Amos 6:7-7:15

English Standard Version

⁷^(A)Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile,
and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.”

⁸^(B)The Lord God has sworn by himself, declares the Lord, the God of hosts:

“I abhor ^(C)the pride of Jacob
and hate his strongholds,
^(D)and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.”

⁹And ^(E)if ten men remain in one house, they shall die. ¹⁰And when one's relative, ^(F)the one who anoints him for burial, shall take him up to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, “Is there still anyone with you?” he shall say, “No”; and he shall say, ^(G)“Silence! We must not mention the name of the Lord.”

¹¹For behold, the Lord commands,
    and ^(H)the great house shall be struck down into fragments,
    and the little house into bits.
¹²Do horses run on rocks?
    Does one plow there^[a] with oxen?
^(I)But you have turned justice into ^(J)poison
    ^(K)and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood^[b]—
¹³you who rejoice in Lo-debar,^[c]
    who say, ^(L)“Have we not by our own strength
    captured Karnaim^[d] for ourselves?”
¹⁴“For behold, ^(M)I will raise up against you a nation,
    O house of Israel,” declares the Lord, the God of hosts;
“and they shall oppress you from ^(N)Lebo-hamath
    to the Brook of ^(O)the Arabah.”

Warning Visions

7 ^(P)This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, ^(Q)he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings. ²When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said,

“O Lord God, please forgive!
    ^(R)How can Jacob stand?
    He is so small!”
³^(S)The Lord relented concerning this:
    “It shall not be,” said the Lord.

⁴^(T)This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling ^(U)for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. ⁵Then I said,

“O Lord God, please cease!
    ^(V)How can Jacob stand?
    He is so small!”
⁶^(W)The Lord relented concerning this:
    “This also shall not be,” said the Lord God.

⁷^(X)This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with ^(Y)a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. ⁸And the Lord said to me, ^(Z)“Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,

“Behold, I am setting ^(AA)a plumb line
    in the midst of my people Israel;
    ^(AB)I will never again pass by them;
⁹^(AC)the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,
    and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,
    and I will rise against ^(AD)the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

Amos Accused

¹⁰Then Amaziah ^(AE)the priest of Bethel sent to ^(AF)Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has ^(AG)conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. ¹¹For thus Amos has said,

“‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
and ^(AH)Israel must go into exile
away from his land.’”

¹²And Amaziah said to Amos, ^(AI)“O seer, go, flee away ^(AJ)to the land of Judah, and ^(AK)eat bread there, and prophesy there, ¹³but ^(AL)never again prophesy at Bethel, for ^(AM)it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”

¹⁴Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, ^(AN)“I was^[e] no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but ^(AO)I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. ¹⁵^(AP)But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’