THE BOOK OF AMOS Part One A Plumb Line in Israel

1. THE BOOK OF AMOS Part One A Plumb Line in Israel

2. As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.

3. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.

4. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

5. But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream. Amos 5: 24

6. And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom may return to the house of David: If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back … and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah.” I Kings 12:26, 27 * Jerusalem

7. Therefore the king … made two calves of gold, and said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!” And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. I Kings 12:28, 29 * Dan Bethel * * Jerusalem

8. Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar…. at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had devised in his own heart. • I Kings 12: 32, 33 * Dan Bethel * * Jerusalem

9. “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I do not savor your sacred assemblies. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings.” Amos 5: 21, 22 * Dan Bethel * * Jerusalem

10. Jeroboam … became king in Samaria, and reigned forty-one years…. Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did—his might, how he made war, and how he recaptured for Israel, from Damascus and Hamath—are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? II Kings 14:23 -28 * Dan Bethel * * Jerusalem

11. So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant— when you have eaten and are full— then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Deuteronomy 6: 10 - 12

12. Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”Luke 12: 16 - 21

13. I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. … They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it. Amos 8: 11, 12 A man and his father go in to the same girl. Amos 2: 7 The Lord of Hosts says: I abhor the pride of Jacob, and hate his palaces. Amos 6:8 Take away from Me the noise of your songs, For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. Amos 5: 23

14. For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment; Because they sell the righteous for silver, And the poor for a pair of sandals. They pant after the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor. Amos 2: 6, 7

15. Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, Who oppress the poor, Who crush the needy, Who say to your husbands, “Bring wine, let us drink!” Amos 4: 1

16. Hear this, you who swallow up the needy, And make the poor of the land fail, Saying: “When will the New Moon be past, That we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, That we may trade wheat? Making the ephah small and the shekel large, Falsifying the scales by deceit, That we may buy the poor for silver, And the needy for a pair of sandals— Even sell the bad wheat?” Amos 8: 4 - 6

17. Go you seer! Flee to the land of Judah. There eat bread and prophesy; but never again prophesy in Bethel, for it is the King’s sanctuary and it is the royal residence. Then Amos answered, I was no prophet, nor was I a son of a prophet. But I was a sheepbreeder. Amos 7: 12 - 14 * Dan Bethel * * Jerusalem

18. Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line … Then the Lord said: “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore.” Amos 7: 7 - 8

19. Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will never be dismayed. Also I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet. Isaiah 28: 16, 17

20. Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” I Peter 2: 4 - 6 Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will never be dismayed. Also I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet. Isaiah 28: 16, 17

21. Amos has said … Israel shall surely be led away captive from their own land. Amos 7: 11 For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day. II Kings 17: 22 – 23

22. Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will never be dismayed. Also I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet. Isaiah 28: 16, 17

23. THE BOOK OF AMOS Part Two The Lord is His Name