Amos 7:1-8 ▼

1 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: Look! He was forming locust swarms as the latter plantings were just beginning to sprout. Indeed, the king had just taken his first fruit tax.

2 And so it came about that when the swarm had finished eating the grass of the land, I was saying, |Lord GOD, forgive—please! How will Jacob stand, since he is small?|

3 So the LORD relented from this. |This will not happen,| said the LORD.

4 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: Look! The Lord GOD was calling for judgment by fire, and it was drying up the great depths of the ocean and consuming the land.

5 So I kept on saying, |Lord GOD, forgive—please! How will Jacob stand, since he is so small?|

6 So the LORD relented from this. |This will not happen, either,| said the Lord GOD.

7 This is what he showed me: Look! The Lord was standing upon a wall that stood straight and true, with a plumb line in his hand.

8 And the LORD was asking me, |What do you see, Amos?| I replied, |A plumb line.| So the Lord said, |Look, I have set a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel. I will no longer spare them.