First Vision: Locusts

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. 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)

The Lord relented concerning this.(E) “It will not happen,” He said.

Second Vision: Fire

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. Then I said, “Lord God, please stop!(G) How will Jacob survive since he is so small?”

The Lord relented concerning this.(H) “This will not happen either,” said the Lord God.

Third Vision: A Plumb Line

He showed me this: The Lord was standing there by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand. 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)

Isaac’s high places(L) will be deserted,
and Israel’s sanctuaries will be in ruins;(M)
I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam
with a sword.”

Amaziah’s Opposition

10 Amaziah the priest(N) of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam king 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:

Do not prophesy(X) against Israel;
do not preach(Y) against the house of Isaac.

17 Therefore, this is what the Lord says:

Your wife will be a prostitute in the city,(Z)
your sons and daughters will fall by the sword,(AA)
and your land will be divided up
with a measuring line.
You yourself will die on pagan[e] soil,(AB)
and Israel will certainly go into exile(AC)
from its homeland.

Footnotes

  1. Amos 7:12 Lit Eat bread
  2. Amos 7:14 Or am
  3. Amos 7:14 = a prophet’s disciple or a member of a prophetic guild
  4. Amos 7:14 Or am
  5. Amos 7:17 Lit unclean

Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings.

And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord God, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.

The Lord repented for this: It shall not be, saith the Lord.

Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord God called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part.

Then said I, O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.

The Lord repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord God.

Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand.

And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more:

And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.

11 For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land.

12 Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:

13 But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court.

14 Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit:

15 And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.

16 Now therefore hear thou the word of the Lord: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac.

17 Therefore thus saith the Lord; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.

Visiones de la langosta, del fuego y de la plomada

Esto me mostró el Señor Dios: Él formaba enjambre de langostas(A) cuando comenzaba a brotar la cosecha de primavera. Y la cosecha de primavera era después de la siega del rey. Sucedió que cuando habían terminado de devorar la hierba de la tierra(B), yo dije:

«Señor Dios, te ruego que perdones(C).
¿Cómo podrá resistir Jacob
Si es tan pequeño(D)?».
El Señor(E) se apiadó de esto:
«No sucederá», dijo el Señor.

Esto me mostró el Señor Dios: El Señor Dios llamaba para juzgarlos con fuego, y consumió el gran abismo y empezó a consumir el campo(F).

Entonces dije:
«Señor Dios, te ruego que ceses(G).
¿Cómo podrá resistir Jacob
Si es tan pequeño(H)?».
El Señor(I) se apiadó de esto:
«Esto tampoco sucederá», dijo el Señor Dios.

Esto Él me mostró: El Señor estaba junto a un muro hecho a plomo, y tenía en Su mano una plomada. Y el Señor me dijo: «¿Qué ves, Amós(J)?». «Una plomada», le respondí. Entonces el Señor dijo:

«Voy a poner una plomada
En medio de Mi pueblo Israel(K).
Ya no volveré a dejarlos sin castigo(L).
-»Los lugares altos de Isaac(M) serán asolados(N)
Y los santuarios de Israel destruidos(O);
Y Yo me levantaré con espada contra la casa de Jeroboam(P)».

Amós acusado por Amasías

10 Entonces Amasías, sacerdote de Betel[a](Q), envió palabra a Jeroboam, rey de Israel(R): «Amós conspira contra ti en medio de la casa de Israel; la tierra ya no puede soportar todas sus palabras(S). 11 Porque así dice Amós: “Jeroboam morirá a espada y ciertamente Israel saldrá en cautiverio de su tierra”». 12 Entonces Amasías dijo a Amós: «Vete, vidente, huye(T) a la tierra de Judá, come allí pan y allí profetiza. 13 Pero en Betel no vuelvas a profetizar más(U), porque es santuario del rey(V) y residencia real».

14 Entonces Amós le respondió a Amasías: «Yo no soy profeta, ni hijo de profeta(W), sino que soy boyero y cultivador[b] de higueras. 15 Pero el Señor me tomó cuando pastoreaba el rebaño, y me dijo: “Ve, profetiza a Mi pueblo Israel(X)”. 16 Ahora pues, escucha la palabra del Señor: Tú dices: “No profetices(Y) contra Israel ni hables contra(Z) la casa de Isaac”. 17 Por tanto, así dice el Señor: “Tu mujer se prostituirá(AA) en la ciudad, tus hijos y tus hijas caerán a espada(AB), tu tierra será repartida a cordel, y tú morirás en una tierra inmunda(AC). Además, Israel ciertamente saldrá de su tierra en cautiverio”».

Footnotes

  1. 7:10 I.e. Casa de Dios.
  2. 7:14 O recogedor.