“Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord:  look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.  Look unto Abraham, your father, and unto Sarah that bare you:  for I called him alone, when childless, and increased him.  Behold, I have comforted Zion, and heaped upon her blessings and consolations.

“Hearken unto me, my people, and give ear unto me:  for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the Gentiles.”

Amos viii.  The prophet, having enumerated the sins of Israel, said that God had sworn to take vengeance on them.

He says this:  “And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day; and I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation.

“You all shall have sorrow and suffering, and I will make this nation mourn as for an only son, and the end therefore as a bitter day.  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.  And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.

“In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.  They that have followed the idols of Samaria, and sworn by the god of Dan, and followed the manner of Beersheba, shall fall, and never rise up again.”

Amos iii, 2:  “Ye only have I known of all the families of the earth for my people.”

Daniel xii, 7.  Having described all the extent of the reign of the Messiah, he says:  “All these things shall be finished, when the scattering of the people of Israel shall be accomplished.”

Haggai ii, 4:  “Ye who, comparing this second house with the glory of the first, despise it, be strong, saith the Lord, be strong, O Zerubbabel, and O Jesus, the high priest, be strong, all ye people of the land, and work.  For I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts; according to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you.  Fear ye not.  For thus saith the Lord of hosts:  Yet one little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land,” (a way of speaking to indicate a great and an extraordinary change); “and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all the Gentiles shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord.

“The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord,” (that is to say, it is not by that that I wish to be honoured; as it is said elsewhere:  All the beasts of the field are mine, what advantages me that they are offered me in sacrifice?).  “The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts; and in this place will I establish my house, saith the Lord.