7 Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me: and behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s harvest. ² When they finished eating the grass of the land, then I said, “Lord Yahweh, forgive, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small.”

³ Yahweh relented concerning this. “It shall not be,” says Yahweh.

⁴ Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me and behold, the Lord Yahweh called for judgment by fire; and it dried up the great deep, and would have devoured the land. ⁵ Then I said, “Lord Yahweh, stop, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small.”

⁶ Yahweh relented concerning this. “This also shall not be,” says the Lord Yahweh.

⁷ Thus he showed me and behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. ⁸ Yahweh said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”

I said, “A plumb line.”

Then the Lord said, “Behold, I will set a plumb line in the middle of my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more. ⁹ The high places of Isaac will be desolate, the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”