Amos
Chapter 7

1

¹ This is what the Lord GOD showed me: He was forming a locust swarm when the late growth began to come up (the late growth after the king's mowing).

2

While they were eating all the grass in the land, I said: Forgive, O Lord GOD! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!

3

And the LORD repented of this. "It shall not be," said the Lord GOD.

4

² Then the Lord GOD showed me this: he called for a judgment by fire. It had devoured the great abyss, and was consuming the land,

5

when I said: Cease, O Lord GOD! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!

6

The LORD repented of this. "This also shall not be," said the Lord GOD.

7

³ Then the Lord GOD showed me this: he was standing by a wall, plummet in hand.

8

The LORD asked me, "What do you see, Amos?" And when I answered, "A plummet," the Lord said: See, I will lay the plummet in the midst of my people Israel; I will forgive them no longer.

9

The high places of Isaac shall be laid waste, and the sanctuaries of Israel made desolate; I will attack the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

10

Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam, king of Israel: "Amos has conspired against you here within Israel; the country cannot endure all his words.

11

For this is what Amos says: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be exiled from its land."

12

To Amos, Amaziah said: "Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah! There earn your bread by prophesying,

13

but never again prophesy in Bethel; for it is the king's sanctuary and a royal temple."

14

⁴ Amos answered Amaziah, "I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets; I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores.

15

The LORD took me from following the flock, and said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel.

16

Now hear the word of the LORD!" You say: prophesy not against Israel, preach not against the house of Isaac.

17

Now thus says the LORD: Your wife shall be made a harlot in the city, and your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword; Your land shall be divided by measuring line, and you yourself shall die in an unclean land; Israel shall be exiled far from its land.

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Footnotes

¹ [1] The king's mowing: the first mowing, a portion of which was payable to the king as a tax.

² [4] Fire: understood by many as a burning drought.

³ [7] Plummet in hand: signifying that God is about to withdraw his mercy from his people and that the nation is to be measured for destruction.

⁴ [14-15] Amos denies that he belonged to the class of professional prophets; his vocation is due to the personal intervention of the Lord.

New American Bible Copyright © 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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