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. 2 When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said,

“O Lord God, please forgive!

cHow can Jacob stand?

He is so small!”

3  dThe Lord relented concerning this:

“It shall not be,” said the Lord.

4 aThis 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. 5 Then I said,

“O Lord God, please cease!

cHow can Jacob stand?

He is so small!”

6  dThe Lord relented concerning this:

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

7 aThis 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. 8 And 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;

9  hthe 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

10 Then 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. 11 For thus Amos has said,

“ ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,

and mIsrael must go into exile

away from his land.’ ”

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

14 Then 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. 15 uBut the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16 vNow therefore hear the word of the Lord.

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

and wdo not preach against the house of xIsaac.’

17 yTherefore 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.’ ”