Amos 7  Christian Standard Bible Anglicised

First Vision: Locusts

7 The Lord God showed me this: He was forming a swarm of locusts^(A) at the time the spring crop first began to sprout – after the cutting of the king’s hay. ² When the locusts finished eating the vegetation of the land,^(B) I said, ‘Lord God, please forgive!^(C) How will Jacob survive, since he is so small? ’^(D)

³ The Lord relented concerning this.^(E) ‘It will not happen,’ he said.

Second Vision: Fire

⁴ The Lord God showed me this: The Lord God was calling for a judgement by fire.^(F) It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. ⁵ Then I said, ‘Lord God, please stop!^(G) How will Jacob survive, since he is so small? ’

⁶ The Lord relented concerning this.^(H) ‘This will not happen either,’ said the Lord God.

Third Vision: A Plumb Line

⁷ He showed me this: The Lord was standing there by a vertical wall with a plumb line in his hand. ⁸ The Lord asked me, ‘What do you see, Amos? ’^(I)

I replied, ‘A plumb line.’

Then the Lord said, ‘I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel;^(J) I will no longer spare them:^(K)

Amaziah’s Opposition

¹⁰ Amaziah the priest^(N) of Bethel sent word to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, ‘Amos has conspired against you^(O) right here in the house of Israel. The land cannot endure all his words, ¹¹ for Amos has said this: “Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will certainly go into exile from its homeland.” ’^(P)

¹² Then Amaziah said to Amos, ‘Go away, you seer!^(Q) Flee to the land of Judah. Earn your living^[a] and give your prophecies there, ¹³ but don’t ever prophesy^(R) at Bethel again, for it is the king’s sanctuary^(S) and a royal temple.’

¹⁴ So Amos answered Amaziah, ‘I was^[b] not a prophet or the son of a prophet;^[c](T) rather, I was^[d] a herdsman,^(U) and I took care of sycamore figs. ¹⁵ But the Lord took me from following the flock^(V) and said to me, “Go, prophesy to my people Israel.” ’^(W)

¹⁶ Now hear the word of the Lord. You say:

¹⁷ Therefore, this is what the Lord says: