Amos 7
1 Yahweh our God showed me [in a vision] that he was going to send locusts [to destroy our crops]. It was going to happen right after the king’s share of the hay had been harvested/cut and before the rest of the hay was ready to be harvested.
Thus Lord YHWH has showed me, and behold, He is forming locusts at the beginning of the ascending of the latter growth, and behold, the latter growth [is] after the mowings of the king [[or King Gog]];
2 [And in the vision I saw] those locusts come, and they ate everything that was green. Then I cried out, “Yahweh our Lord, please forgive us! We Israeli people are very helpless; (how will we be able to survive [RHQ]?/we will not be able to survive!)”
and it has come to pass, when it has finished to consume the herb of the land, that I say, “Lord YHWH, please forgive, How does Jacob arise—for he [is] small?”
3 So Yahweh changed his mind and said, “That will not happen.”
YHWH has relented of this, “It will not be,” said YHWH.
4 Then this is what Yahweh our Lord showed me [in another vision]: He was calling to a fire to [come and] punish [his people]. [In the vision I saw that] the fire dried up the ocean and also burned [everything on] the land.
Thus has Lord YHWH showed me, and behold, Lord YHWH is calling to contend by the fire, and it consumes the great deep, indeed, it has consumed the portion, and I say,
5 Then I cried out again, “Yahweh our Lord, I plead with you, please stop this! We Israeli people are very helpless; how will we be able to survive [RHQ]?”
“Lord YHWH, please cease, How does Jacob arise—for he [is] small?”
6 So Yahweh changed his mind again, and said, “That also will not happen.”
YHWH has relented of this, “It also will not be,” said Lord YHWH.
7 Then Yahweh showed me [another vision]. I saw him standing beside a wall. [It was very straight because] it had been built using a (plumb line/cord with a weight on one end to determine if walls are vertically straight). Yahweh had the plumb line in his hand.
Thus has He showed me, and behold, the Lord is standing by a wall [made according to] a plumb-line, and in His hand a plumb-line;
8 Yahweh asked me, “Amos, what do you see?” I replied, “A plumb line.” Then Yahweh said, “Look, I am going to use a plumb line among my Israeli people, [to show that they are like a wall that is not straight]. I will not change my mind again about punishing them.
and YHWH says to me, “What are you seeing, Amos?” And I say, “A plumb-line”; and the Lord says: “Behold, I am setting a plumb-line in the midst of My people Israel, I no longer pass over to it.
9 The places on hills where [the descendants of] [MTY] Isaac worship [idols] will be destroyed. And the other important shrines in Israel will also be destroyed. And I will enable [your enemies] to attack your people with swords and they will get rid of [King] Jeroboam and all his descendants.”
And high places of Isaac have been desolated, And sanctuaries of Israel are dried up, And I have risen against the house of Jeroboam with a sword.”
10 Then Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, sent [a message] to Jeroboam, the King of Israel. In the message he said, “Amos is plotting against you among the Israeli people [MTY]. [I am worried that] the people of this country will not be able to refute his words.
And Amaziah priest of Beth-El sends to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words,
11 This is what he is saying: ‘Jeroboam will soon be killed by [someone using] a sword, and the people of Israel will be (exiled/forced to leave their land and go to another country).’”
for thus said Amos: Jeroboam dies by sword, And Israel certainly removes from off its land.”
12 Then Amaziah [came to me and] said, “You prophet, get out of here! Go back to the country of Judah! Earn money to [buy food to be able] to live there, and do your prophesying there!
And Amaziah says to Amos, “Seer, go, flee to the land of Judah for yourself, and eat bread there, and there you prophesy;
13 Do not prophesy any more here at Bethel, because this is where the national temple, the king’s temple, is!”
and no longer prophesy [at] Beth-El anymore, for it [is] the king’s sanctuary, and it [is] the royal house.”
14 I replied to Amaziah, “I was [previously] not a prophet, and my father was not a prophet; I was a shepherd. I also took care of sycamore-fig trees.
And Amos answers and says to Amaziah, “I [am] no prophet, nor [am] I a prophet’s son, but I [am] a herdsman, and a cultivator of sycamores,
15 But Yahweh took me away from taking care of my sheep, and he said to me, ‘Go to Israel and prophesy to my people there!’
and YHWH takes me from after the flock, and YHWH says to me, Go, prophesy to My people Israel.
16 You said to me, ‘Do not prophecy saying terrible things will happen to [the people of] Israel; stop saying those things!’
And now, hear a word of YHWH: You are saying, Do not prophesy against Israel, nor drop [anything] against the house of Isaac,
17 Therefore listen to what Yahweh says about you: ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in this city, and your sons and daughters will be killed by [your enemies’] swords. Others will measure your land and divide it up [among themselves]; and you yourself will die in a foreign country. And the people of Israel will certainly be forced to leave their country and go (into exile/to live in another country).’”
therefore, thus said YHWH: Your wife goes whoring in the city, And your sons and your daughters fall by sword, And your land is apportioned by line, And you die on an unclean land, And Israel certainly removes from off its land.”
