TSK · Amos 2:4

Then the LORD said to Moses,“You are about to die, and then these people will begin to prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land into which they are going. They will reject me and break my covenant that I have made with them.

A Monotonous Cycle The Israelites did evil before the LORD by worshiping the Baals.

Why have you shown contempt for the LORD’s decrees by doing evil in my sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and you have taken his wife to be your own wife! You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

When the king heard the words of the law scroll, he tore his clothes.

Don’t be like your fathers and brothers who were unfaithful to the LORD God of their ancestors, provoking him to destroy them, as you can see.

We have behaved corruptly against you, not obeying the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments that you commanded your servant Moses.

And you solemnly admonished them in order to return them to your law, but they behaved presumptuously and did not obey your commandments. They sinned against your ordinances– those by which an individual, if he obeys them, will live. They boldly turned from you; they rebelled and did not obey.

The leaders and the highly respected people are the head, the prophets who teach lies are the tail.

He feeds on ashes; his deceived mind misleads him. He cannot rescue himself, nor does he say,‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’

They will be spread out and exposed to the sun, the moon and the stars. These are things they adored and served, things to which they paid allegiance, from which they sought guidance, and worshiped. The bones of these people will never be regathered and reburied. They will be like manure used to fertilize the ground.

Instead they have followed the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts. They have paid allegiance to the gods called Baal, as their fathers taught them to do.

And you have acted even more wickedly than your ancestors! Each one of you has followed the stubborn inclinations of your own wicked heart and not obeyed me.

But you must obey me and set the Sabbath day apart to me. You must not carry any loads in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. If you disobey, I will set the gates of Jerusalem on fire. It will burn down all the fortified dwellings in Jerusalem and no one will be able to put it out.’”

The LORD says,“I have heard what those prophets who are prophesying lies in my name are saying. They are saying,‘I have had a dream! I have had a dream!’

They see delusion and their omens are a lie. They say,“the LORD declares,” though the LORD has not sent them; yet they expect their word to be confirmed.

God’s Unfaithful Bride The LORD’s message came to me:

I did this because they rejected my regulations, did not follow my statutes, and desecrated my Sabbaths; for their hearts followed their idols.

I did this because they did not observe my regulations, they rejected my statutes, they desecrated my Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on their fathers’ idols.

You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths!

“Her sister Oholibah watched this, but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister.

The Curse of the Incurable Wound I will be like a moth to Ephraim, like wood rot to the house of Judah.

The LORD also has a covenant lawsuit against Judah; he will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds.

“I have chosen you alone from all the clans of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all your sins.”

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

You know that from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors you were ransomed– not by perishable things like silver or gold,