First Vision: Locusts

1The Lord God showed me this: He was forming a swarm of locustsa at the time the spring crop first began to sprout — after the cutting of the king’s hay. 2When the locusts finished eating the vegetation of the land,a I said, “Lord God, please forgive!b How will Jacob survive since he is so small? ”c

3The Lord relented concerning this.a “It will not happen,” he said.

Second Vision: Fire

4The Lord God showed me this: The Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire.a It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. 5Then I said, “Lord God, please stop!a How will Jacob survive since he is so small? ”

6The Lord relented concerning this.a “This will not happen either,” said the Lord God.

Third Vision: A Plumb Line

7He showed me this: The Lord was standing there by a vertical wall with a plumb line in his hand. 8The Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos? ”a

I replied, “A plumb line.”

Then the Lord said, “I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel;b I will no longer spare them:c

9Isaac’s high placesa 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

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

12Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer!a Flee to the land of Judah. Earn your livingA and give your prophecies there, 13but don’t ever prophesya at Bethel again, for it is the king’s sanctuaryb and a royal temple.”

14So Amos answered Amaziah, “I wasA not a prophet or the son of a prophet;B a rather, I wasC a herdsman,b and I took care of sycamore figs. 15But the Lord took me from following the flocka and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ ”b

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

Do not prophesya against Israel;

do not preachb against the house of Isaac.

17Therefore, this is what the Lord says:

Your wife will be a prostitute in the city,a

your sons and daughters will fall by the sword,b

and your land will be divided up

with a measuring line.

You yourself will die on paganA soil,c

and Israel will certainly go into exiled

from its homeland.