Amos 7:10–17

Amaziah Complains to the King

¹⁰Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words.^{* 11}For thus Amos has said,

‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,

and Israel must go into exile

away from his land.’ ”^*

¹²And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there, and prophesy there, ¹³but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”^*

¹⁴Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I am^c no prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I am^d a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees,^{* 15}and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’^*

¹⁶“Now therefore hear the word of the Lord.

You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,

and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’^*

¹⁷Therefore thus says the Lord:

Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city,

and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,

and your land shall be parceled out by line;

you yourself shall die in an unclean land,

and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.”^*