Amos 7
1 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: he was forming locusts just as the late grass began to sprout—the late grass that comes after the king’s hay harvest.
2 When they had finished eating the vegetation of the land, I said, “Lord GOD, please forgive us! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!”
3 The LORD relented concerning this: “It will not happen,” said the LORD.
4 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: the Lord GOD was calling for fire to judge, and the fire devoured the great deep and was consuming the fields.
5 Then I said, “Lord GOD, please stop! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!”
6 The LORD relented concerning this: “This too will not happen,” said the Lord GOD.
7 This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built true to the plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.
8 The LORD asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” I answered, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
9 The shrines on Isaac’s heights will be laid waste, and Israel’s sanctuaries will become ruins. I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
10 Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam, king of Israel: “Amos has conspired against you among the people of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words.
11 For this is what Amos says: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from its land.’”
12 Amaziah said to Amos, “Seer, go away! Flee to the land of Judah. Eat your bread there, and prophesy there.
13 But you must no longer prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary and a royal temple.”
14 Amos answered Amaziah, “I am not a prophet, nor am I a prophet’s son. I raise livestock and tend 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 then, hear the word of the LORD. You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
17 Therefore, this is what the LORD says: ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, your sons and daughters will fall by the sword, and your land will be divided up by a measuring line. You will die in an unclean land, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from its land.’”
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