Justice Rolls Down

Amos 1:1-2; 5:14-15, 21-24

Amos 1:1-2

1 The words of Amos, who was one of the sheep breeders from Tekoa—what he saw regarding Israel in the days of King Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. 2 He said: The Lord roars from Zion and makes his voice heard from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the summit of Carmel withers.

“I will not relent from punishing _______________, for three crimes, even four.”

Amos 2:4-8

4 The Lord says: I will not relent from punishing Judah for three crimes, even four, because they have rejected the instruction of the Lord and have not kept his statutes. The lies that their ancestors followed have led them astray.

5 Therefore, I will send fire against Judah, and it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem. 

6 The Lord says: I will not relent from punishing Israel for three crimes, even four, because they sell a righteous person for silver and a needy person for a pair of sandals.

7 They trample the heads of the poor on the dust of the ground and obstruct the path of the needy. A man and his father have sexual relations with the same girl, profaning my holy name.

8 They stretch out beside every altar on garments taken as collateral, and in the house of their God they drink wine obtained through fines.

Economic Exploitation

Abuse of the Poor

Sexual Exploitation

Religious Abuse

Amos 5:4 For the Lord says to the house of Israel: Seek me and live!

Amos 5:6 Seek the Lord and live, or he will spread like fire throughout the house of Joseph; it will consume everything with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.

Amos 5:14-15

14 Pursue good and not evil

so that you may live,

and the Lord, the God of Armies,

will be with you

as you have claimed.

15 Hate evil and love good;

establish justice at the city gate.

Perhaps the Lord, the God of Armies, will be gracious

to the remnant of Joseph.

Pursue (seek) good and not evil.

Hate evil and love good.

Establish justice at the city gate.

Isaiah 1:13-17

13 Stop bringing useless offerings.

Your incense is detestable to me.

New Moons and Sabbaths,

and the calling of solemn assemblies—

I cannot stand iniquity with a festival.

14 I hate your New Moons and prescribed festivals.

They have become a burden to me;

I am tired of putting up with them.

15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,

I will refuse to look at you;

even if you offer countless prayers,

I will not listen.

Your hands are covered with blood.

16 “Wash yourselves. Cleanse yourselves.

Remove your evil deeds from my sight.

Stop doing evil.

17 Learn to do what is good.

Pursue justice.

Correct the oppressor.

Defend the rights of the fatherless.

Plead the widow’s cause.

Amos 5:21-24

21 I hate, I despise, your feasts!

I can’t stand the stench

of your solemn assemblies.

22 Even if you offer me

your burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them;

I will have no regard

for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle.

23 Take away from me the noise of your songs!

I will not listen to the music of your harps.

24 But let justice flow like water,

and righteousness, like an unfailing stream.

Pursue (seek) good and not evil.

Hate evil and love good.

Establish justice at the city gate.

Let justice flow like water.

Justice is living in such a way that those around you can live.

Righteousness like an unfailing stream.

We are to be people who seek God.

What God desires is not a moment of goodness but a movement– a flow. Justice and righteousness aren’t events we attend; they’re rivers we join. Is your life adding to that flow or blocking it?