Amos 7–8

First Vision: Locusts

7The Lord God showed me this: He was forming a swarm of locusts ^vat 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, ^wI said, “Lord God, please forgive! ^xHow will Jacob survive since he is so small?” ^y

³The Lord relented concerning this. ^z“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. ^aIt consumed the great deep and devoured the land. ⁵Then I said, “Lord God, please stop! ^bHow will Jacob survive since he is so small?”

⁶The Lord relented concerning this. ^c“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?” ^d

I replied, “A plumb line.”

Then the Lord said, “I am setting a plumb line among My people Israel; ^eI will no longer spare them: ^f

⁹Isaac’s high places ^gwill be deserted,

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

I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam

with a sword.”

Amaziah’s Opposition

¹⁰Amaziah the priest ⁱof Bethel sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you ^jright 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.’ ” ^k

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

¹⁴So Amos answered Amaziah, “I was ^pnot a prophet or the son of a prophet; ^qrrather, I was ^sa herdsman, ^tand I took care of sycamore figs. ¹⁵But the Lord took me from following the flock ^uand said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’ ” ^v

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

Do not prophesy ^wagainst Israel;

do not preach ^xagainst the house of Isaac.

¹⁷Therefore, this is what the Lord says:

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

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

and your land will be divided up

with a measuring line.

You yourself will die on pagan ^asoil, ^b

and Israel will certainly go into exile ^c

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?” ^d

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

The Lord said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel; ^fI will no longer spare them. ^g3In that day the temple ^hsongs ⁱwill become wailing” ^j—this is the Lord God’s declaration. “Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere! ^kSilence!” ^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 ^q

and cheat with dishonest scales. ^r

⁶We can buy the poor with silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals ^s

and even sell the chaff!”

⁷The Lord has sworn ^tby the Pride of Jacob: ^uv

I will never forget all their deeds. ^w

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

and all who dwell in it mourn? ^y

All of it will rise like the Nile; ^z

it will surge and then subside

like the Nile in Egypt. ^a

⁹And in that day—

this is the declaration of the Lord God—

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

I will darken the land in the daytime. ^c

¹⁰I will turn your feasts into mourning ^d

and all your songs into lamentation; ^e

I will cause everyone ^fto wear sackcloth ^g

and every head to be shaved. ^h

I will make that grief

like mourning for an only son ⁱ

and its outcome like a bitter day.

¹¹Hear this! 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. ^j

¹²People will stagger from sea to sea

and roam from north to east,

seeking the word of the Lord, ^k

but they will not find it.

¹³In that day the beautiful young women, ^l

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

¹⁴Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria ⁿ

and say, “As your god lives, Dan,” ^o

or “As the way ^pqof Beer-sheba lives” ^r—

they will fall, never to rise again. ^s