Amos 7

First Vision: Locusts

1 The Lord God showed me this: He was forming a swarm of locusts  * 7:1 Ex 10:12–15; Dt 28:38,42; Jl 1:4 at the time the spring crop first began to sprout — after the cutting of the king’s hay. 2 When the locusts finished eating the vegetation of the land,  * 7:2 Ex 10:15 I said, "Lord God, please forgive!  * 7:2 Jr 14:7,20–21; Ezk 9:8; 11:13 How will Jacob survive since he is so small? "  * 7:2 Is 37:4; Jr 42:2

3 The Lord relented concerning this.  * 7:3 Jr 26:19; Hs 11:8 "It will not happen," he said.

Second Vision: Fire

4 The Lord God showed me this: The Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire.  * 7:4 Am 1:3–2:5 It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. 5 Then I said, "Lord God, please stop!  * 7:5 Ps 85:4; Jl 2:17 How will Jacob survive since he is so small? "

6 The Lord relented concerning this.  * 7:6 Ps 106:45; Jnh 3:10 "This will not happen either," said the Lord God.

Third Vision: A Plumb Line

7 He showed me this: The Lord was standing there by a vertical wall with a plumb line in his hand. 8 The Lord asked me, "What do you see, Amos? "  * 7:8 Jr 1:11; Am 8:2

I replied, "A plumb line."

Then the Lord said, "I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel;  * 7:8 Is 28:17; 34:11; Lm 2:8 I will no longer spare them:  * 7:8 Am 8:2

9 Isaac’s high places  * 7:9 2Kg 17:9–13; Hs 10:8 will be deserted,

and Israel’s sanctuaries will be in ruins;  * 7:9 Lv 26:31; Is 63:18; Jr 51:51

I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam

with a sword."

Amaziah’s Opposition

10 Amaziah the priest  * 7:10 1Kg 12:31–32; 13:33 of Bethel sent word to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, "Amos has conspired against you  * 7:10 Jr 26:8–11; 38:4 right here in the house of Israel. The land cannot endure all his words, 11 for Amos has said this: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will certainly go into exile from its homeland.’ "  * 7:11 Am 5:27

12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, "Go away, you seer!  * 7:12 Mt 8:34 Flee to the land of Judah. Earn your living  * 7:12 Lit Eat bread and give your prophecies there, 13 but don’t ever prophesy  * 7:13 Am 2:12; Ac 4:18 at Bethel again, for it is the king’s sanctuary  * 7:13 1Kg 12:29; Am 7:9 and a royal temple."

14 So Amos answered Amaziah, "I was  * 7:14 Or am not a prophet or the son of a prophet;  * 7:14 = a prophet’s disciple or a member of a prophetic guild,* 7:14 2Kg 2:3; 4:38; 2Ch 19:2 rather, I was  * 7:14 Or am a herdsman,  * 7:14 Am 1:1 and I took care of sycamore figs. 15 But the Lord took me from following the flock  * 7:15 2Sm 7:8 and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ "  * 7:15 Jr 1:7; Ezk 2:3–4

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

Do not prophesy  * 7:16 Am 2:12 against Israel;

do not preach  * 7:16 Mc 2:6 against the house of Isaac.

17 Therefore, this is what the Lord says:

Your wife will be a prostitute in the city,  * 7:17 Hs 4:13–14

your sons and daughters will fall by the sword,  * 7:17 Jr 14:16

and your land will be divided up

with a measuring line.

You yourself will die on pagan  * 7:17 Lit unclean  soil,  * 7:17 2Kg 17:6; Ezk 4:13; Hs 9:3

and Israel will certainly go into exile  * 7:17 Jr 36:29–31

from its homeland.