December 20th, 2022

The Fifth Trumpet

The fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth. The key for the shaft to the abyss was given to him. He opened the shaft to the abyss, and smoke came up out of the shaft like smoke from a great furnace so that the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft. Then locusts came out of the smoke on to the earth, and power was given to them like the power that scorpions have on the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green plant, or any tree, but only those people who do not have God's seal on their foreheads. They were not permitted to kill them but were to torment them for five months; their torment is like the torment caused by a scorpion when it stings someone. In those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.

The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. Something like golden crowns was on their heads; their faces were like human faces; they had hair like women's hair; their teeth were like lions' teeth; they had chests like iron breastplates; the sound of their wings was like the sound of many chariots with horses rushing into battle; and they had tails with stingers like scorpions, so that with their tails they had the power to harm people for five months. They had as their king the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.

The first woe has passed. There are still two more woes to come after this.

The Sixth Trumpet

The sixth angel blew his trumpet. From the four horns of the golden altar that is before God, I heard a voice say to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels bound at the great river Euphrates." So the four angels who were prepared for the hour, day, month, and year were released to kill a third of the human race. The number of mounted troops was two hundred million; I heard their number. This is how I saw the horses and their riders in the vision: They had breastplates that were fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and from their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur. A third of the human race was killed by these three plagues—by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur that came from their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, because their tails, which resemble snakes, have heads that inflict injury.

The rest of the people, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands to stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk. And they did not repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality, or their thefts.

Scripture quotations have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

First Vision: Locusts

The Lord God showed me this: He was forming a swarm of locusts at the time the spring crop first began to sprout—after the cutting of the king's hay. When the locusts finished eating the vegetation of the land, I said, "Lord God, please forgive! How will Jacob survive since he is so small?"

The Lord relented concerning this. "It will not happen," he said.

Second Vision: Fire

The Lord God showed me this: The Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. Then I said, "Lord God, please stop! How will Jacob survive since he is so small?"

The Lord relented concerning this. "This will not happen either," said the Lord God.

Third Vision: A Plumb Line

He showed me this: The Lord was standing there by a vertical wall with a plumb line in his hand. The Lord asked me, "What do you see, Amos?"

I replied, "A plumb line."

Then the Lord said, "I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will no longer spare them:

Isaac's high places will be deserted,
and Israel's sanctuaries will be in ruins;
I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam
with a sword."

Amaziah's Opposition

Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, "Amos has conspired against you right here in the house of Israel. The land cannot endure all his words, for Amos has said this: 'Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will certainly go into exile from its homeland.'"

Then Amaziah said to Amos, "Go away, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah. Earn your living and give your prophecies there, but don't ever prophesy at Bethel again, for it is the king's sanctuary and a royal temple."

So Amos answered Amaziah, "I was not a prophet or the son of a prophet; rather, I was a herdsman, and I took care of sycamore figs. But the Lord took me from following the flock and said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'"

Now hear the word of the Lord. You say:

Do not prophesy against Israel;
do not preach against the house of Isaac.

Therefore, this is what the Lord says:

Your wife will be a prostitute in the city,
your sons and daughters will fall by the sword,
and your land will be divided up
with a measuring line.
You yourself will die on pagan soil,
and Israel will certainly go into exile
from its homeland.

Fourth Vision: A Basket of Summer Fruit

The Lord God showed me this: a basket of summer fruit. He asked me, "What do you see, Amos?"

I replied, "A basket of summer fruit."

The Lord said to me, "The end has come for my people Israel; I will no longer spare them. In that day the temple songs will become wailing"—this is the Lord God's declaration. "Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere! Silence!"

Hear this, you who trample on the needy
and do away with the poor of the land,
asking, "When will the New Moon be over
so we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath,
so we may market wheat?
We can reduce the measure
while increasing the price
and cheat with dishonest scales.
We can buy the poor with silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals
and even sell the chaff!"

The Lord has sworn by the Pride of Jacob:

I will never forget all their deeds.
Because of this, won't the land quake
and all who dwell in it mourn?
All of it will rise like the Nile;
it will surge and then subside
like the Nile in Egypt.

And in that day—

this is the declaration of the Lord God—

I will make the sun go down at noon;
I will darken the land in the daytime.
I will turn your feasts into mourning
and all your songs into lamentation;
I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth
and every head to be shaved.
I will make that grief
like mourning for an only son
and its outcome like a bitter day.

Look, the days are coming—

this is the declaration of the Lord God—

when I will send a famine through the land:
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord.
People will stagger from sea to sea
and roam from north to east
seeking the word of the Lord,
but they will not find it.
In that day the beautiful young women,
the young men also, will faint from thirst.
Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria
and say, "As your god lives, Dan,"
or, "As the way of Beer-sheba lives"—
they will fall, never to rise again.

Fifth Vision: The Lord beside the Altar

I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said:

Strike the capitals of the pillars
so that the thresholds shake;
knock them down on the heads of all the people.
Then I will kill the rest of them with the sword.
None of those who flee will get away;
none of the fugitives will escape.
If they dig down to Sheol,
from there my hand will take them;
if they climb up to heaven,
from there I will bring them down.
If they hide
on the top of Carmel,
from there I will track them down
and seize them;
if they conceal themselves
from my sight on the sea floor,
from there I will command
the sea serpent to bite them.
And if they are driven
by their enemies into captivity,
from there I will command
the sword to kill them.
I will keep my eye on them
for harm and not for good.

The Lord, the God of Armies—
he touches the earth;
it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn;
all of it rises like the Nile
and subsides like the Nile of Egypt.
He builds his upper chambers
in the heavens
and lays the foundation of his vault
on the earth.
He summons the water of the sea
and pours it out over the surface of the earth.
The Lord is his name.

Announcement of Judgment

Israelites, are you not like the Cushites to me?

This is the Lord's declaration.

Didn't I bring Israel from the land of Egypt,
the Philistines from Caphtor,
and the Arameans from Kir?
Look, the eyes of the Lord God
are on the sinful kingdom,
and I will obliterate it
from the face of the earth.
However, I will not totally destroy
the house of Jacob—

this is the Lord's declaration—

for I am about to give the command,
and I will shake the house of Israel
among all the nations,
as one shakes a sieve,
but not a pebble will fall to the ground.
All the sinners among my people
who say, "Disaster will never overtake
or confront us,"
will die by the sword.

Announcement of Restoration

In that day
I will restore the fallen shelter of David:
I will repair its gaps,
restore its ruins,
and rebuild it as in the days of old,
so that they may possess
the remnant of Edom
and all the nations
that bear my name—

this is the declaration of the Lord; he will do this.

Look, the days are coming—

this is the Lord's declaration—

when the plowman will overtake the reaper
and the one who treads grapes,
the sower of seed.
The mountains will drip with sweet wine,
and all the hills will flow with it.
I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel.
They will rebuild and occupy ruined cities,
plant vineyards and drink their wine,
make gardens and eat their produce.
I will plant them on their land,
and they will never again be uprooted
from the land I have given them.
The Lord your God has spoken.

Scripture quotations have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.