Study Desk

Locusts, Fire and a Plumb Line

This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me:^(a) He was preparing swarms of locusts^(b) after the king's share had been harvested and just as the late crops were coming up.

When they had stripped the land clean,^(c) I cried out, "Sovereign Lord , forgive! How can Jacob survive?^(d) He is so small!^(e)"

So the Lord relented.^(f) "This will not happen," the Lord said.^(g)

This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: The Sovereign Lord was calling for judgment by fire;^(h) it dried up the great deep and devoured⁽ⁱ⁾ the land.

Then I cried out, "Sovereign Lord , I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!^(j)"

So the Lord relented.^(k) "This will not happen either," the Sovereign Lord said.^(l)

This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb,^[a] with a plumb line^[b] in his hand.

And the Lord asked me, "What do you see,^(m) Amos?⁽ⁿ⁾" "A plumb line,^(o)" I replied. Then the Lord said, "Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.^(p)

"The high places^(q) of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries^(r) of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.^(s)"

Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel^(t) sent a message to Jeroboam^(u) king of Israel: "Amos is raising a conspiracy^(v) against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words.^(w)

For this is what Amos is saying: "‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile,^(x) away from their native land.'"^(y)

Then Amaziah said to Amos, "Get out, you seer!^(z) Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there.^(aa)

Don't prophesy anymore at Bethel,^(ab) because this is the king's sanctuary and the temple^(ac) of the kingdom.^(ad)"

Amos answered Amaziah, "I was neither a prophet^(ae) nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees.^(af)

But the Lord took me from tending the flock^(ag) and said to me, ‘Go,^(ah) prophesy^(ai) to my people Israel.'^(aj)

Now then, hear^(ak) the word of the Lord . You say, "‘Do not prophesy against^(al) Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.'

"Therefore this is what the Lord says: "‘Your wife will become a prostitute^(am) 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^[c] country. And Israel will surely go into exile,^(an) away from their native land.^(ao)'"