Date	Version	Reading Plan
@November 15, 2023	ESV (2016)	ESV Prophets Plan 2023

Pericopes

• Woe To Those at Ease in Zion

Notes/Application

Amos declares an oracle of woe against the leaders of Israel and Judah who have grown complacent with a false sense of security. They were lying on their “beds of ivory” (Amos 6:4), blinded to the internal corruption festering within. God through Amos tells the people that their feasting will end in exile and that they will be the first to go. God swears by Himself that He abhors the “pride of Jacob” and will deliver the city “all that is in it” (Amos 6:8). God will reduce the house of Jacob to bits, a nation who had turned justice and righteousness to poison and wormwood. God will raise up a nation to come against them and the oppression will encompass the full length of Israel’s territory.

For those in the West, it is not difficult to resonate with Israel in her time of prosperity and decadence. We live in the most affluent region in the most affluent time in history. Everything in our world is experienced in bright, vibrant color with material possessions aplenty, available to all with immediate gratification. However, underneath this veneer lies the same rottenness that has plagued man since the beginning.

Praise be to God that the power of the gospel cuts through this false facade and reveals our brokenness and need for Christ. What grace to be given eyes to see through the deception and choose instead the glory and majesty of our Lord, the worth of whose presence is beyond compare.

Scripture Journal Notes

Commentaries & Resources Used

• ESV Study Bible. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008)
• Faithlife Study Bible (Lexham Press, 2016)
• Believer’s Bible Commentary (Thomas Nelson, 2016)
• CSB Study Bible Notes (Holman Bible Publishers, 2017)
• Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible (Guardian Press, 1976)
• The Bible: A Reader’s Guide (Sterling Publishing, 2011)
• The Infographic Bible (Zondervan, 2018)
• ESV Digital Scripture Journal (Crossway, 2019)