Amos 7–8

Vision of the Locusts

7Thus the Lord God showed me: Behold, He formed locust swarms at the ¹beginning of the late crop; indeed it was the late crop after the king’s mowings. ²And so it was, when they had finished eating the grass of the land, that I said:

“O Lord God, forgive, I pray!

^aOh, ²that Jacob may stand,

For he is small!”

³So ^bthe Lord relented concerning this.

“It shall not be,” said the Lord.

Vision of the Fire

⁴Thus the Lord God showed me: Behold, the Lord God called ³for conflict by fire, and it consumed the great deep and devoured the ⁴territory. ⁵Then I said:

“O Lord God, cease, I pray!

^cOh, that Jacob may stand,

For he is small!”

⁶So the Lord relented concerning this.

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

Vision of the Plumb Line

⁷Thus He showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. ⁸And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”

And I said, “A plumb line.”

Then the Lord said:

“Behold, ^dI am setting a plumb line

In the midst of My people Israel;

^eI will not pass by them anymore.

^9fThe ⁵high places of Isaac shall be desolate,

And the ⁶sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste.

^gI will rise with the sword against the house of Jeroboam.”

Amaziah’s Complaint

¹⁰Then Amaziah the ^hpriest of ⁱBethel sent to ^jJeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to ⁷bear all his words. ¹¹For thus Amos has said:

‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,

And Israel shall surely be led away ^kcaptive

From their own land.’ ”

¹²Then Amaziah said to Amos:

“Go, you seer!

Flee to the land of Judah.

There eat bread,

And there prophesy.

¹³But ^lnever again prophesy at Bethel,

^mFor it is the king’s ⁸sanctuary,

And it is the royal ⁹residence.”

¹⁴Then Amos answered, and said to Amaziah:

“I was no prophet,

Nor was I ⁿa son of a prophet,

But I was a ^osheepbreeder

And a tender of sycamore fruit.

¹⁵Then the Lord took me ¹as I followed the flock,

And the Lord said to me,

‘Go, ^pprophesy to My people Israel.’

¹⁶Now therefore, hear the word of the Lord:

You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,

And ^qdo not ²spout against the house of Isaac.’

¹⁷“Therefore ^rthus says the Lord:

^s‘Your wife shall be a harlot in the city;

Your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword;

Your land shall be divided by survey line;

You shall die in a ^tdefiled land;

And Israel shall surely be led away captive

From his own land.’ ”

Vision of the Summer Fruit

8Thus the Lord God showed me: Behold, a basket of summer fruit. ²And He said, “Amos, what do you see?”

So I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”

Then the Lord said to me:

^a“The end has come upon My people Israel;

^bI will not pass by them anymore.

³And ^cthe songs of the temple

Shall be wailing in that day,”

Says the Lord God—

“Many dead bodies everywhere,

^dThey shall be thrown out in silence.”

⁴Hear this, you who ¹swallow up the needy,

And make the poor of the land fail,

⁵Saying:

“When will the New Moon be past,

That we may sell grain?

And ^ethe Sabbath,

That we may ²trade wheat?

^fMaking the ephah small and the shekel large,

Falsifying the scales by ^gdeceit,

⁶That we may buy the poor for ^hsilver,

And the needy for a pair of sandals—

Even sell the bad wheat?”

⁷The Lord has sworn by ⁱthe pride of Jacob:

“Surely ^jI will never forget any of their works.

^8kShall the land not tremble for this,

And everyone mourn who dwells in it?

All of it shall swell like ³the River,

Heave and subside

^lLike the River of Egypt.

⁹“And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord God,

^m“That I will make the sun go down at noon,

And I will darken the earth in ⁴broad daylight;

¹⁰I will turn your feasts into ⁿmourning,

^oAnd all your songs into lamentation;

^pI will bring sackcloth on every waist,

And baldness on every head;

I will make it like mourning for an only son,

And its end like a bitter day.

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

“That I will send a famine on the land,

Not a famine of bread,

Nor a thirst for water,

But ^qof hearing the words of the Lord.

¹²They shall wander from sea to sea,

And from north to east;

They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,

But shall ^rnot find it.

¹³“In that day the fair virgins

And strong young men

Shall faint from thirst.

¹⁴Those who ^sswear by ^tthe ⁵sin of Samaria,

Who say,

‘As your god lives, O Dan!’

And, ‘As the way of ^uBeersheba lives!’

They shall fall and never rise again.”