Plague of Locusts
7 This is what the Lord God showed me: He was forming a plague of locusts when the latter growth was beginning to sprout up, the latter growth after the king’s reaping. 2 When they had finished devouring the foliage of the land, I said, “O Lord God, please forgive. How can Jacob survive? For he is small.”
3 The Lord relented concerning this:
“It shall not be,” said the Lord.
Fire
4 This is what the Lord God showed me: The Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire. It was consuming the great deep and was devouring the fields. 5 I said, “O Lord God, please stop. How can Jacob survive? For he is small.”
6 The Lord relented concerning this:
“This also shall not be,” said the Lord God.
Plumb Line
7 This is what He showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall made using a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. 8 The Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”
And I said, “A plumb line.”
Then the Lord said, “See, I am putting a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel. I will forgive them no more.
9 The high places of Isaac will be destroyed,
the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste,
and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
The Priest Tries to Banish Amos
10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you at the very center of the house of Israel. The country cannot endure all his words. 11 For this is what Amos said:
‘Jeroboam will die by the sword,
and Israel will surely be exiled
away from its land.’ ”
12 So Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee back to the land of Judah. Earn your sustenance there, and prophesy there. 13 But do not prophesy any more at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary and a royal temple.”
14 But Amos answered Amaziah: “I am no prophet, and I am no prophet’s disciple. Rather, I am a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees. 15 But the Lord took me away from 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.’
17 “Therefore thus says the Lord:
‘Your wife will be a prostitute in the city,
your sons and daughters will fall by the sword,
and your land will be divided by measuring line;
you yourself will die in an unclean land;
and Israel will surely go into exile
away from its land.’ ”
