my people of Israel?” asks the LORD.

¹²“But you caused the Nazirites to sin by making them drink wine, and you commanded the prophets, ‘Shut up!’

¹³“So I will make you groan like a wagon loaded down with sheaves of grain.

¹⁴Your fastest runners will not get away. The strongest among you will become weak. Even mighty warriors will be unable to save themselves.

¹⁵The archers will not stand their ground. The swiftest runners won’t be fast enough to escape. Even those riding horses won’t be able to save themselves.

¹⁶On that day the most courageous of your fighting men will drop their weapons and run for their lives,” says the LORD.

¹Listen to this message that the LORD has spoken against you, O people of Israel — against the entire family I rescued from Egypt:

²“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.”

³Can two people walk together without agreeing on the direction?

⁴Does 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?

⁵Does a bird ever get caught in a trap that has no bait? Does a trap spring shut when there’s nothing to catch?

⁶When 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?

⁷Indeed, the Sovereign LORD never does anything until he reveals his plans to his servants the prophets.

⁸The lion has roared — so who isn’t frightened? The Sovereign LORD has spoken — so who can refuse to proclaim his message?

⁹Announce 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.”

¹⁰“My people have forgotten how to do right,” says the LORD. “Their fortresses are filled with wealth taken by theft and violence.

¹¹Therefore,” says the Sovereign LORD, “an enemy is coming! He will surround them and shatter their defenses. Then he will plunder all their fortresses.”

¹²This is what the LORD says: “A shepherd who tries to rescue a sheep from a lion’s mouth will recover only two legs or a piece 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.

¹³“Now listen to this, and announce it throughout all Israel, ” says the Lord, the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies.

¹⁴“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.

¹⁵And 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.

¹Listen 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!”

²The 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!

³You will be led out through the ruins of the wall; you will be thrown from your fortresses, ” says the LORD.

⁴“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.

⁵Present 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.

⁶“I brought hunger to every city and famine to every town. But still you would not return to me,” says the LORD.

⁷“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.

⁸People staggered from town to town looking for water, but there was never enough. But still you would not return to me,” says the LORD.

⁹“I struck your farms and vineyards with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured all your fig and olive trees. But still you would not return to me,” says the LORD.

¹⁰“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.

¹¹“I destroyed some of your cities, as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Those of you who survived were like charred sticks pulled from a fire. But still you would not return to me,” says the LORD.

¹²“Therefore, I will bring upon you all the disasters I have announced. Prepare to meet your God in judgment, you people of Israel!”

¹³For 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!

¹Listen, you people of Israel! Listen to this funeral song I am singing:

²“The virgin Israel has fallen, never to rise again! She lies abandoned on the ground, with no one to help her up.”

³The Sovereign LORD says: “When a city sends a thousand men to battle, only a hundred will return. When a town sends a hundred, only ten will come back alive.”

⁴Now this is what the LORD says to the family of Israel: “Come back to me and live!

⁵Don’t worship at the pagan altars at Bethel; don’t go to the shrines at Gilgal or Beersheba. For the people of Gilgal will be dragged off into exile, and the people of Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”

⁶Come 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.

⁷You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the oppressed. You treat the righteous like dirt.

⁸It is the LORD who created the stars, the Pleiades and Orion. He turns darkness into morning and day into night. He draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land. The LORD is his name!

⁹With blinding speed and power he destroys the strong, crushing all their defenses.

¹⁰How you hate honest judges! How you despise people who tell the truth!

¹¹You 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.

¹²For 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.

¹³So those who are smart keep their mouths shut, for it is an evil time.

¹⁴Do 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.

¹⁵Hate 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.

¹⁶Therefore, 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.

¹⁷There will be wailing in every vineyard, for I will destroy them all,” says the LORD.

¹⁸What 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.

¹⁹In 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.

²⁰Yes, the day of the LORD will be dark and hopeless, without a ray of joy or hope.

²¹“I hate all your show and pretense — the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.

²²I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings.

²³Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

²⁴Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.

²⁵“Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, Israel?

²⁶No, you served your pagan gods — Sakkuth your king god and Kaiwan your star god — the images you made for yourselves.

²⁷So I will send you into exile, to a land east of Damascus, ” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Heaven’s Armies.

¹What 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.

²But go over to Calneh 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.

³You push away every thought of coming disaster, but your actions only bring the day of judgment closer.

⁴How 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.

⁵You sing trivial songs to the sound of the harp and fancy yourselves to be great musicians like David.

⁶You drink wine by the bowlful and perfume yourselves with fragrant lotions. You care nothing about the ruin of your nation.

⁷Therefore, you will be the first to be led away as captives. Suddenly, all your parties will end.

⁸The 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.”

⁹(If there are ten men left in one house, they will all die.

¹⁰And 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.”)

¹¹When the LORD gives the command, homes both great and small will be smashed to pieces.

¹²Can 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.

¹³And you brag about your conquest of Lo-debar. You boast, “Didn’t we take Karnaim by our own strength?”

¹⁴“O people of Israel, I am about to bring an enemy nation against you,” says the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies. “They will oppress you throughout your land — from Lebo-hamath in the north to the Arabah Valley in the south.”

¹The 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.

²In my vision the locusts ate every green plant in sight. Then I said, “O Sovereign LORD, please forgive us or we will not survive, for Israel is so small.”

³So the LORD relented from this plan. “I will not do it,” he said.

⁴Then 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.

⁵Then I said, “O Sovereign LORD, please stop or we will not survive, for Israel is so small.”

⁶Then the LORD relented from this plan, too. “I will not do that either,” said the Sovereign LORD.

⁷Then 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.

⁸And 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 will no longer ignore all their sins.

⁹The pagan shrines of your ancestors will be ruined, and the temples of Israel will be destroyed; I will bring the dynasty of King Jeroboam to a sudden end.”

¹⁰Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent a message to Jeroboam, king of Israel: “Amos is hatching a plot against you right here on your very doorstep! What he is saying is intolerable.

¹¹He is saying, ‘Jeroboam will soon be killed, and the people of Israel will be sent away into exile.’”

¹²Then Amaziah 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!

¹³Don’t bother us with your prophecies here in Bethel. This is the king’s sanctuary and the national place of worship!”

¹⁴But 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.

¹⁵But the LORD called me away from my flock and told me, ‘Go and prophesy to my people in Israel.’

¹⁶Now then, listen to this message from the LORD: “You say, ‘Don’t prophesy against Israel. Stop preaching against my people. ’

¹⁷But 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.’”

¹Then the Sovereign LORD showed me another vision. In it I saw a basket filled with ripe fruit.

²“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.

³In 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!”

⁴Listen to this, you who rob the poor and trample down the needy!

⁵You 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.

⁶And 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.

⁷Now the LORD has sworn this oath by his own name, the Pride of Israel : “I will never forget the wicked things you have done!

⁸The earth will tremble for your deeds, and everyone will mourn. The ground will rise like the Nile River at floodtime; it will heave up, then sink again.

⁹“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.

¹⁰I 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!

¹¹“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.

¹²People 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.

¹³Beautiful girls and strong young men will grow faint in that day, thirsting for the LORD’s word.

¹⁴And those who swear by the shameful idols of Samaria — who take oaths 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.”

¹Then 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!

²“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.

³Even 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.

⁴Even 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.”

⁵The 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 floodtime, and then it sinks again.

⁶The 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!

⁷“Are you Israelites more important to me than the Ethiopians? ” asks the LORD. “I brought Israel out of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from Crete and led the Arameans out of Kir.

⁸“I, the Sovereign LORD, am watching this 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.

⁹“For I will give the command and will shake Israel along with the other nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, yet not one true kernel will be lost.

¹⁰But all the sinners will die by the sword — all those who say, ‘Nothing bad will happen to us.’

¹¹“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.

¹²And Israel will possess what is left of Edom and all the nations I have called to be mine. ” The LORD has spoken, and he will do these things.

¹³“The time will come,” says the LORD, “when the grain and grapes will grow faster than they can be harvested. Then the terraced vineyards on the hills of Israel will drip with sweet wine!

¹⁴I 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.

¹⁵I 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.

¹This is the vision that the Sovereign LORD revealed to Obadiah concerning the land of Edom. Edom’s Judgment Announced We have heard a message from the LORD that an ambassador was sent to the nations to say, “Get ready, everyone! Let’s assemble our armies and attack Edom!”

²The LORD says to Edom, “I will cut you down to size among the nations; you will be greatly despised.

³You have been deceived by your own pride because you live in a rock fortress and make your home high in the mountains. ‘Who can ever reach us way up here?’ you ask boastfully.

⁴But even if you soar as high as eagles and build your nest among the stars, I will bring you crashing down,” says the LORD.

⁵“If thieves came at night and robbed you (what a disaster awaits you!), they would not take everything. Those who harvest grapes always leave a few for the poor. But your enemies will wipe you out completely!

⁶Every nook and cranny of Edom will be searched and looted. Every treasure will be found and taken.

⁷“All your allies will turn against you. They will help to chase you from your land. They will promise you peace while plotting to deceive and destroy you. Your trusted friends will set traps for you, and you won’t even know about it.

⁸At that time not a single wise person will be left in the whole land of Edom,” says the LORD. “For on the mountains of Edom I will destroy everyone who has understanding.

⁹The mightiest warriors of Teman will be terrified, and everyone on the mountains of Edom will be cut down in the slaughter.

¹⁰“Because of the violence you did to your close relatives in Israel, you will be filled with shame and destroyed forever.

¹¹When they were invaded, you stood aloof, refusing to help them. Foreign invaders carried off their wealth and cast lots to divide up Jerusalem, but you acted like one of Israel’s enemies.

¹²“You should not have gloated when they exiled your relatives to distant lands. You should not have rejoiced when the people of Judah suffered such misfortune. You should not have spoken arrogantly in that terrible time of trouble.

¹³You should not have plundered the land of Israel when they were suffering such calamity. You should not have gloated over their destruction when they were suffering such calamity. You should not have seized their wealth when they were suffering such calamity.

¹⁴You should not have stood at the crossroads, killing those who tried to escape. You should not have captured the survivors and handed them over in their terrible time of trouble.

¹⁵“The day is near when I, the LORD, will judge all godless nations! As you have done to Israel, so it will be done to you. All your evil deeds will fall back on your own heads.

¹⁶Just as you swallowed up my people on my holy mountain, so you and the surrounding nations will swallow the punishment I pour out on you. Yes, all you nations will drink and stagger and disappear from history.

¹⁷“But Jerusalem will become a refuge for those who escape; it will be a holy place. And the people of Israel will come back to reclaim their inheritance.

¹⁸The people of Israel will be a raging fire, and Edom a field of dry stubble. The descendants of Joseph will be a flame roaring across the field, devouring everything. There will be no survivors in Edom. I, the LORD, have spoken!

¹⁹“Then my people living in the Negev will occupy the mountains of Edom. Those living in the foothills of Judah will possess the Philistine plains and take over the fields of Ephraim and Samaria. And the people of Benjamin will occupy the land of Gilead.

²⁰The exiles of Israel will return to their land and occupy the Phoenician coast as far north as Zarephath. The captives from Jerusalem exiled in the north will return home and resettle the towns of the Negev.

²¹Those who have been rescued will go up to Mount Zion in Jerusalem to rule over the mountains of Edom. And the LORD himself will be king!”

¹The LORD gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai:

²“Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.”

³But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the LORD. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the LORD by sailing to Tarshish.

⁴But the LORD hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart.

⁵Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold.

⁶So the captain went down after him. “How can you sleep at a time like this?” he shouted. “Get up and pray to your god! Maybe he will pay attention to us and spare our lives.”

⁷Then the crew cast lots to see which of them had offended the gods and caused the terrible storm. When they did this, the lots identified Jonah as the culprit.

⁸“Why has this awful storm come down on us?” they demanded. “Who are you? What is your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality?”

⁹Jonah answered, “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.”

¹⁰The sailors were terrified when they heard this, for he had already told them he was running away from the LORD. “Oh, why did you do it?” they groaned.

¹¹And since the storm was getting worse all the time, they asked him, “What should we do to you to stop this storm?”

¹²“Throw me into the sea,” Jonah said, “and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault.”

¹³Instead, the sailors rowed even harder to get the ship to the land. But the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they couldn’t make it.

¹⁴Then they cried out to the LORD, Jonah’s God. “O LORD,” they pleaded, “don’t make us die for this man’s sin. And don’t hold us responsible for his death. O LORD, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons.”

¹⁵Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once!

¹⁶The sailors were awestruck by the LORD’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him.

¹⁷Now the LORD had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.