Amos 7

1Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me: look, he was forming locusts at the beginning of the regrowth sprouting up; look, it was the regrowth after the king's mowing.

2When they finished devouring the grass of the land, I said, "Lord Yahweh, please forgive! Who will make Jacob stand? For he is small."

3Yahweh relented concerning this. "It shall not be," says Yahweh.

4Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me, and behold, the Lord Yahweh called fire to contend, and it devoured the great deep and devoured the portion.

5I said, "Lord Yahweh, please stop! How can Jacob stand? For he is small."

6Yahweh relented concerning this. "This too will not happen," says the Lord Yahweh.

7Thus he showed me: and behold, the Lord stood upon a plumb wall, a plumb line in his hand.

8Yahweh said to me, "What do you see, Amos?" I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will not pass over them again."

9The high places of Isaac will lie desolate, Israel's sanctuaries will be destroyed, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

10Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, "Amos has plotted against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land cannot endure all his words."

11For thus has Amos said: "Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile from his land."

12Amaziah said to Amos, "Seer, go, flee to the land of Judah, eat bread there, and prophesy there."

13Do not prophesy any more at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is the royal house.

14Amos answered Amaziah, "I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but a herdsman and a gatherer of sycamores."

15Yahweh took me from following the flock, and Yahweh said to me, "Go, prophesy to my people Israel."

16Now hear Yahweh's word: You say, "Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not prophesy against the house of Isaac."

17Therefore thus says Yahweh: Your wife will prostitute herself in the city, your sons and daughters will fall by the sword, your land will be apportioned by measuring cord, you will die in defiled ground, and Israel will surely go into exile from its land.