The Locusts, Fire, and Plumbline

(Joel 2:1-11)

1{6:15}But behold, I will raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel, saith the Lord the God of hosts; and they shall destroy you from the entrance of Emath, even to the torrent of the desert.

2{1}These things the Lord God shewed to me: and behold the locust was formed in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter rain, and lo, it was the latter rain after the king's mowing.

3{2}And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, I said: O Lord God, be merciful, I beseech thee: who shall raise up Jacob, for he is very little?

4{3}The Lord had pity upon this: It shall not be, said the Lord.

5{4}These things the Lord God shewed to me: and behold the Lord called for judgment unto fire, and it devoured the great deep, and ate up a part at the same time.

6{5}And I said: O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee, who shall raise up Jacob, for he is a little one?

7{6}The Lord had pity upon this. Yea this also shall not be, said the Lord God.

8{7}These things the Lord shewed to me: and behold the Lord was standing upon a plastered wall, and in his hand a mason's trowel.

9{8}And the Lord said to me: What seest thou, Amos? And I said: A mason's trowel. And the Lord said: Behold, I will lay down the trowel in the midst of my people Israel. I will plaster them over no more.

Amaziah Accuses Amos

10{9}And the high places of the idol shall be thrown down, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste: and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. 11{10}And Amasias the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying: Amos hath rebelled against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. 12{11}For thus saith Amos: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall be carried away captive out of their own land. 13{12}And Amasias said to Amos: Thou seer, go, flee away into the land of Juda: and eat bread there, and prophesy there.

14{13}But prophesy not again any more in Bethel: because it is the king's sanctuary, and it is the house of the kingdom. 15{14}And Amos answered and said to Amasias: I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet: but I am a herdsman plucking wild figs. 16{15}And the Lord took me when I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me: Go, prophesy to my people Israel. 17{16}And now hear thou the word of the Lord: Thou sayest, thou shalt not prophesy against Israel, and thou shalt not drop thy word upon the house of the idol.