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Locusts, Fire, and a Plumb Line

Thus the Lord God showed me: behold, he was forming locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said,

“O Lord God, forgive, I beseech thee!
    How can Jacob stand?
    He is so small!”

The Lord repented concerning this;

    “It shall not be,” said the Lord.

Thus the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. Then I said,

“O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee!
    How can Jacob stand?
    He is so small!”

The Lord repented concerning this;

    “This also shall not be,” said the Lord God.

He showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,

“Behold, I am setting a plumb line
    in the midst of my people Israel;
    I will never again pass by them;
the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,
    and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,
    and I will rise against the house of Jerobo′am with the sword.”

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