“Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you ¹  faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, ²  and how I have carried out your will.” ³  Then Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁴ 

Ephraim boasts, ¹  “I am very rich! I have become wealthy! ²  In all that I have done to gain my wealth, ³  no one can accuse me of any offense ⁴  that is actually sinful.” ⁵ 

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. ¹ 

So ¹  he said to the worker who tended the vineyard, ‘For ²  three years ³  now, I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and each time I inspect it ⁴  I find none. Cut ⁵  it down! Why ⁶  should it continue to deplete ⁷  the soil?’

I no longer call you slaves, ¹  because the slave does not understand ²  what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have revealed to you everything ³  I heard ⁴  from my Father.

Jesus replied, ¹  “I have spoken publicly to the world. I always taught in the synagogues ²  and in the temple courts, ³  where all the Jewish people ⁴  assemble together. I ⁵  have said nothing in secret.

I have certainly seen the suffering ¹  of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. ²  Now ³  come, I will send you to Egypt.’ ⁴ 

These words I am commanding you today must be kept in mind,

Take note – I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: ¹ 

“I will explain to you; listen to me, and what ¹  I have seen, I will declare, ² 

although ¹  there is no violence in my hands and my prayer is pure.

For I am full of words, and the spirit within me ¹  constrains me. ² 

I have spoken once, but I cannot answer; twice, but I will say no more.” ¹ 

But I have integrity! ¹  Rescue me ²  and have mercy on me!

In my self-confidence I said, “I will never be upended.” ¹ 

My wounds ¹  are infected and starting to smell, ²  because of my foolish sins. ³ 

For I am aware of ¹  my rebellious acts; I am forever conscious of my sin. ² 

Once and for all I have vowed by my own holiness, I will never deceive ¹  David.

Spare me ¹  shame and humiliation, for I observe your rules.

I am more discerning than those older than I, for I observe your precepts.