Amos 7:1-13 ▼

1 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: He was forming a locust swarm when the late growth began to come up (the late growth after the king’s mowing ).

2 When they had finished eating the grass in the land, I said: Forgive, O Lord GOD! Who will raise up Jacob? He is so small!

3 The LORD relented concerning this. “This shall not be,” said the Lord GOD.

4 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: He was summoning a rain of fire. It had devoured the great abyss and was consuming the fields.

5 Then I said: Cease, O Lord GOD! Who will raise up Jacob? He is so small!

6 The LORD relented concerning this. “This also shall not be,” said the Lord GOD.

7 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: He was standing, plummet in hand, by a wall built with a plummet.

8 The Lord GOD asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” And I answered, “A plummet.” Then the LORD said: See, I am laying the plummet in the midst of my people Israel; I will forgive them no longer.

9 The high places of Isaac shall be laid waste, and the sanctuaries of Israel made desolate; and I will attack the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

10 Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam, king of Israel: “Amos has conspired against you within the house of Israel; the country cannot endure all his words.

11 For this is what Amos says: ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be exiled from its land.’”

12 To Amos, Amaziah said: “Off with you, seer, flee to the land of Judah and there earn your bread by prophesying!

13 But never again prophesy in Bethel; for it is the king’s sanctuary and a royal temple.”