Amos 7

Warning Visions

1 *ch. 8:1This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, *[Joel 1:4]; See Ex. 10:4he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. 2 When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said,

"O Lord God, please forgive!

*[Ps. 130:3]How can Jacob stand?

He is so small!"

3 *[Deut. 32:36;Joel 2:13]The Lord relented concerning this:

"It shall not be," said the Lord.

4 *[See ver. 1above] This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling *[Rev. 8:7,8]for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. 5 Then I said,

"O Lord God, please cease!

*[See ver. 2above]How can Jacob stand?

He is so small!"

6 *[See ver. 3above]The Lord relented concerning this:

"This also shall not be," said the Lord God.

7 *[See ver. 1above] This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with *[ver. 17]; See 2 Kgs. 21:13a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the Lord said to me, *ch. 8:2"Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said,

"Behold, I am setting *[See ver. 7above]a plumb line

in the midst of my people Israel;

*ch. 8:2I will never again pass by them;

9 *Gen. 26:23,25the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,

and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,

and I will rise against *See 2 Kgs. 15:8-12the house of Jeroboam with the sword."

Amos Accused

10 Then Amaziah *1 Kgs. 12:32the priest of Bethel sent to *ch. 1:1Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, "Amos has *[Jer. 38:4]conspired against you in the midst 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 *ch. 6:7Israel must go into exile

away from his land.’"

12 And Amaziah said to Amos, *See 1 Sam. 9:9"O seer, go, flee away *[ch. 1:1] to the land of Judah, and *[Mic. 3:5,11]eat bread there, and prophesy there, 13 but *See ch. 2:12never again prophesy at Bethel, for *See 1 Kgs. 12:29–13:1it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom."

14 Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, *ch. 1:1;[Zech. 13:5] "I was*7:14 Or am; twice in this verse no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but *ch. 1:1I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. 15 *[Ps. 78:71]But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16 *ch. 3:1Now therefore hear the word of the Lord.

"You say, *[See ver. 12above] ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,

and *Ezek. 20:46;21:2;Mic. 2:6do not preach against the house of *[ver. 9]Isaac.’

17 *[Jer. 28:16;29:21,31,32] Therefore thus says the Lord:

"‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city,

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

and your land *[ver. 7, 8] shall be divided up with a measuring line;

you yourself shall die in an unclean land,

and *[See ver. 11above]Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’"