Amos 7 | New International Reader’s Version

Amos has visions of locusts, fire and a plumb line

1 The LORD and King gave me a vision. He was bringing large numbers of locusts on the land. The king’s share had already been harvested. Now the later crops were coming up. 2 The locusts stripped the land clean. Then I cried out, ‘LORD and King, forgive Israel! How can Jacob’s people continue? They are such a weak nation!’ 3 So the LORD had pity on them. ‘I will let them continue for now,’ he said. 4 The LORD and King gave me a second vision. He was using fire to punish his people. It dried up the deep waters. It burned the land up. 5 Then I cried out, ‘LORD and King, please stop! How can Jacob’s people continue? They are such a weak nation!’ 6 So the LORD had pity on them. ‘I will let them continue for now,’ the LORD and King said. 7 Then the Lord gave me a third vision. He was standing by a wall. It had been built very straight, all the way up and down. He was holding a plumb line. 8 The LORD asked me, ‘What do you see, Amos?’ ‘A plumb line,’ I replied. Then the Lord said, ‘Look at what I am doing. I am hanging a plumb line next to my people Israel. It will show how crooked they are. I will no longer spare them. 9 ‘The high places where Isaac’s people worship other gods will be destroyed. The other places of worship in Israel will also be torn down. I will use my sword to attack Jeroboam’s royal family.’

Amaziah tells Amos to stop prophesying

10 Amaziah was priest of Bethel. He sent a message to Jeroboam, the king of Israel. He said, ‘Amos is making evil plans against you right here in Israel. The people in the land can’t stand to listen to what he’s saying. 11 Amos is telling them, ‘ “Jeroboam will be killed by a sword. The people of Israel will be taken away as prisoners. They will be carried off from their own land.” ’ 12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, ‘Get out of Israel, you prophet! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your living there. Do your prophesying there. 13 Don’t prophesy here at Bethel anymore. This is where the king worships. The main temple in the kingdom is located here.’ 14 Amos answered Amaziah, ‘I was not a prophet. I wasn’t even the son of a prophet. I was a shepherd. I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. 15 But the LORD took me away from taking care of the flock. He said to me, “Go. Prophesy to my people Israel.” 16 Now then, listen to the LORD’s message. You say, ‘ “Don’t prophesy against Israel. Stop preaching against the people of Isaac.” 17 ‘But the LORD says, ‘ “Your wife will become a prostitute in the city of Bethel. Your sons and daughters will be killed by swords. Your land will be measured and divided up. And you yourself will die in another country. The people of Israel will surely be taken away as prisoners. They will be carried off from their own land.” ’

English Standard Version

Warning Visions

1 This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. 2 When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said, “O Lord God, please forgive! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” 3 The Lord relented concerning this: “It shall not be,” said the Lord. 4 This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. 5 Then I said, “O Lord God, please cease! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” 6 The Lord relented concerning this: “This also shall not be,” said the Lord God. 7 This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them; 9 the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

Amos Accused

10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. 11 For thus Amos has said, “‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.’” 12 And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, 13 but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.” 14 Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was* no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. 15 But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16 Now therefore hear the word of the Lord. “You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’ 17 Therefore thus says the Lord: “‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’”

Amos 7 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version

Amos has visions of locusts, fire and a plumb line

Amaziah tells Amos to stop prophesying

Warning Visions

Amos Accused