“I overthrew some of you the way God ¹  overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. ²  You were like a burning stick ³  snatched from the flames. Still you did not come back to me.” The Lord is speaking!

Woe ¹  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.

He said, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end ¹  has come for my people Israel! I will no longer overlook their sins. ² 

The sailors said to one another, ¹  “Come on, let’s cast lots ²  to find out ³  whose fault it is that this disaster has overtaken us. ⁴ ” So they cast lots, and Jonah was singled out. ⁵ 

They said to him, “Tell us, whose fault is it that this disaster has overtaken us? ¹  What’s your occupation? Where do you come from? What’s your country? And who are your people?” ² 

They will lick the dust like a snake, like serpents crawling on the ground. ¹  They will come trembling from their strongholds to the Lord our God; ²  they will be terrified ³  of you. ⁴ 

The Lord has issued a decree against you: ¹  “Your dynasty will come to an end. ²  I will destroy the idols and images in the temples of your gods. I will desecrate ³  your grave – because you are accursed!” ⁴ 

Their horses are faster than leopards and more alert ¹  than wolves in the desert. ²  Their horses ³  gallop, ⁴  their horses come a great distance; like a vulture ⁵  they swoop down quickly to devour their prey. ⁶ 

“Choose some people ¹  from among the exiles, namely, Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, all of whom have come from Babylon, and when you have done so go to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. ² 

And it will come about that just as you (both Judah and Israel) were a curse to the nations, so I will save you and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid! Instead, be strong!’

Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens ¹  so that ²  we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise ³  we will be scattered ⁴  across the face of the entire earth.”

Look, I have two daughters who have never had sexual relations with ¹  a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you please. ²  Only don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection ³  of my roof.” ⁴ 

My integrity will testify for me ¹  later on. ²  When you come to verify that I’ve taken only the wages we agreed on, ³  if I have in my possession any goat that is not speckled or spotted or any sheep that is not dark-colored, it will be considered stolen.” ⁴ 

Now Jacob’s sons had come in from the field when they heard the news. ¹  They ²  were offended ³  and very angry because Shechem ⁴  had disgraced Israel ⁵  by sexually assaulting ⁶  Jacob’s daughter, a crime that should not be committed. ⁷ 

He turned aside to her along the road and said, “Come on! I want to have sex with you.” ¹  (He did not realize ²  it was his daughter-in-law.) She asked, “What will you give me in exchange for having sex with you?” ³ 

When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger ¹  to them and spoke to them harshly. He asked, “Where do you come from?” They answered, ²  “From the land of Canaan, to buy grain for food.” ³ 

They said to one other, ¹  “Surely we’re being punished ²  because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was ³  when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress ⁴  has come on us!”

Then they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as temporary residents ¹  in the land. There ²  is no pasture for your servants’ flocks because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. So now, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen.”

I have come down ¹  to deliver them ²  from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and spacious, ³  to a land flowing with milk and honey, ⁴  to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ⁵ 

The Nile will swarm ¹  with frogs, and they will come up and go into your house, in your bedroom, and on your bed, and into the houses of your servants and your people, and into your ovens and your kneading troughs. ²