“Seek the Lord, and Ye Shall Live”

November 23–29, 2026Amos; Obadiah; Jonah14 chapters · 215 verses

A shepherd from Judah walks north to warn a wealthy kingdom that ignores the poor. A short prophecy condemns Edom for gloating over Jerusalem's fall. And a reluctant prophet runs from God, is swallowed by a great fish, and then resents the Lord's mercy toward his enemies.

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Study guide

Three very different books this week: a social critic, a short oracle against a neighbor, and a story about a prophet who argues with God. These notes give you the setting for each.

How to read this week

Hear Amos as his first audience did. He starts by condemning Israel's enemies (ch. 1). Then he turns to Judah and Israel (ch. 2). It's a trap: the people who cheered the first oracles are the real target.
Notice what Amos means by sin. His focus is how people treat the poor: unfair courts, dishonest scales, debt slavery and luxury built on others' suffering (2:6–8; 5:11–12; 8:4–6). He says worship without justice is worthless (5:21–24).
Read Obadiah in one sitting. It's 21 verses. Its point: pride and cruelty toward a brother in trouble bring judgment. Its last verse looks toward saviors on mount Zion.
Read Jonah as a story with a twist. Everyone in the book obeys God except the prophet: the sailors, the fish, the Ninevites, even the worm. The real question isn't whether a man can survive in a fish, but whether Jonah, and we, can accept God's mercy toward people we dislike.
Notice the open ending. Jonah ends with God's question (4:11). The book invites each reader to answer it.

The world of Amos and Jonah

c. 786–746 BC — Jeroboam II reigns over Israel; Jonah prophesies the kingdom's expansion (2 Kings 14:25)
c. 760 BC — Amos preaches at Bethel; a great earthquake follows (1:1)
745 BC — Assyria becomes an aggressive empire under Tiglath-pileser III
722 BC — Assyria destroys Samaria and exiles the northern tribes
612 BC — Nineveh is destroyed by the Babylonians and Medes (see Nahum, next week)
586 BC — Babylon destroys Jerusalem while Edom looks on; Obadiah's oracle follows

Images and ideas to recognize

Passage	Image	What it means
Amos 1:2	The Lord roars from Zion	Like a lion before it pounces: judgment is close (compare 3:8).
Amos 4:1	Cows of Bashan	Wealthy women whose comfort depends on crushing the poor.
Amos 5:24	Justice like a mighty stream	Righteousness that never runs dry, unlike seasonal streams in the desert.
Amos 7:7–8	The plumbline	God's standard. Israel is a wall that no longer stands straight.
Amos 8:1–2	Summer fruit	Ripe and ready, meaning the end has come (a wordplay in Hebrew).
Amos 8:11–12	Famine of the word	People searching everywhere for God's word and not finding it: a picture of apostasy.
Obad 1:3–4	Nest among the stars	Edom's pride in its mountain strongholds. No height is beyond God's reach.
Jonah 1–2	Fleeing west, going down	Every step Jonah takes away from God goes “down”: to Joppa, into the ship, into the sea, into the fish.
Jonah 1:17	The great fish	God's rescue, not His punishment. Jesus made it a sign of His resurrection.
Jonah 4:6–10	The gourd and the worm	Jonah grieves over a plant but not over a city. God uses the gourd to show him his heart.

Restoration connections

D&C 1:38; 21:4–6 — Whether by God's own voice or His servants', it is the same. Compare Amos 3:7.
D&C 128:15–18 — Joseph Smith on the “welding link” between generations formed through temple work for the dead.
2 Nephi 9:50–51; 32:3 — Feasting on the words of Christ, the answer to Amos's famine (paired in the manual).
Alma 17:23–25; Mosiah 28:1–5 — The sons of Mosiah go willingly to their enemies, the Lamanites. Compare Jonah's reluctance.

Questions for the week

Amos says worship means little without justice and kindness to the poor (5:21–24). How does the way you treat others show up in your discipleship?
Where do you see a “famine of hearing the words of the Lord” today, and how has the Restoration fed you (8:11–12)?
Obadiah condemns standing by while a brother suffers. Whose trouble is the Lord asking you not to ignore?
Is there anyone you'd secretly rather not see forgiven? What does Jonah 4 ask of you?
How would you answer God's question at the end of Jonah (4:11)?

Conference talks & Church resources

Talks the Church's lesson points to this week, plus other Church resources that teach from these chapters.

Scholarly papers

Faithful scholarship from BYU and related publishers, tagged with the chapters each one discusses.

Podcasts & video

Come, Follow Me shows and episodes covering this week's reading.