First Vision: Locusts
1 The Lord GOD showed me this: He was forming a swarm of locusts p 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, q I said, “Lord GOD, please forgive! r How will Jacob survive since he is so small? ” s
3 The LORD relented concerning this. t “It will not happen,” he said.
Second Vision: Fire
4 The Lord GOD showed me this: The Lord GOD was calling for a judgment by fire. u It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. 5 Then I said, “Lord GOD, please stop! v How will Jacob survive since he is so small? ”
6 The LORD relented concerning this. w “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? ” x
I replied, “A plumb line.”
Then the Lord said, “I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; y I will no longer spare them: z
9 Isaac’s high places a will be deserted,
and Israel’s sanctuaries will be in ruins; b
I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam
with a sword.”
Amaziah’s Opposition
10 Amaziah the priest c of Bethel sent word to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you d 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.’ ” e
12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer! f Flee to the land of Judah. Earn your living B and give your prophecies there, 13 but don’t ever prophesy g at Bethel again, for it is the king’s sanctuary h and a royal temple.”
14 So Amos answered Amaziah, “I was C not a prophet or the son of a prophet; D,i rather, I was E a herdsman, j and I took care of sycamore figs. 15 But the LORD took me from following the flock k and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ ” l
16 Now hear the word of the LORD. You say:
Do not prophesy m against Israel;
do not preach n against the house of Isaac.
17 Therefore, this is what the LORD says:
Your wife will be a prostitute in the city, o
your sons and daughters will fall by the sword, p
and your land will be divided up
with a measuring line.
You yourself will die on pagan F soil, q
and Israel will certainly go into exile r
from its homeland.