Amos 7–8

7TH CHAPTER

The Lord Threatens to Bring a Famine by Locusts

¹This is what the Almighty Lord showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts when the second crop was being harvested. It was the harvest that followed the harvest for the king. ²When the locusts had finished eating every plant in the land, I said, “Almighty Lord, please forgive us! How can ⸤the descendants of⸥ Jacob survive? There are so few of them.” 

³The Lord changed his plans about this. “This won’t happen,” the Lord said. 

The Lord Threatens to Bring a Drought by Fire

⁴This is what the Almighty Lord showed me: The Almighty Lord was calling for judgment by fire. The fire dried up the ocean and burned up the land. ⁵Then I said, “Almighty Lord, please stop! How can ⸤the descendants of⸥ Jacob survive? There are so few of them.” 

⁶The Lord changed his plans about this. “This won’t happen either,” the Almighty Lord said. 

The Lord Refuses to Overlook Israel’s Sin

⁷This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall built with the use of a plumb line, and he had a plumb line in his hand. ⁸He asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” 

I answered, “A plumb line.” 

Then the Lord said, “I’m going to hold a plumb line in the middle of my people Israel. I will no longer overlook what they have done. ⁹The worship sites of Isaac will be destroyed, and the holy places of Israel will be in ruins. I will attack Jeroboam’s heirs with my sword.” 

Amaziah Opposes Amos

¹⁰Then Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, sent a message to King Jeroboam of Israel. It read, “Amos is plotting against you among the people of Israel. The country isn’t able to endure everything he is saying. ¹¹Amos says that Jeroboam will be killed with a sword and that Israel cannot avoid being taken from its land into exile.” 

¹²Then Amaziah said to Amos, “You seer,^arun away to Judah! Eat there, and prophesy there! ¹³But don’t ⸤ever⸥ prophesy again in Bethel, because this is the king’s holy place and the king’s palace.” 

¹⁴Amos responded, “I’m not a prophet, and I’m not a disciple of the prophets. I am a rancher and a grower of figs. ¹⁵But the Lord took me away from herding the flock and said to me, ‘Prophesy to my people Israel.’ 

¹⁶“Now listen to the Lord’s word: You said, ‘Stop prophesying against Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’ 

¹⁷“However, this is what the Lord says: Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will be killed with swords. Your land will be surveyed and divided up, and you will die in an unclean^bland. Israel cannot avoid being taken from its land into exile.” 

8TH CHAPTER

The End Has Come for Israel

¹This is what the Almighty Lord showed me: a basket of ripe summer fruit. 

²He asked, “What do you see, Amos?” 

“A basket of ripe summer fruit,” I answered. 

Then the Lord said to me, “My people Israel are now ripe. I will no longer overlook what they have done. ³On that day the songs of the temple will become loud cries,” declares the Almighty Lord. “There will be dead bodies scattered everywhere. Hush!” 

⁴Listen to this, those who trample on the needy 

and ruin those who are oppressed in the world. 

⁵You say to yourselves, 

“When will the New Moon Festival be over 

so that we can sell more grain? 

When will the day of rest—a holy day, be over 

so that we can sell more wheat? 

We can shrink the size of the bushel baskets, 

increase the cost, 

and cheat with dishonest scales. 

⁶We can buy the poor with money 

and the needy for a pair of sandals. 

We can sell the husks mixed in with the wheat.” 

⁷The Lord has sworn an oath by Jacob’s pride: 

“I will never forget anything that they have done.” 

⁸The land will tremble because of this. 

Everyone who lives in it will mourn. 

The entire land will rise like the Nile, 

be tossed about, and then sink like Egypt’s river. 

⁹On that day, declares the Almighty Lord, 

I will make the sun go down at noon 

and darken the earth in broad daylight. 

¹⁰I will turn your festivals into funerals 

and all your songs into funeral songs. 

I will put sackcloth around everyone’s waist 

and shave everyone’s head. 

I will make that day seem like a funeral for an only child, 

and its end will be bitter. 

¹¹The days are going to come, declares the Almighty Lord, 

when I will send a famine throughout the land. 

It won’t be an ordinary famine or drought. 

Instead, there will be a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. 

¹²People will wander from sea to sea 

and roam from the north to the east, 

searching for the Lord’s word. 

But they won’t find it. 

¹³On that day beautiful young women and strong young men 

will faint because of their thirst. 

¹⁴⸤How horrible it will be for⸥ those who swear by Ashimah, 

the idol of Samaria, and say, 

“I solemnly swear, Dan, as your god lives.…” 

“I solemnly swear as long as there is a road to Beersheba.…” 

Those who say this will fall and never get up again.