Warning Visions

(A)This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, (B)he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, 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, please forgive!
    (C)How can Jacob stand?
    He is so small!”
(D)The Lord relented concerning this:
    “It shall not be,” said the Lord.

(E)This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling (F)for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. Then I said,

“O Lord God, please cease!
    (G)How can Jacob stand?
    He is so small!”
(H)The Lord relented concerning this:
    “This also shall not be,” said the Lord God.

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

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

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The Vision of Locusts

This is what the Lord God showed me: Look! He was forming locust swarms as the latter plantings were just beginning to sprout. Indeed, the king had just taken his first fruit tax.[a] And so it came about that when the swarm[b] had finished eating the grass of the land, I was saying,

“Lord God, forgive—please!
    How will Jacob stand, since he is small?”

So the Lord relented from this. “This will not happen,” said the Lord.

The Vision of Fire

This is what the Lord God showed me: Look! The Lord God was calling for judgment by fire, and it was drying up the great depths of the ocean[c] and consuming the land. So I kept on saying,

“Lord God, forgive—please!
    How will Jacob stand, since he is so small?”

So the Lord relented from this. “This will not happen, either,” said the Lord God.

The Vision of the Plumb Line

This is what he showed me: Look! The Lord was standing upon a wall that stood straight and true, with a plumb line in his hand.[d] And the Lord was asking me, “What do you see, Amos?”

I replied, “A plumb line.”

So the Lord said,

“Look, I have set a plumb line
    in the midst of my people Israel.
        I will no longer spare them.
Isaac’s high places will be destroyed,
    and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined.
        I will rise in opposition to the house of Jeroboam with my[e] sword.”

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Footnotes

  1. Amos 7:1 So MT; LXX reads the locusts have one king, Gog.
  2. Amos 7:2 The Heb. lacks the swarm
  3. Amos 7:4 The Heb. lacks of the ocean
  4. Amos 7:7 Lit. wall by a plumb line
  5. Amos 7:9 The Heb. lacks my