Amos 7

The Locusts, Fire, and Plumb Line

(Joel 2:1–11)

1 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts just after the king’s harvest, as the late spring crop was coming up. ¹ ‡ Jol 1:4Amo 8:1Amo 4:9Isa 33:4Jol 2:25Nam 3:15-17Amo 7:4Amo 7:7 +52 And when the locusts had eaten every green plant in the land, I said, “Lord GOD, please forgive! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?” ‡ Isa 37:4Ezk 11:13Exo 10:15Ezk 9:8Jer 14:20-21Jer 14:7Jer 42:2Amo 7:5 +10

3 So the LORD relented from this plan. “It will not happen,” He said. ‡ Deu 32:36Jon 3:10Hos 11:8Amo 7:6Jol 2:14Psa 106:45Jas 5:16Jer 26:19 +1

4 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: The Lord GOD was calling for judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. ‡ Amo 7:1Isa 66:15-16Amo 1:4Amo 1:7Amo 4:11Amo 5:6Amo 7:7Deu 32:22 +115 Then I said, “Lord GOD, please stop! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?” ‡ Psa 85:4Amo 7:2-3Isa 1:9Isa 10:25Jer 30:19Jol 2:17

6 So the LORD relented from this plan. “It will not happen either,” said the Lord GOD. ‡ Amo 7:3Jdg 10:16Jdg 2:18Jer 26:19Jon 3:10Jon 4:2Psa 135:14Psa 90:13

7 This is what He showed me: Behold, the Lord was standing by a wall true to plumb, with a plumb line in His hand. ‡ 2Ki 21:13Isa 28:17Rev 21:152Sa 8:2Ezk 40:3Isa 34:11Lam 2:8Rev 11:1 +18 “Amos, what do you see?” asked the LORD. ‡ Amo 8:2Jer 15:6Lam 2:8Ezk 7:2-92Ki 21:13Isa 28:17Mic 7:18Jer 1:11-13 +2

“A plumb line,” I replied.

“Behold,” said the Lord, “I am setting a plumb line among My people Israel; I will no longer spare them:

9 The high places of Isaac will be deserted, ‡ 2Ki 15:8-10Gen 46:1Amo 3:14Amo 5:5Amo 8:14Gen 26:23-25Hos 10:8Isa 63:18 +1

and the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste;

and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam

with My sword.”

Amaziah Accuses Amos

10 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 cannot bear all his words, ‡ Jer 38:41Ki 12:31-32Act 24:5Jer 26:8-11Mat 21:231Ki 13:33Act 5:28Luk 23:2 +911 for this is what Amos has said: ‡ 2Ki 17:6Amo 6:7-8Amo 7:9Psa 56:5Act 6:14Jer 28:10-11Mat 26:61Jer 26:9

‘Jeroboam will die by the sword,

and Israel will surely go into exile,

away from their homeland.’”

12 And Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah; earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. ‡ 1Co 2:14Mat 8:341Sa 9:9Isa 30:10Rom 16:181Pe 5:21Sa 2:362Ch 16:10 +713 But never prophesy at Bethel again, because it is the sanctuary of the king and the temple of the kingdom.” ‡ 1Ki 12:32Amo 2:121Ki 12:291Ki 13:1Act 4:17-18Act 5:28Act 5:40

14 “I was not ²a prophet,” Amos replied, “nor was I the son ³of a prophet; rather, I was a herdsman and a tender of sycamore-fig trees. ‡ Amo 1:1Zec 13:51Co 1:272Ki 2:52Ki 4:382Ch 19:22Ki 2:31Ki 20:35 +415 But the LORD took me from following the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’ ‡ 2Sa 7:8Ezk 2:3-4Act 1:8Act 5:20Jer 1:7Mat 4:18-19Mat 9:9Psa 78:70-72 +3

16 Now, therefore, hear the word of the LORD. You say: ‡ Ezk 20:46Ezk 21:2Mic 2:6Amo 7:13Deu 32:2Jer 28:15-171Ki 22:191Sa 15:16 +1

‘Do not prophesy against Israel;

do not preach against the house of Isaac.’

17 Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‡ Hos 9:32Ki 17:6Ezk 4:13Jer 28:16Hos 4:13-14Amo 7:11Isa 13:16Jer 29:21 +9

‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city,

and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword.

Your land will be divided by a measuring line,

and you yourself will die on pagan ⁴soil.

And Israel will surely go into exile,

away from their homeland.’”