Amos 7:1-13 ▼

1 This is what the Almighty LORD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts when the second crop was being harvested. It was the harvest that followed the harvest for the king.

2 When the locusts had finished eating every plant in the land, I said, |Almighty LORD, please forgive us! How can [the descendants of] Jacob survive? There are so few of them.|

3 The LORD changed his plans about this. |This won't happen,| the LORD said.

4 This is what the Almighty LORD showed me: The Almighty LORD was calling for judgment by fire. The fire dried up the ocean and burned up the land.

5 Then I said, |Almighty LORD, please stop! How can [the descendants of] Jacob survive? There are so few of them.|

6 The LORD changed his plans about this. |This won't happen either,| the Almighty LORD said.

7 This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall built with the use of a plumb line, and he had a plumb line in his hand.

8 He asked me, |What do you see, Amos?| I answered, |A plumb line.| Then the Lord said, |I'm going to hold a plumb line in the middle of my people Israel. I will no longer overlook what they have done.

9 The worship sites of Isaac will be destroyed, and the holy places of Israel will be in ruins. I will attack Jeroboam's heirs with my sword.|

10 Then Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, sent a message to King Jeroboam of Israel. It read, |Amos is plotting against you among the people of Israel. The country isn't able to endure everything he is saying.

11 Amos says that Jeroboam will be killed with a sword and that Israel cannot avoid being taken from its land into exile.|

12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, |You seer, run away to Judah! Eat there, and prophesy there!

13 But don't [ever] prophesy again in Bethel, because this is the king's holy place and the king's palace.|