Amos 7:1-9

The Message

To Die Homeless and Friendless

7 ^1-2 God, my Master, showed me this vision: He was preparing a locust swarm. The first cutting, which went to the king, was complete, and the second crop was just sprouting. The locusts ate everything green. Not even a blade of grass was left.

I called out, “God, my Master! Excuse me, but what’s going to come of Jacob? He’s so small.”

³ God gave in.

“It won’t happen,” he said.

* * *

⁴ God showed me this vision: Oh! God, my Master God was calling up a firestorm. It burned up the ocean. Then it burned up the Promised Land.

⁵ I said, “God, my Master! Hold it—please! What’s going to come of Jacob? He’s so small.”

⁶ God gave in.

“All right, this won’t happen either,” God, my Master, said.

* * *

⁷ God showed me this vision: My Master was standing beside a wall. In his hand he held a plumb line.

^8-9 God said to me, “What do you see, Amos?”

I said, “A plumb line.”

Then my Master said, “Look what I’ve done. I’ve hung a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel. I’ve spared them for the last time. This is it!