First Vision: Locusts

7 The Lord God showed me this: He was forming a swarm of locusts^(A) 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,^(B) I said, “Lord God, please forgive!^(C) How will Jacob survive since he is so small?” ^(D)

³ The Lord relented concerning this.^(E) “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.^(F) It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. ⁵ Then I said, “Lord God, please stop!^(G) How will Jacob survive since he is so small?”

⁶ The Lord relented concerning this.^(H) “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?” ^(I)

I replied, “A plumb line.”

Then the Lord said, “I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel;^(J) I will no longer spare them:^(K)

Amaziah’s Opposition

¹⁰ Amaziah the priest^(N) of Bethel sent word to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you^(O) 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.’”^(P)

¹² Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer!^(Q) Flee to the land of Judah. Earn your living^[a] and give your prophecies there, ¹³ but don’t ever prophesy^(R) at Bethel again, for it is the king’s sanctuary^(S) and a royal temple.”

¹⁴ So Amos answered Amaziah, “I was^[b] not a prophet or the son of a prophet;^[c](T) rather, I was^[d] a herdsman,^(U) and I took care of sycamore figs. ¹⁵ But the Lord took me from following the flock^(V) and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’”^(W)

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

¹⁷ Therefore, this is what the Lord says:

The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error

4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits^(A) to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

² This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh^(B) is from God,^{(C) 3} but every spirit that does not confess Jesus^[a] is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist,^(D) which you have heard is coming; even now it is already in the world.

⁴ You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you^(E) is greater than the one who is in the world.^{(F) 5} They are from the world.^(G) Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶ We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us;^(H) anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.^(I)

Knowing God through Love

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God^(J) and knows God. ⁸ The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ God’s love was revealed among us^[b] in this way: God sent^(K) his one and only Son^(L) into the world so that we might live^(M) through him. ¹⁰ Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us^(N) and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice^[c](O) for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another.^{(P) 12} No one has ever seen God.^(Q) If we love one another, God remains in^[d] us and his love is made complete in us. ¹³ This is how we know that we remain in him^(R) and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.^{(S) 14} And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent his Son^(T) as the world’s Savior. ¹⁵ Whoever confesses^(U) that Jesus is the Son of God—God remains in him and he in God. ¹⁶ And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. ¹⁷ In this, love is made complete with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment,^(V) because as he is, so also are we in this world.^{(W) 18} There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear,^(X) because fear involves punishment.^[e] So the one who fears is not complete in love.^{(Y) 19} We love^[f] because he first loved us.^{(Z) 20} If anyone says, “I love God,” and yet hates his brother or sister,^(AA) he is a liar.^(AB) For the person who does not love his brother or sister^(AC) whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.^{[g] 21} And we have this command from him: The one who loves God must also love his brother and sister.