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.
This is what the Lord God showed me: he was forming a swarm of locusts, when the late spring grass began to come up after the king’s share had been harvested.
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 when they had finished devouring all the land’s vegetation, I said: ‘Lord God, forgive, I beg you! How can Jacob survive, for he is so helpless?’
3 So Yahweh changed his mind and said, “That will not happen.”
The Lord relented. This will not happen,’ said the Lord.
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.
This is what he showed me: the Lord God was giving command to execute judgment by fire. It burned up the great deep, and had begun to devour the fields, and I said:
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 God, forgive, I beg you! How can Jacob survive, for he is so helpless?’
6 So Yahweh changed his mind again, and said, “That also will not happen.”
The Lord relented. ‘This will not happen either,’ said the Lord.
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.
This is what the Lord God showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.
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 the Lord said to me, ‘What do you see, Amos?’ And I answered, ‘A plumb line,’ Then the Lord said, ‘Watch: I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel, I will no longer overlook their crookedness.
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 the high places of Isaac will be desolate, the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste, and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the 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.
Then Amaziah, chief priest of Bethel sent this message to King Jeroboam of Israel: ‘Amos has conspired against you right in the heart of Israel. The country cannot survive 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).’”
Amos has said, “Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will be led away captive out of their 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 said to Amos, ‘Leave, you who see visions, go to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and prophesy there,
13 Do not prophesy any more here at Bethel, because this is where the national temple, the king’s temple, is!”
but don’t prophesy any more at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is the royal residence.’
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.
‘I am no prophet,’ Amos answered Amaziah, ‘nor trained as one. I am a shepherd and a keeper of sycamores fig trees.
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!’
But the Lord took me away from following the flock, and the Lord said 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!’
Now therefore listen to the Lord’s message: “You say not to prophesy against Israel, nor to preach 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).’”
But the Lord says: Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword, your land will be divided up, you will die on unclean soil, and Israel will be led away captive out of their land.”’
