Amos 7–8

FIRST VISION: LOCUSTS

7The Lord God showed me this: He was forming a swarm of locusts^p at the time the spring crop first began to sprout—after the cutting of the king’s hay. ²When the locusts finished eating the vegetation of the land,^q I said, “Lord God, please forgive!^r How will Jacob survive since he is so small?”^s

³The Lord relented concerning this.^t “It will not happen,” he said.

SECOND VISION: FIRE

⁴The Lord God showed me this: The Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire.^u It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. ⁵Then I said, “Lord God, please stop!^v How will Jacob survive since he is so small?”

⁶The Lord relented concerning this.^w “This will not happen either,” said the Lord God.

THIRD VISION: A PLUMB LINE

⁷He showed me this: The Lord was standing there by a vertical wall with a plumb line in his hand. ⁸The Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”^x

I replied, “A plumb line.”

Then the Lord said, “I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel;^y I will no longer spare them:^z

⁹Isaac’s high places^aa will be deserted,

and Israel’s sanctuaries will be in ruins;^ab

I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam

with a sword.”

AMAZIAH’S OPPOSITION

¹⁰Amaziah the priest^ac of Bethel sent word to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you^ad right here in the house of Israel. The land cannot endure all his words, ¹¹for Amos has said this: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will certainly go into exile from its homeland.’ ”^ae

¹²Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer!^af Flee to the land of Judah. Earn your living^A and give your prophecies there, ¹³but don’t ever prophesy^ag at Bethel again, for it is the king’s sanctuary^ah and a royal temple.”

¹⁴So Amos answered Amaziah, “I was^B not a prophet or the son of a prophet;^Cai rather, I was^B a herdsman,^aj and I took care of sycamore figs. ¹⁵But the Lord took me from following the flock^ak and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ ”^al

¹⁶Now hear the word of the Lord. You say:

Do not prophesy^am against Israel;

do not preach^an against the house of Isaac.

¹⁷Therefore, this is what the Lord says:

Your wife will be a prostitute in the city,^a

your sons and daughters will fall by the sword,^b

and your land will be divided up

with a measuring line.

You yourself will die on pagan^D soil,^c

and Israel will certainly go into exile^d

from its homeland.

FOURTH VISION: A BASKET OF SUMMER FRUIT

8The Lord God showed me this: a basket of summer fruit. ²He asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”^e

I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.”^Ef

The Lord said to me, “The end has come for my people Israel;^g I will no longer spare them.^{h 3}In that day the temple^F songsⁱ will become wailing”^j—this is the Lord God’s declaration. “Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere!^k Silence!”^l

⁴Hear this, you who trample on the needy^m

and do away with the poor of the land,ⁿ

⁵asking, “When will the New Moon be over

so we may sell grain,^o

and the Sabbath,

so we may market wheat?^p

We can reduce the measure

while increasing the price^A

and cheat with dishonest scales.^q

⁶We can buy the poor with silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals^r

and even sell the chaff!”

⁷The Lord has sworn^s by the Pride of Jacob:^Bt

I will never forget all their deeds.^u

⁸Because of this, won’t the land quake^v

and all who dwell in it mourn?^w

All of it will rise like the Nile;^x

it will surge and then subside

like the Nile in Egypt.^y

⁹And in that day—

this is the declaration of the Lord God—

I will make the sun go down at noon;^z

I will darken the land in the daytime.^aa

¹⁰I will turn your feasts into mourning^ab

and all your songs into lamentation;^ac

I will cause everyone^C to wear sackcloth^ad

and every head to be shaved.^ae

I will make that grief

like mourning for an only son^af

and its outcome like a bitter day.

¹¹Look, the days are coming—

this is the declaration of the Lord God—

when I will send a famine through the land:

not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,

but of hearing the words of the Lord.^ag

¹²People will stagger from sea to sea

and roam from north to east

seeking the word of the Lord,^ah

but they will not find it.

¹³In that day the beautiful young women,^ai

the young men also, will faint from thirst.^aj

¹⁴Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria^ak

and say, “As your god lives, Dan,”^al

or, “As the way^DE of Beer-sheba lives”^am—

they will fall, never to rise again.^an