Dual PanelVisions foretelling doom upon Israel
1THIS was what the Lord GOD showed me: it was a swarm of locusts hatching when the later corn, which comes after the king's early crop, was beginning to sprout.
2As they devoured every trace of vegetation in the land, I said, “Lord GOD, forgive, I pray you. How can Jacob survive? He is so small.”
3The LORD relented. “This will not happen,” he said.
4This was what the Lord GOD showed me: the Lord GOD was summoning a flame of fire to devour the great abyss, and to devour the land.
5I said, “Lord GOD, cease, I pray you. How can Jacob survive? He is so small.”
6The LORD relented. “This also will not happen,” he said.
7This was what the Lord showed me: there he was standing by a wall built with the aid of a plumb-line, and he had a plumb-line in his hand.
8The LORD asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” “A plumb-line”, I answered. Then the LORD said, “I am setting a plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel; never again shall I pardon them.
9The shrines of Isaac will be desolated and the sanctuaries of Israel laid waste; and sword in hand I shall rise against the house of Jeroboam.”
10AMAZIAH, the priest of Bethel, reported to King Jeroboam of Israel: “Amos has conspired against you here in the heart of Israel; the country cannot tolerate all his words.
11This is what he is saying: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and the Israelites will assuredly be deported from their native land.’”
12To Amos himself Amaziah said, “Seer, go away! Off with you to Judah! Earn your living and do your prophesying there.
13But never prophesy again at Bethel, for this is the king's sanctuary, a royal shrine.”
14“I was no prophet,” Amos replied to Amaziah, “nor was I a prophet's son; I was a herdsman and fig-grower.
15But the LORD took me as I followed the flock and it was the LORD who said to me, ‘Go and prophesy to my people Israel.’
16So now listen to the word of the LORD. You tell me I am not to prophesy against Israel or speak out against the people of Isaac.
17Now these are the words of the LORD: Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be parcelled out with a measuring line, you yourself will die in a heathen country, and Israel will be deported from their native land.”