'Lord' in the Bible

Amos said: "The Lord comes roaring out of Zion; from Jerusalem he comes bellowing! The shepherds' pastures wilt; the summit of Carmel withers."

This is what the Lord says: "Because Damascus has committed three crimes -- make that four! -- I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They ripped through Gilead like threshing sledges with iron teeth.

I will break the bar on the gate of Damascus. I will remove the ruler from Wicked Valley, the one who holds the royal scepter from Beth Eden. The people of Aram will be deported to Kir." The Lord has spoken!

This is what the Lord says: "Because Gaza has committed three crimes -- make that four! -- I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They deported a whole community and sold them to Edom.

I will remove the ruler from Ashdod, the one who holds the royal scepter from Ashkelon. I will strike Ekron with my hand; the rest of the Philistines will also die." The sovereign Lord has spoken!

This is what the Lord says: "Because Tyre has committed three crimes -- make that four! -- I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They sold a whole community to Edom; they failed to observe a treaty of brotherhood.

This is what the Lord says: "Because Edom has committed three crimes -- make that four! -- I will not revoke my decree of judgment. He chased his brother with a sword; he wiped out his allies. In his anger he tore them apart without stopping to rest; in his fury he relentlessly attacked them.

This is what the Lord says: "Because the Ammonites have committed three crimes -- make that four! -- I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They ripped open Gilead's pregnant women so they could expand their territory.

Ammon's king will be deported; he and his officials will be carried off together." The Lord has spoken!

This is what the Lord says: "Because Moab has committed three crimes -- make that four! -- I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They burned the bones of Edom's king into lime.

I will remove Moab's leader; I will kill all Moab's officials with him." The Lord has spoken!

This is what the Lord says: "Because Judah has committed three covenant transgressions -- make that four! -- I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They rejected the Lord's law; they did not obey his commands. Their false gods, to which their fathers were loyal, led them astray.

This is what the Lord says: "Because Israel has committed three covenant transgressions -- make that four! -- I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They sold the innocent for silver, the needy for a pair of sandals.

I made some of your sons prophets and some of your young men Nazirites. Is this not true, you Israelites?" The Lord is speaking!

Bravehearted warriors will run away naked in that day." The Lord is speaking!

Listen, you Israelites, to this message which the Lord is proclaiming against you! This message is for the entire clan I brought up from the land of Egypt:

If an alarm sounds in a city, do people not fear? If disaster overtakes a city, is the Lord not responsible?

Certainly the sovereign Lord does nothing without first revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

A lion has roared! Who is not afraid? The sovereign Lord has spoken! Who can refuse to prophesy?

"They do not know how to do what is right." (The Lord is speaking.) "They store up the spoils of destructive violence in their fortresses.

Therefore," says the sovereign Lord, "an enemy will encircle the land. He will take away your power; your fortresses will be looted."

This is what the Lord says: "Just as a shepherd salvages from the lion's mouth a couple of leg bones or a piece of an ear, so the Israelites who live in Samaria will be salvaged. They will be left with just a corner of a bed, and a part of a couch."

Listen and warn the family of Jacob! The sovereign Lord, the God who commands armies, is speaking!

I will destroy both the winter and summer houses. The houses filled with ivory will be ruined, the great houses will be swept away." The Lord is speaking!

The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his own holy character: "Certainly the time is approaching when you will be carried away in baskets, every last one of you in fishermen's pots.

Each of you will go straight through the gaps in the walls; you will be thrown out toward Harmon." The Lord is speaking!

Burn a thank offering of bread made with yeast! Make a public display of your voluntary offerings! For you love to do this, you Israelites." The sovereign Lord is speaking!

"But surely I gave you no food to eat in any of your cities; you lacked food everywhere you live. Still you did not come back to me." The Lord is speaking!

People from two or three cities staggered into one city to get water, but remained thirsty. Still you did not come back to me." The Lord is speaking!

"I destroyed your crops with blight and disease. Locusts kept devouring your orchards, vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees. Still you did not come back to me." The Lord is speaking!

"I sent against you a plague like one of the Egyptian plagues. I killed your young men with the sword, along with the horses you had captured. I made the stench from the corpses rise up into your nostrils. Still you did not come back to me." The Lord is speaking!

"I overthrew some of you the way God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick snatched from the flames. Still you did not come back to me." The Lord is speaking!

For here he is! He formed the mountains and created the wind. He reveals his plans to men. He turns the dawn into darkness and marches on the heights of the earth. The Lord, the God who commands armies, is his name!"

The sovereign Lord says this: "The city that marches out with a thousand soldiers will have only a hundred left; the town that marches out with a hundred soldiers will have only ten left for the family of Israel."

The Lord says this to the family of Israel: "Seek me so you can live!

Seek the Lord so you can live! Otherwise he will break out like fire against Joseph's family; the fire will consume and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel.

(But there is one who made the constellations Pleiades and Orion; he can turn the darkness into morning and daylight into night. He summons the water of the seas and pours it out on the earth's surface. The Lord is his name!

Seek good and not evil so you can live! Then the Lord, the God who commands armies, just might be with you, as you claim he is.

Hate what is wrong, love what is right! Promote justice at the city gate! Maybe the Lord, the God who commands armies, will have mercy on those who are left from Joseph.

Because of Israel's sins this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, says: "In all the squares there will be wailing, in all the streets they will mourn the dead. They will tell the field workers to lament and the professional mourners to wail.

In all the vineyards there will be wailing, for I will pass through your midst," says the Lord.

Woe to those who wish for the day of the Lord! Why do you want the Lord's day of judgment to come? It will bring darkness, not light.

and I will drive you into exile beyond Damascus," says the Lord. He is called the God who commands armies!

The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his very own life. The Lord, the God who commands armies, is speaking: "I despise Jacob's arrogance; I hate their fortresses. I will hand over to their enemies the city of Samaria and everything in it."

Indeed, look! The Lord is giving the command. He will smash the large house to bits, and the small house into little pieces.

"Look! I am about to bring a nation against you, family of Israel." The Lord, the God who commands armies, is speaking. "They will oppress you all the way from Lebo-Hamath to the Stream of the Arabah."

The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw him making locusts just as the crops planted late were beginning to sprout. (The crops planted late sprout after the royal harvest.)

When they had completely consumed the earth's vegetation, I said, "Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! How can Jacob survive? He is too weak!"

The Lord decided not to do this. "It will not happen," the Lord said.

The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw the sovereign Lord summoning a shower of fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the fields.

I said, "Sovereign Lord, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is too weak!"

The Lord decided not to do this. The sovereign Lord said, "This will not happen either."

The Lord said to me, "What do you see, Amos?" I said, "Tin." The sovereign One then said, "Look, I am about to place tin among my people Israel. I will no longer overlook their sin.

Then the Lord took me from tending flocks and gave me this commission, 'Go! Prophesy to my people Israel!'

"Therefore this is what the Lord says: 'Your wife will become a prostitute in the streets and your sons and daughters will die violently. Your land will be given to others and you will die in a foreign land. Israel will certainly be carried into exile away from its land.'"

The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw a basket of summer fruit.

He said, "What do you see, Amos?" I replied, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the Lord said to me, "The end has come for my people Israel! I will no longer overlook their sins.

The women singing in the temple will wail in that day." The sovereign Lord is speaking. "There will be many corpses littered everywhere! Be quiet!"

The Lord confirms this oath by the arrogance of Jacob: "I swear I will never forget all you have done!

In that day," says the sovereign Lord, "I will make the sun set at noon, and make the earth dark in the middle of the day.

Be certain of this, the time is coming," says the sovereign Lord, "when I will send a famine through the land -- not a shortage of food or water but an end to divine revelation!

People will stagger from sea to sea, and from the north around to the east. They will wander about looking for a revelation from the Lord, but they will not find any.

The sovereign Lord who commands armies will do this. He touches the earth and it dissolves; all who live on it mourn. The whole earth rises like the River Nile, and then grows calm like the Nile in Egypt.

He builds the upper rooms of his palace in heaven and sets its foundation supports on the earth. He summons the water of the sea and pours it out on the earth's surface. The Lord is his name.

"You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight," says the Lord. "Certainly I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir.

Look, the sovereign Lord is watching the sinful nation, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. But I will not completely destroy the family of Jacob," says the Lord.

As a result they will conquer those left in Edom and all the nations subject to my rule." The Lord, who is about to do this, is speaking!

"Be sure of this, the time is coming," says the Lord, "when the plowman will catch up to the reaper and the one who stomps the grapes will overtake the planter. Juice will run down the slopes, it will flow down all the hillsides.

I will plant them on their land and they will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them," says the Lord your God.