“Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? Prudent, and he shall know them? For the ways of the Lord are right, And the just shall walk in them: But the transgressors shall fall therein.”Hosea 14:4-9.
(PK 284.1)
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The benefits of seeking God were strongly urged. “Seek ye Me,” the Lord invited, “and ye shall live: but seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.”Amos 5:4, 5.
(PK 284.2)
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“Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.”Amos 5:4, 5, 14, 15.
(PK 284.3)
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By far the greater number of those who heard these invitations refused to profit by them. So contrary to the evil desires of the impenitent were the words of God’s messengers, that the idolatrous priest at Bethel sent to the ruler in Israel, saying, “Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.”Amos 7:10.
(PK 284.4)
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Through Hosea the Lord declared, “When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria.”“The pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the Lord their God, nor seek Him for all this.”Hosea 7:1, 10.
(PK 284.5)
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“The houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the Lord.”“The Lord God of hosts is He that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn.”“Thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.”“Because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.”Amos 9:8-10; 3:15; Amos 9:5; 7:17; Amos 4:12.
(PK 286.1)
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For a season these predicted judgments were stayed, and during the long reign of Jeroboam II the armies of Israel gained signal victories; but this time of apparent prosperity wrought no change in the hearts of the impenitent, and it was finally decreed, “Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land.”Amos 7:11.
(PK 286.2)
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The boldness of this utterance was lost on king and people, so far had they gone in impenitence. Amaziah, a leader among the idolatrous priests at Bethel, stirred by the plain words spoken by the prophet against the nation and their king, said to Amos, “O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: but prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king’s chapel, and it is the king’s court.”Amos 7:12, 13.
(PK 286.3)
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To this the prophet firmly responded: “Thus saith the Lord, ... Israel shall surely go into captivity.”Amos 7:17.
(PK 286.4)
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