Amos 7–8

Warning Visions

7^aThis is what the Lord God showed me: behold, ^bhe was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. ²When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said,

“O Lord God, please forgive!

^cHow can Jacob stand?

He is so small!”

^3dThe Lord relented concerning this:

“It shall not be,” said the Lord.

^4aThis is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling ^efor a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. ⁵Then I said,

“O Lord God, please cease!

^cHow can Jacob stand?

He is so small!”

^6dThe Lord relented concerning this:

“This also shall not be,” said the Lord God.

^7aThis is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with ^fa plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. ⁸And the Lord said to me, ^g“Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,

“Behold, I am setting ^fa plumb line

in the midst of my people Israel;

^gI will never again pass by them;

^9hthe high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,

and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,

and I will rise against ⁱthe house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

Amos Accused

¹⁰Then Amaziah ^jthe priest of Bethel sent to ^kJeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has ^lconspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. ¹¹For thus Amos has said,

“ ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,

and ^mIsrael must go into exile

away from his land.’ ”

¹²And Amaziah said to Amos, ⁿ“O seer, go, flee away ^oto the land of Judah, and ^peat bread there, and prophesy there, ¹³but ^qnever again prophesy at Bethel, for ^rit is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”

¹⁴Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, ^s“I was¹ no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but ^tI was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. ^15uBut the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ ^16vNow therefore hear the word of the Lord.

“You say, ⁿ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,

and ^wdo not preach against the house of ^xIsaac.’

^17yTherefore thus says the Lord:

“ ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city,

and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,

and your land ^zshall be divided up with a measuring line;

you yourself shall die in an unclean land,

and ^mIsrael shall surely go into exile away from its land.’ ”

The Coming Day of Bitter Mourning

8^aThis is what the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. ²And he said, ^b“Amos, what do you see?” And I said, ^c“A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me,

^d“The end¹ has come upon my people Israel;

I will never again pass by them.

^3eThe songs of the temple^{2 f}shall become wailings³ in that day,”

declares the Lord God.

^g“So many dead bodies!”

“They are thrown everywhere!”

^h“Silence!”

⁴Hear this, ⁱyou who trample on the needy

and bring the poor of the land to an end,

⁵saying, “When will ^jthe new moon be over,

that we may sell grain?

And ^kthe Sabbath,

that we may offer wheat for sale,

that we may make ^lthe ephah small and the shekel⁴ great

and deal deceitfully with false balances,

⁶that we may buy the poor for ^msilver

and the needy for a pair of sandals

and sell the chaff of the wheat?”

⁷The Lord has sworn by ⁿthe pride of Jacob:

“Surely ^oI will never forget any of their deeds.

^8pShall not the land tremble on this account,

and everyone mourn who dwells in it,

^qand all of it rise like the Nile,

and be tossed about ^rand sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?”

⁹“And on that day,” declares the Lord God,

^s“I will make the sun go down at noon

and darken the earth in broad daylight.

^10tI will turn your feasts into mourning

and all your songs into lamentation;

^uI will bring sackcloth on every waist

^uand baldness on every head;

^vI will make it like the mourning for an only son

and the end of it like a bitter day.

¹¹“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God,

“when ^wI will send a famine on the land—

not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,

^xbut of hearing the words of the Lord.

^12xThey shall wander from sea to sea,

and from north to east;

they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord,

^ybut they shall not find it.

^13z“In that day the lovely virgins and the young men

shall ^afaint for thirst.

¹⁴Those who swear by ^bthe Guilt of Samaria,

and say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’

and, ‘As ^cthe Way of ^dBeersheba lives,’

they shall fall, and never rise again.”