The Book of the Prophet Amos 7 The Vision of the Locust, the Fire, and the Plumb Line

 The Book of the Prophet Amos 7

The Vision of the Locust, the Fire, and the Plumb Line

1 The Lord God showed me this: I saw locusts forming at the beginning of the late-season growth, and it was the late-season growth after the king’s harvest.

2 When they had completely devoured the grass of the land, I said, “Lord God, forgive! How can Jacob now rise up? He is so small.”

3 Then the Lord relented concerning this. “It shall not happen,” said the Lord.

4 This is what the Lord God showed me: The Lord God was calling out, intending to contend by fire; and he devoured the great deep, intending to devour the land as well.

5 Then I said, “Lord God, stop! How can Jacob now rise up? He is so small.”

6 Then the Lord relented concerning this. “It shall not happen,” said the Lord God.

7 He also showed me this: The Lord was standing on a wall built with a plumb line, and he had a plumb line in his hand.

8 The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “See, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will never again pass by them.

9 The high places of Isaac will be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel will be destroyed; I will rise up with the sword against the house of Jeroboam.”

10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land cannot bear all his words.

11 For thus says Amos: ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be carried away captive out of its land.’” 12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah, eat bread there, and prophesy there.

13 But you shall not prophesy anymore at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary and the house of the kingdom.”

14 Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees.

15 But the Lord took me from tending 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, ‘You shall not prophesy against Israel, nor speak against the house of Isaac.’”

17 Therefore thus says the Lord: Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by lot, and you shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely be taken captive out of its land.