1 Thus the Lord GOD showed me: Behold, He formed locust swarms at the 1 beginning of the late crop; indeed it was the late crop after the king's mowings.
2
And so it was, when they had finished eating the grass of the land, that I said:
"O Lord GOD, forgive, I pray!
a Oh, 2 that Jacob may stand,
For he is small!"
3
So b the LORD relented concerning this.
"It shall not be," said the LORD.
4 Thus the Lord GOD showed me: Behold, the Lord GOD called 3 for conflict by fire, and it consumed the great deep and devoured the 4 territory.
5
Then I said:
"O Lord GOD, cease, I pray!
c Oh, that Jacob may stand,
For he is small!"
6
So the LORD relented concerning this.
"This also shall not be," said the Lord GOD.
7 Thus He showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand.
8
And the LORD said to me, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said:
"Behold, d I am setting a plumb line
In the midst of My people Israel;
e I will not pass by them anymore.
9
f The 5 high places of Isaac shall be desolate,
And the 6 sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste.
g I will rise with the sword against the house of Jeroboam."
10 Then Amaziah the h priest of i Bethel sent to j Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, "Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to 7 bear all his words.
11
"For thus Amos has said:
'Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
And Israel shall surely be led away k captive
From their own land.' "
12
Then Amaziah said to Amos:
"Go, you seer!
Flee to the land of Judah.
There eat bread,
And there prophesy.
13
But l never again prophesy at Bethel,
m For it is the king's 8 sanctuary,
And it is the royal 9 residence."
14
Then Amos answered, and said to Amaziah:
"I was no prophet,
Nor was I n a son of a prophet,
But I was a o sheepbreeder
And a tender of sycamore fruit.
15
Then the LORD took me 10 as I followed the flock,
And the LORD said to me,
'Go, p prophesy to My people Israel.'
16
Now therefore, hear the word of the LORD:
You say, 'Do not prophesy against Israel,
And q do not 11 spout against the house of Isaac.'
17
"Therefore r thus says the LORD:
s 'Your wife shall be a harlot in the city;
Your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword;
Your land shall be divided by survey line;
You shall die in a t defiled land;
And Israel shall surely be led away captive
From his own land.' "