Amos 7

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.’ ”