New Living Translation

New American Standard Bible

A Vision of Locusts

The Sovereign LORD showed me a vision. I saw him preparing to send a vast swarm of locusts over the land. This was after the king’s share had been harvested from the fields and as the main crop was coming up.

1

Warning Through Visions

Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, He was forming a locust-swarm when the spring crop began to sprout. And behold, the spring crop was after the king’s mowing.

2

In my vision the locusts ate every green plant in sight. Then I said, “O Sovereign LORD, please forgive us or we will not survive, for Israela is so small.”

2

And it came about, when it had finished eating the vegetation of the land, that I said,
“Lord GOD, please pardon!
How can Jacob stand,
For he is small?”

3

So the LORD relented from this plan. “I will not do it,” he said.

3

The LORD changed His mind about this.
“It shall not be,” said the LORD.

4

A Vision of Fire

Then the Sovereign LORD showed me another vision. I saw him preparing to punish his people with a great fire. The fire had burned up the depths of the sea and was devouring the entire land.

4

Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, the Lord GOD was calling to contend with them by fire, and it consumed the great deep and began to consume the farm land.

5

Then I said, “O Sovereign LORD, please stop or we will not survive, for Israel is so small.”

5

Then I said,
“Lord GOD, please stop!
How can Jacob stand, for he is small?”

6

Then the LORD relented from this plan, too. “I will not do that either,” said the Sovereign LORD.

6

The LORD changed His mind about this.
“This too shall not be,” said the Lord GOD.

7

A Vision of a Plumb Line

Then he showed me another vision. I saw the Lord standing beside a wall that had been built using a plumb line. He was using a plumb line to see if it was still straight.

7

Thus He showed me, and behold, the Lord was standing by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand.

8

And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”
I answered, “A plumb line.”
And the Lord replied, “I will test my people with this plumb line. I will no longer ignore all their sins.

8

The LORD said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,
“Behold I am about to put a plumb line
In the midst of My people Israel.
I will spare them no longer.

9

The pagan shrines of your ancestorsb will be ruined, and the temples of Israel will be destroyed; I will bring the dynasty of King Jeroboam to a sudden end.”

9

“The high places of Isaac will be desolated
And the sanctuaries of Israel laid waste.
Then I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

10

Amos and Amaziah

Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent a message to Jeroboam, king of Israel: “Amos is hatching a plot against you right here on your very doorstep! What he is saying is intolerable.

10

Amos Accused, Answers

Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is unable to endure all his words.

11

He is saying, ‘Jeroboam will soon be killed, and the people of Israel will be sent away into exile.’”

11

“For thus Amos says, ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.’”

12

Then Amaziah sent orders to Amos: “Get out of here, you prophet! Go on back to the land of Judah, and earn your living by prophesying there!

12

Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Go, you seer, flee away to the land of Judah and there eat bread and there do your prophesying!

13

Don’t bother us with your prophecies here in Bethel. This is the king’s sanctuary and the national place of worship!”

13

“But no longer prophesy at Bethel, for it is a sanctuary of the king and a royal residence.”

14

But Amos replied, “I’m not a professional prophet, and I was never trained to be one.c I’m just a shepherd, and I take care of sycamore-fig trees.

14

Then Amos replied to Amaziah, “I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet; for I am a herdsman and a grower of sycamore figs.

15

But the LORD called me away from my flock and told me, ‘Go and prophesy to my people in Israel.’

15

“But the LORD took me from following the flock and the LORD said to me, ‘Go prophesy to My people Israel.’

16

Now then, listen to this message from the LORD:
“You say,
‘Don’t prophesy against Israel.
Stop preaching against my people.d’

16

“Now hear the word of the LORD: you are saying, ‘You shall not prophesy against Israel nor shall you speak against the house of Isaac.’

17

But this is what the LORD says:
‘Your wife will become a prostitute in this city,
and your sons and daughters will be killed.
Your land will be divided up,
and you yourself will die in a foreign land.
And the people of Israel will certainly become captives in exile,
far from their homeland.’”

17

“Therefore, thus says the LORD, ‘Your wife will become a harlot in the city, your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword, your land will be parceled up by a measuring line and you yourself will die upon unclean soil. Moreover, Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.’”

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New Living Translation

New American Standard Bible

Amos 7

Amos 7