Amos 7 - 8, Mark 7 - 8, Psalm 28 — Legacy Standard Bible

Yahweh Will Rise Up Against Israel

7Thus Lord Yahweh showed me, and behold, He was forming a ^alocust-swarm ¹when the spring crop began to come up. And behold, the spring crop was after the king’s ²mowing. ²And it happened ¹when it had ^acompleted eating the vegetation of the land, that I said, “^bLord Yahweh, please pardon!²How can Jacob rise up,For he is ^csmall?”

³Yahweh ¹^,^arelented concerning this.“It shall not be,” said Yahweh.

⁴Thus Lord Yahweh showed me, and behold, Lord Yahweh was calling to contend with them by ^afire, and it consumed the great deep and began to consume the ¹farm land. ⁵Then I said, “^aLord Yahweh, please stop!¹^,^bHow can Jacob rise up, for he is small?”

⁶Yahweh ¹^,^arelented concerning this.“This too shall not be,” said Lord Yahweh.

⁷Thus He showed me, and behold, the Lord was standing ¹by a wall made with a ²plumb line, and in His hand was a ³plumb line. ⁸And Yahweh said to me, “^aWhat do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I am about to put a ^bplumb lineIn the midst of My people Israel.I will ^cpass over them no longer.

⁹“The ^ahigh places of Isaac will be desolatedAnd the ^bsanctuaries of Israel laid waste.Then I will ^crise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

Amos Accused

¹⁰Then Amaziah, the ^apriest of Bethel, sent word to ^bJeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has ^cconspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is unable to endure all his words. ¹¹“For thus Amos says, ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.’” ¹²Then Amaziah said to Amos, “^aGo, you seer, flee away to the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and there do your prophesying! ¹³“But ^ano longer prophesy at Bethel, for it is a ^bsanctuary of the king and a royal house.”

¹⁴Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I am not a prophet, nor am I the ^ason of a prophet; for I am a herdsman and a ¹grower of sycamore figs. ¹⁵“But Yahweh took me from ¹following the flock, and Yahweh said to me, ‘Go ^aprophesy to My people Israel.’ ¹⁶“So now, hear the word of Yahweh: you are saying, ‘You ^ashall not prophesy against Israel, ^bnor shall you drip out words against the house of Isaac.’ ¹⁷“Therefore, thus says Yahweh, ‘Your ^awife will play the harlot in the city, your ^bsons and your daughters will fall by the sword, your land will be divided up by a measuring line, and you yourself will die ¹upon ^cunclean land. Moreover, Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.’”

A Famine for Hearing the Words of Yahweh

8Thus Lord Yahweh showed me, and behold, there was a basket of summer fruit. ²And he said, “What do you see, Amos?” And ^aI said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then Yahweh said to me, “The ^bend has come for My people Israel. I will ^cpass over them no longer. ³“And they will ^awail with the ^bsongs of the palace in that day,” declares Lord Yahweh. “Many will be the ^ccorpses; in every place ¹they will cast them forth ²in silence.”

⁴Hear this, you who ¹^,^atrample the needy, even to cause the humble of the land to cease, ⁵saying, “When will the ^anew moon pass over,So that we may sell grain,And the ^bsabbath, that we may open the wheat market,To make the ¹bushel smaller and the ²shekel bigger,And to ^ccheat with a deceptive balance,

⁶So as to ^abuy the poor for ¹moneyAnd the needy for a pair of sandals,And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?”⁷Yahweh has ^asworn by the ^blofty pride of Jacob,“Indeed, I will ^cnever forget any of their works.⁸“Because of this will not the land ^atrembleAnd everyone who inhabits it ^bmourn?Indeed, all of it will ^crise up like the Nile,And it will be tossed aboutAnd subside like the Nile of Egypt.⁹“And it will be in that day,” declares Lord Yahweh,“That I will make the ^asun go down at noonAnd ^bmake the earth dark in ¹broad daylight.¹⁰“Then I will ^aoverturn your feasts into mourningAnd all your songs into ¹lamentation;And I will bring up ^bsackcloth on everyone’s loinsAnd baldness on every head.And I will make it ^clike a time of mourning for an only son,And the end of it will be like a bitter day.¹¹“Behold, days are coming,” declares Lord Yahweh,“When I will send a famine on the land,Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water,But rather ^afor hearing the words of Yahweh.¹²“People will wander from sea to seaAnd from the north even to the east;They will go to and fro to ^aseek the word of Yahweh,But they will not find it.¹³“In that day the beautiful ^avirginsAnd the choice men will ^bfaint from thirst.¹⁴“As for those who swear by the ¹^,^aguilt of Samaria,Who say, ‘As your god lives, O ^bDan,’And, ‘As the way of ^cBeersheba lives,’They will fall and ^dnot rise again.”

God’s Commandments, Man’s Traditions

7^aAnd the Pharisees and some of the scribes *gathered around Him when they had come ^bfrom Jerusalem, ²and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with ^adefiled hands, that is, unwashed. ³(For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they ¹carefully wash their hands, thus observing the ^atradition of the elders; ⁴and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they ¹wash themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of ^acups and pitchers and copper pots².) ⁵And the Pharisees and the scribes *asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the ^atradition of the elders, but eat their bread with ^bdefiled hands?” ⁶And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘^aThis people honors Me with their lips,But their heart is far away from Me.

⁷‘^aBut in vain do they worship Me,Teaching as doctrines the commands of men.’

⁸“Leaving the commandment of God, you hold to the ^atradition of men.”

⁹And He was also saying to them, “You are good at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your ^atradition. ¹⁰“For Moses said, ‘^aHonor your father and your mother’; and, ‘^bHe who speaks evil of father or mother, is to ¹be put to death’; ¹¹but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever you might benefit from me is ^aCorban (that is to say, ¹given to God),’ ¹²you no longer leave him to do anything for his father or his mother; ¹³thus invalidating the word of God by your ^atradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”

The Heart of Man

¹⁴And after He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. ¹⁶¹[“And if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”]

¹⁷And when He had left the crowd and entered ^athe house, ^bHis disciples were asking Him about the parable. ¹⁸And He *said to them, “Are you lacking understanding in this way as well? Do you not ¹perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and goes to the sewer?” (Thus He declared ^aall foods ^bclean.) ²⁰And He was saying, “^aThat which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. ²¹“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, ²²coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, ¹^,^aenvy, slander, ²pride, and foolishness. ²³“All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

A Gentile Woman’s Faith

²⁴^aNow Jesus stood up and went away from there to the region of ^bTyre¹. And when He had entered a house, He was wanting no one to know of it; ²yet He could not escape notice. ²⁵But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. ²⁶Now the woman was a ¹Greek, of Syrophoenician descent. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not ¹good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁸But she answered and *said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹And He said to her, “Because of this ¹answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” ³⁰And going back to her home, she found the child ¹lying on the bed, the demon having left.

The Deaf Hear, the Mute Speak

³¹^aAnd again He went out from the region of ^bTyre, and came through Sidon to ^cthe Sea of Galilee, within the region of the ^dDecapolis. ³²And they *brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they *pleaded with Him to ^alay His hand on him. ³³^aAnd Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after ^bspitting, He touched his tongue; ³⁴and looking up to heaven with a ^asigh, He *said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” ³⁵And his ears were opened, and the ¹impediment of his tongue ²was removed, and he began speaking plainly. ³⁶And ^aHe gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He was ordering them, the more widely they ^bcontinued to proclaim it. ³⁷And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

Jesus Feeds Four Thousand

8In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, ^aJesus called His disciples and *said to them, ²“^aI feel compassion for the crowd because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat. ³“And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.” ⁴And His disciples answered Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough ¹bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?” ⁵And He was asking them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.” ⁶And He *directed the crowd to ¹sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them. And He kept giving them to His disciples to ²serve to them, and they served them to the crowd. ⁷And they also had a few small fish; and ^aafter He blessed them, He ordered these to be ¹served as well. ⁸And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large ^abaskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces. ⁹Now about four thousand were there, and He sent them away. ¹⁰And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples and came to the district of ^aDalmanutha.

¹¹^aAnd the Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, ^bseeking from Him ¹a sign from heaven, testing Him. ¹²^aAnd sighing deeply ¹in His spirit, He *said, “Why does this generation seek ²a sign? Truly I say to you, ³^,^bno ⁴sign will be given to this generation.” ¹³And leaving them, He again embarked and went away to the other side.

¹⁴And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. ¹⁵And He was giving orders to them, saying, “^aWatch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of ^bHerod.” ¹⁶And they began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. ¹⁷And Jesus, aware of this, *said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? ^aDo you not yet perceive or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? ¹⁸“^aHaving eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember, ¹⁹when I broke ^athe five loaves for the five thousand, how many ^bbaskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They *said to Him, “Twelve.” ²⁰“When I broke ^athe seven for the four thousand, how many large ^bbaskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they *said to Him, “Seven.” ²¹And He was saying to them, “^aDo you not yet understand?”

²²And they *came to ^aBethsaida. And they *brought a blind man to Jesus and *pleaded with Him to ^btouch him. ²³And taking the blind man by the hand, He ^abrought him out of the village; and after ^bspitting on his eyes and ^claying His hands on him, He was asking him, “Do you see anything?” ²⁴And he ¹looked up and was saying, “I see men, for ²I see them like trees, walking around.” ²⁵Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly. ²⁶And He sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter ^athe village.”

Peter Confesses Jesus Is the Christ

²⁷^aAnd Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of ^bCaesarea Philippi; and on the way He was asking His disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?” ²⁸^aAnd they told Him, saying, “John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.” ²⁹And He continued asking them, “But who do you say that I am?” ^aPeter *answered and *said to Him, “You are the ¹Christ.” ³⁰And ^aHe ¹warned them to tell no one about Him.

³¹^aAnd He began to teach them that ^bthe Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³²And He was stating the matter ^aopenly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. ³³But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and *said, “Get behind Me, ^aSatan! For you are not setting your mind on ¹God’s interests, but man’s.”

Take Up Your Cross

³⁴And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to ¹come after Me, he must deny himself, and ^atake up his cross and follow Me. ³⁵“For ^awhoever wishes to save his ¹life will lose it, but whoever loses his ²life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. ³⁶“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? ³⁷“For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? ³⁸“For ^awhoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, ^bthe Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He ^ccomes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

Yahweh Is My Strength and My Shield

Of David.

To You, O Yahweh, I call;My ^arock, do not be silent to me,Lest if You ^bare hesitant toward me,I will become like those who ^cgo down to the pit.²Hear the ^avoice of my supplications when I cry to You for help,When I ^blift up my hands ^ctoward ¹Your holy ^dsanctuary.³^aDo not drag me away with the wickedAnd with workers of iniquity,Who ^bspeak peace with their neighbors,While evil is in their hearts.⁴Give to them ^aaccording to their work and according to the evil of their actions;Give to them according to the deeds of their hands;Return their dealings upon them.⁵Because they ^ado not regard the works of YahwehNor the deeds of His hands,He will tear them down and not build them up.⁶Blessed be Yahweh,Because He ^ahas heard the voice of my supplications.⁷Yahweh is my ^astrength and my ^bshield;My heart ^ctrusts in Him, and I am helped;Therefore ^dmy heart exults,And with ^emy song I shall thank Him.⁸Yahweh is ¹their ^astrength,And He is a ²^,^bstrong defense of salvation to His anointed.⁹^aSave Your people and bless ^bYour inheritance;Be their ^cshepherd also, and ^dcarry them forever.