Plague of Locusts

¹This 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.[#Am 8:1; #Joel 1:4]

²When they had finished devouring the foliage of the land, I said, “O Lord God , please forgive. How can Jacob survive? For he is small.”[#Ex 10:15; #Isa 37:4]

³The Lord relented concerning this:[#Dt 32:36; Hos 11:8]

“It shall not be,” said the Lord .

Fire

⁴This 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.[#Isa 66:15–16]

⁵I said, “O Lord God , please stop. How can Jacob survive? For he is small.”

⁶The Lord relented concerning this:

“This also shall not be,” said the Lord God .

Plumb Line

⁷This is what He showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall made using a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand.[#2Ki 21:13]

⁸The Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”[#Jer 1:11; 24:3; Am 8:2; Zec 4:2; 5:2]

And I said, “A plumb line.”

Then the Lord said, “Behold, I am putting a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel. I will forgive them no more.

⁹The high places of Isaac will be destroyed,[#Ge 46:1]

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

¹⁰Then 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.[#Jer 26:8–11; 38:4]

¹¹For this is what Amos said:

‘Jeroboam will die by the sword,

and Israel will surely be exiled

away from its land.’ ”

¹²So Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee back to the land of Judah. Earn your sustenance there, and prophesy there.[#1Sa 9:9; #Mt 8:34]

¹³But do not prophesy any more at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary and a royal temple.”[#1Ki 12:29; 13:1; Am 2:12]

¹⁴But 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.[#2Ki 2:5; 4:38]

¹⁵But the Lord took me away from the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’[#2Sa 7:8; #Eze 2:3–4]

¹⁶Now 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.’ ”