2 When the locusts finished eating the vegetation of the land, I said, “ Lord GOD , please forgive! How will Jacob survive since he is so small? ”
3 The LORD relented concerning this. “ It will not happen,” He said.
4 The Lord GOD showed me this: The Lord GOD was calling for a judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land.
5 Then I said, “ Lord GOD , please stop! How will Jacob survive since he is so small? ”
6 The LORD relented concerning this. “ This will not happen either,” said the Lord GOD.
7 He showed me this: The Lord was standing there by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand.
8 The LORD asked me, “ What do you see, Amos? ” I replied, “ A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “ I am setting a plumb line among My people Israel; I will no longer spare them:
9 Isaac’s high places will be deserted, and Israel’s sanctuaries will be in ruins; I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with a sword.”
10 Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “ Amos has conspired against you right here in the house of Israel. The land cannot endure all his words,
11 for Amos has said this: ‘ Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will certainly go into exile from its homeland.’ ”
12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “ Go away, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah. Earn your living and give your prophecies there,
13 but don’t ever prophesy at Bethel again , for it is the king’s sanctuary and a royal temple.”
14 So Amos answered Amaziah, “ I was not a prophet or the son of a prophet; rather, I was a herdsman, and I took care of sycamore figs.
15 But the LORD took me from following the flock and said to me, ‘ Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’ ”
16 Now hear the word of the LORD . You say: Do not prophesy against Israel; do not preach against the house of Isaac.
17 Therefore , this is what the LORD says: Your wife will be a prostitute in the city, your sons and daughters will fall by the sword, and your land will be divided up with a measuring line. You yourself will die on pagan soil, and Israel will certainly go into exile from its homeland.
