³ Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

I replied, “Figs, some very good and some very bad, too rotten to eat.”

² “What do you see, Amos?” he asked.

I replied, “A basket full of ripe fruit.”

Then the Lord said, “Like this fruit, Israel is ripe for punishment! I will not delay their punishment again.

³² All the nations^[a] will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.

A Woman in a Basket

⁵ Then the angel who was talking with me came forward and said, “Look up and see what’s coming.”

⁶ “What is it?” I asked.

He replied, “It is a basket for measuring grain,^[a] and it’s filled with the sins^[b] of everyone throughout the land.”

⁷ Then the heavy lead cover was lifted off the basket, and there was a woman sitting inside it. ⁸ The angel said, “The woman’s name is Wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and closed the heavy lid again.

⁹ Then I looked up and saw two women flying toward us, gliding on the wind. They had wings like a stork, and they picked up the basket and flew into the sky.

¹⁰ “Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel.

¹¹ He replied, “To the land of Babylonia,^[c] where they will build a temple for the basket. And when the temple is ready, they will set the basket there on its pedestal.”

² “What do you see now?” he asked.

I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl of oil on top of it. Around the bowl are seven lamps, each having seven spouts with wicks.

¹¹ Then the Lord said to me, “Look, Jeremiah! What do you see?”

And I replied, “I see a branch from an almond tree.”

¹² And the Lord said, “That’s right, and it means that I am watching,^[a] and I will certainly carry out all my plans.”

¹³ Then the Lord spoke to me again and asked, “What do you see now?”

And I replied, “I see a pot of boiling water, spilling from the north.”

¹⁴ “Yes,” the Lord said, “for terror from the north will boil out on the people of this land.

⁸ And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”

I answered, “A plumb line.”

And the Lord replied, “I will test my people with this plumb line. I will no longer ignore all their sins.

⁹ (In those days if people wanted a message from God, they would say, “Let’s go and ask the seer,” for prophets used to be called seers.)

² “What do you see?” the angel asked.

“I see a flying scroll,” I replied. “It appears to be about 30 feet long and 15 feet wide.^[a]”