Amos 7

Holman Christian Standard Bible

First Vision: Locusts

7 The Lord God showed me this: He was forming a swarm of locusts^(A) at the time the spring crop first began to sprout—after the cutting of the king’s hay. ²When the locusts finished eating the vegetation of the land,^(B) I said, “Lord God, please forgive!^(C) How will Jacob survive since he is so small?”^(D)

³The Lord relented concerning this.^(E) “It will not happen,” He said.

Second Vision: Fire

⁴The Lord God showed me this: The Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire.^(F) It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. ⁵Then I said, “Lord God, please stop!^(G) How will Jacob survive since he is so small?”

⁶The Lord relented concerning this.^(H) “This will not happen either,” said the Lord God.

Third Vision: A Plumb Line

⁷He showed me this: The Lord was standing there by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand. ⁸The Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”^(I)

I replied, “A plumb line.”

Then the Lord said, “I am setting a plumb line among My people Israel;^(J) I will no longer spare them:^(K)

⁹Isaac’s high places^(L) will be deserted,
and Israel’s sanctuaries will be in ruins;^(M)
I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam
with a sword.”

Amaziah’s Opposition

¹⁰Amaziah the priest^(N) of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you^(O) right here in the house of Israel. The land cannot endure all his words, ¹¹for Amos has said this: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will certainly go into exile from its homeland.’”^(P)

¹²Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer!^(Q) Flee to the land of Judah. Earn your living^[a] and give your prophecies there, ¹³but don’t ever prophesy^(R) at Bethel again, for it is the king’s sanctuary^(S) and a royal temple.”

¹⁴So Amos answered Amaziah, “I was^[b] not a prophet or the son of a prophet;^[c]^(T) rather, I was^[d] a herdsman,^(U) and I took care of sycamore figs. ¹⁵But the Lord took me from following the flock^(V) and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’”^(W)

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

Do not prophesy^(X) against Israel;
do not preach^(Y) against the house of Isaac.

¹⁷Therefore, this is what the Lord says:

Your wife will be a prostitute in the city,^(Z)
your sons and daughters will fall by the sword,^(AA)
and your land will be divided up
with a measuring line.
You yourself will die on pagan^[e] soil,^(AB)
and Israel will certainly go into exile^(AC)
from its homeland.