Amos 7:1-9
New Living Translation
A Vision of Locusts
7 The Sovereign Lord showed me a vision. I saw him preparing to send a vast swarm of locusts over the land. This was after the king’s share had been harvested from the fields and as the main crop was coming up. 2 In my vision the locusts ate every green plant in sight. Then I said, “O Sovereign Lord, please forgive us or we will not survive, for Israel[a] is so small.”
3 So the Lord relented from this plan. “I will not do it,” he said.
A Vision of Fire
4 Then the Sovereign Lord showed me another vision. I saw him preparing to punish his people with a great fire. The fire had burned up the depths of the sea and was devouring the entire land. 5 Then I said, “O Sovereign Lord, please stop or we will not survive, for Israel is so small.”
6 Then the Lord relented from this plan, too. “I will not do that either,” said the Sovereign Lord.
A Vision of a Plumb Line
7 Then he showed me another vision. I saw the Lord standing beside a wall that had been built using a plumb line. He was using a plumb line to see if it was still straight. 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 The pagan shrines of your ancestors[b] will be ruined, and the temples of Israel will be destroyed; I will bring the dynasty of King Jeroboam to a sudden end.”
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Amos 7:1-9
International Standard Version
The Vision of Locusts
7 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] 2 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?”
3 So the Lord relented from this. “This will not happen,” said the Lord.
The Vision of Fire
4 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. 5 So I kept on saying,
“Lord God, forgive—please!
How will Jacob stand, since he is so small?”
6 So the Lord relented from this. “This will not happen, either,” said the Lord God.
The Vision of the Plumb Line
7 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] 8 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.
9 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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