1 This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts after the king's share had been harvested and just as the late crops were coming up.
2 When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out, "Sovereign LORD, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!"
3 So the LORD relented. "This will not happen," the LORD said.
4 This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: The Sovereign LORD was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land.
5 Then I cried out, "Sovereign LORD, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!"
6 So the LORD relented. "This will not happen either," the Sovereign LORD said.
7 This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, "with a plumb line "in his hand.
8 And the LORD asked me, "What do you see, Amos?" "A plumb line," I replied. Then the Lord said, "Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
9 "The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam."
10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: "Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words.
11 For this is what Amos is saying: "'Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.'"
12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, "Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there.
13 Don't prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king's sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom."
14 Amos answered Amaziah, "I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees.
15 But the LORD took me from tending the flock and 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 stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.'
17 "Therefore this is what the LORD says: "'Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan "country. And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.'"
1 Thus has the Lord GOD showed to me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, see, it was the latter growth after the king' mowings.
2 And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech you: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.
3 The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, said the LORD.
4 Thus has the Lord GOD showed to me: and, behold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part.
5 Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech you: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.
6 The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, said the Lord GOD.
7 Thus he showed me: and, behold, the LORD stood on a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.
8 And the LORD said to me, Amos, what see you? And I said, A plumb line. Then said the LORD, Behold, I will set a plumb line in the middle of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more:
9 And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.
10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos has conspired against you in the middle of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.
11 For thus Amos said, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land.
12 Also Amaziah said to Amos, O you seer, go, flee you away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:
13 But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king' chapel, and it is the king' court.
14 Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet' son; but I was an herdsman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit:
15 And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel.
16 Now therefore hear you the word of the LORD: You say, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not your word against the house of Isaac.
17 Therefore thus said the LORD; Your wife shall be an harlot in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line; and you shall die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.