A vision of locusts

¹This is what the LORD God showed me: The LORD God was forming locusts at the time the late grass began to sprout. (It was the late grass after the king’s harvest.)

²When they had finished eating the green plants of the land, I said,

³The LORD relented concerning this:

A vision of fire

⁴This is what the LORD God showed me: The LORD God was calling for judgment with fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up part of the land.

⁵Then I said,

⁶The LORD relented concerning this:

A vision of a plumb line

⁷This is what the LORD showed me: The LORD was standing by a wall, with a plumb line in his hand.

⁸The LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”

“A plumb line,” I said.

Then the LORD said,

“See, I am setting a plumb line

in the middle of my people Israel.

⁹The shrines of Isaac will be made desolate,

Exchange between Amaziah, Jeroboam, and Amos

¹⁰Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, reported to Israel’s King Jeroboam, “Amos has plotted against you within the house of Israel. The land isn’t able to cope with everything that he is saying.

¹¹Amos has said, ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will be forced out of its land.’”

¹²Amaziah said to Amos, “You who see things, go, run away to the land of Judah, eat your bread there, and prophesy there;

¹³but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s holy place and his royal house.”

¹⁴Amos answered Amaziah, “I am not a prophet, nor am I a prophet’s son; but I am a shepherd, and a trimmer of sycamore trees.[#7.14 Or was ; the verb is implied.]

¹⁵But the LORD took me from shepherding the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’

¹⁶“Now then hear the LORD ’s word.

You say, ‘Don’t prophesy against Israel,

¹⁷“Therefore, the LORD proclaims:

‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city,

you yourself will die in an unclean land,