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First Vision: Locusts

¹ The Lord God showed me this: He was forming a swarm of locusts^(C1) at the time the spring crop first began to sprout—after the cutting of the king’s hay. ² When the locusts finished eating the vegetation of the land,^(C1) I said, “Lord God, please forgive!^(C2) How will Jacob survive since he is so small?” ^(C3)

³ The Lord relented concerning this.^(C1) “It will not happen,” he said.

Second Vision: Fire

⁴ The Lord God showed me this: The Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire.^(C1) It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. ⁵ Then I said, “Lord God, please stop!^(C1) How will Jacob survive since he is so small?”

⁶ The Lord relented concerning this.^(C1) “This will not happen either,” said the Lord God.

Third Vision: A Plumb Line

⁷ He showed me this: The Lord was standing there by a vertical wall with a plumb line in his hand. ⁸ The Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” ^(C1)

I replied, “A plumb line.”

Then the Lord said, “I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel;^(C2) I will no longer spare them:^(C3)

Amaziah’s Opposition

¹⁰ Amaziah the priest^(C1) of Bethel sent word to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you^(C2) right here in the house of Israel. The land cannot endure all his words, ¹¹ for Amos has said this: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will certainly go into exile from its homeland.’”^(C1)

¹² Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer!^(C1) Flee to the land of Judah. Earn your living^(F1) and give your prophecies there, ¹³ but don’t ever prophesy^(C1) at Bethel again, for it is the king’s sanctuary^(C2) and a royal temple.”

¹⁴ So Amos answered Amaziah, “I was^(F1) not a prophet or the son of a prophet;^(F2)(C1) rather, I was^(F3) a herdsman,^(C2) and I took care of sycamore figs. ¹⁵ But the Lord took me from following the flock^(C1) and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’”^(C2)

¹⁶ Now hear the word of the Lord. You say:

¹⁷ Therefore, this is what the Lord says: