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| 1 Hear ye this word, which, I, am taking up concerning you–even a dirge, O house of Israel. |
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| 2 She hath fallen–she cannot again rise, the virgin, Israel,–she lieth forsaken on her soil, there is none to raise her up. |
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| 3 For, thus, saith My Lord, Yahweh, The city that goeth out a thousand strong, shall have left it a hundred,–And, that which goeth out a hundred strong, shall have left it ten, belonging to the house of Israel. |
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| 4 For, thus, saith Yahweh, to the house of Israel,–Seek me, and live; |
Seek ye me – Return to harmony with God and avert calamities. R3424:3
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| 5 Then do not seek Bethel, and, Gilgal, shall ye not enter, and, unto Beer-sheba, shall ye not cross over, For, Gilgal, shall, surely go into exile, and, Bethel, shall become a trouble. |
Seek not Beth-el – It would be in vain for fleshly Israel to seek help from the coming calamities in the centers of their religious institutions which were corrupt. R3424:3
Today, as with the Lord and apostles, the chief opponents of the truth are the religious teachers who have " a form of godliness." (2 Tim. 3:5) R3424:2
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| 6 Seek ye Yahweh, and live,–lest he break forth, like a fire, upon the house of Joseph, and it devour with none to quench it, for Bethel. |
Like fire – Destruction. R3424:3
House of Joseph – The ten-tribe kingdom, so-called because of the preponderating influence of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. R3424:3
Beth-el – The city of idol worship. R2356:6
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| 7 Ye who turn, into, wormwood, justice, and, righteousness–to the ground have let fall. |
Ye – The great ones of fleshly Israel in Amos' day, typifying the trusts in the close of this Harvest time. R3424:5, R3425:1
Judgment – Justice in your courts. R3424:4
Injustice, inequity, is now operating. R3425:1
To wormwood – Bitterness, disappointment. R3424:4
Instead of the sweets of justice. R3424:4
Leave off righteousness – Cast down righteousness to the earth. Equity was not a matter of primary consideration. R3424:4
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| 8 [Seek him] who made the Cluster and the Giant, and turneth, into morning, the shadow of death, and who, day into night, doth darken, Him who calleth to the waters of the sea, and poureth them out on the face of the land, Yahweh, is his name: |
The seven stars – The group Pleiades, in the constellation Taurus. R3424:4
And Orion – Referring to divine power in some what similar language as in Job 9:9 & Job 38:21. R3424:4
The shadow of death – When Christ appears, day appears, life appears, fruitfulness appears, and the curse departs. R302:3*
Into the morning – The resurrection morning, the Millennial age. E359; R302:3*
Calleth for the waters – Able not only to gather the waters into seas, but also to call the waters back from the seas to the clouds, and pour it down again upon the earth in its seasons. R3424:4
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| 9 Him who flasheth force on the strong,–and, force, on the fortress, alighteth! |
The spoiled – The masses. R3425:4
Against the strong – When they rise in anarchy against them. R3425:4
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| 10 They hate the man who, in the gate, rebuketh,–and, him who speaketh truthfully, they abhor. |
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| 11 Therefore–because ye have trampled on the poor, and, the gift of corn, ye would take away from him, though, houses of hewn stone, ye have built, Yet shall ye not dwell in them,–Though, delightful vineyards, ye have planted, Yet shall ye not drink the wine of them. |
Ye take from him – A drunkenness of greed. R2357:2
Ye have built houses – Riches were accumulated, but they were in the hands of the rich and the great, and the poor were being unjustly dealt with. R3424:3
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| 12 For I know how numerous are your transgressions, and how surpassing your sins,–ye adversaries of the righteous! ye acceptors of a bribe! Even the needy in the gate, have they turned away! |
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| 13 Therefore, the prudent man, at that time, will be dumb,–Because an evil time, it is! |
The prudent – Being helpless, and in the minority. R3424:5
Shall keep silence – Some did witness the evils, but remained silent from motives of prudence. R3424:5
Similarly, it is not the duty of the Lord's people today to reprove public officials. R3424:5
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| 14 Seek ye right and not wrong, that ye nay live,–that, so, Yahweh God of hosts, may be with you, as ye have said. |
Seek good, and not evil – Make a thorough reformation-- love righteousness and hate sin. R3424:5
Everybody is seeking pleasure and not misery, happiness and not woe. The difficulty is that all of our judgments are more or less polluted. R5242:3
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| 15 Hate wrong, and love right, and station, Justice, in the gate,–Peradventure, Yahweh, God of hosts, will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph. |
Hate the evil – We are to be like God in our loves and hates--to hate sin and to love righteousness. R1251:1
We must have no affectionate love for evildoers, though we should charitably hope that much of the evil is the result of misinformation and inherited weaknesses, and accordingly should feel and act kindly, with pitying love toward such. R1251:2
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| 16 Therefore, thus, saith Yahweh, God of hosts, My Lord, In all broadways, shall be lamentation, and, in all streets, shall they say, Alas! Alas! And they shall call the husbandman unto the mourning, and, unto the lamentation, them who know a wailing song; |
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| 17 Ye, in all vineyards, lamentation,–For I will pass along through thy midst, saith Yahweh. |
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| 18 Alas for them who are longing for the day of Yahweh,–What good to you, is the day of Yahweh? it, being darkness and not light: |
Woe unto you – "Ho you" (improperly translated "woe"--Young). R409:1
The great mass of the human family, aside from the saints. R93:4
Day of the LORD – The entire Millennial age, but generally applied to the beginning of that day. R592:2; B33
Darkness, and not light – The Gospel and Millennial ages lap; the one ending, the other commencing. The dark day is at once the closing scene of the night of weeping and the dawn of the morning of joy. R592:2, R409:1
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| 19 As if a man should flee from the face of a lion, and there should meet him–a bear! or he should have entered the house, and leaned his hand upon the wall, and there should bite him–a serpent! |
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| 20 Shall not the day of Yahweh be, darkness, and not light? yea, thick darkness and no brightness in it? |
Day of the LORD – The Day of Vengeance, the time of trouble. D11; R409:2, R592:2
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| 21 I hate, I despise your festivals,–and can scent no fragrance in your solemn feasts.
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| 22 Nay, though ye cause to ascend unto me ascending-sacrifices, and your meal-offerings, I will not accept [them],–nor, the peace-offering of your fat heifers, will I regard. |
Your meat offerings – Christendom's fine church edifices, grand organs, trained choirs, paid ministers, and formalistic worship are not recognized and accepted by the Lord. R5696:4
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| 23 Take thou away from me, the noise of thy songs,–Even the melody of thy harps, will I not hear. |
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| 24 But let, justice, roll along like water,–and, righteousness, as a torrent over flowing. |
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| 25 The sacrifices and meal-offering, ye brought near unto me, in the desert, for forty years O house of Israel; |
Forty years – Prefiguring the 19 centuries of the Gospel age. R3079:3
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| 26 But ye carried the tent of your king-idol, and your Saturn-images,–the star of your gods, which ye made for yourselves: |
Of your Moloch – Type of the misrepresentation of God worshipped by those who endorse the eternal torment theory. R2360:1, R3464:6
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| 27 Therefore will I carry you into exile beyond Damascus,–saith Yahweh, God of hosts, is his name. |
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