Amos 7

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.