Study Desk

Locusts, Fire and a Plumb Line

This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me:^(a) He was preparing swarms of locusts^(b) after the king's share had been harvested and just as the late crops were coming up.

When they had stripped the land clean,^(c) I cried out, "Sovereign Lord , forgive! How can Jacob survive?^(d) He is so small!^(e)"

So the Lord relented.^(f) "This will not happen," the Lord said.^(g)

This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: The Sovereign Lord was calling for judgment by fire;^(h) it dried up the great deep and devoured⁽ⁱ⁾ the land.

Then I cried out, "Sovereign Lord , I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!^(j)"

So the Lord relented.^(k) "This will not happen either," the Sovereign Lord said.^(l)

This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb,^[a] with a plumb line^[b] in his hand.

And the Lord asked me, "What do you see,^(m) Amos?⁽ⁿ⁾" "A plumb line,^(o)" I replied. Then the Lord said, "Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.^(p)

"The high places^(q) of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries^(r) of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.^(s)"

Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel^(t) sent a message to Jeroboam^(u) king of Israel: "Amos is raising a conspiracy^(v) against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words.^(w)

For this is what Amos is saying: "‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile,^(x) away from their native land.'"^(y)

Then Amaziah said to Amos, "Get out, you seer!^(z) Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there.^(aa)

Don't prophesy anymore at Bethel,^(ab) because this is the king's sanctuary and the temple^(ac) of the kingdom.^(ad)"

Amos answered Amaziah, "I was neither a prophet^(ae) nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees.^(af)

But the Lord took me from tending the flock^(ag) and said to me, ‘Go,^(ah) prophesy^(ai) to my people Israel.'^(aj)

Now then, hear^(ak) the word of the Lord . You say, "‘Do not prophesy against^(al) Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.'

"Therefore this is what the Lord says: "‘Your wife will become a prostitute^(am) in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan^[c] country. And Israel will surely go into exile,^(an) away from their native land.^(ao)'"

A Basket of Ripe Fruit

This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me:^(a) a basket of ripe fruit.

"What do you see,^(b) Amos?^(c)" he asked. "A basket^(d) of ripe fruit," I answered. Then the Lord said to me, "The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.^(e)

"In that day," declares the Sovereign Lord , "the songs in the temple will turn to wailing.^[a](f) Many, many bodies—flung everywhere! Silence!^(g)"

Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor^(h) of the land,⁽ⁱ⁾

saying, "When will the New Moon^(j) be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market^(k) wheat?"^(l)— skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating^(m) with dishonest scales,⁽ⁿ⁾

buying the poor^(o) with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.^(p)

The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob:^(q) "I will never forget^(r) anything they have done.^(s)

"Will not the land tremble^(t) for this, and all who live in it mourn? The whole land will rise like the Nile; it will be stirred up and then sink like the river of Egypt.^(u)

"In that day," declares the Sovereign Lord , "I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.^(v)

I will turn your religious festivals^(w) into mourning and all your singing into weeping.^(x) I will make all of you wear sackcloth^(y) and shave^(z) your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son^(aa) and the end of it like a bitter day.^(ab)

"The days are coming,"^(ac) declares the Sovereign Lord , "when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine^(ad) of hearing the words of the Lord .^(ae)

People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord , but they will not find it.^(af)

"In that day "the lovely young women and strong young men^(ag) will faint because of thirst.^(ah)

Those who swear by the sin of Samaria^(ai)— who say, ‘As surely as your god lives, Dan,'^(aj) or, ‘As surely as the god^[b] of Beersheba^(ak) lives'— they will fall,^(al) never to rise again.^(am)"

I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said: "Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. Bring them down on the heads^(a) of all the people; those who are left I will kill with the sword. Not one will get away, none will escape.^(b)

Though they dig down to the depths below,^(c) from there my hand will take them. Though they climb up to the heavens above,^(d) from there I will bring them down.^(e)

Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,^(f) there I will hunt them down and seize them.^(g) Though they hide from my eyes at the bottom of the sea,^(h) there I will command the serpent⁽ⁱ⁾ to bite them.^(j)

Though they are driven into exile by their enemies, there I will command the sword^(k) to slay them. "I will keep my eye on them for harm^(l) and not for good.^(m)"⁽ⁿ⁾

The Lord, the Lord Almighty— he touches the earth and it melts,^(o) and all who live in it mourn; the whole land rises like the Nile, then sinks like the river of Egypt;^(p)

he builds his lofty palace^[a](q) in the heavens and sets its foundation^[b] on the earth; he calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land— the Lord is his name.^(r)

"Are not you Israelites the same to me as the Cushites^[c]?"^(s) declares the Lord . "Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt, the Philistines^(t) from Caphtor^[d](u) and the Arameans from Kir?^(v)

"Surely the eyes of the Sovereign Lord are on the sinful kingdom. I will destroy^(w) it from the face of the earth. Yet I will not totally destroy the descendants of Jacob," declares the Lord .^(x)

"For I will give the command, and I will shake the people of Israel among all the nations as grain^(y) is shaken in a sieve,^(z) and not a pebble will reach the ground.^(aa)

All the sinners among my people will die by the sword,^(ab) all those who say, ‘Disaster will not overtake or meet us.'^(ac)

"In that day "I will restore David's^(ad) fallen shelter^(ae)— I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins^(af)— and will rebuild it as it used to be,^(ag)

so that they may possess the remnant of Edom^(ah) and all the nations that bear my name,^[e](ai)" declares the Lord , who will do these things.^(aj)

"The days are coming,"^(ak) declares the Lord , "when the reaper^(al) will be overtaken by the plowman^(am) and the planter by the one treading^(an) grapes. New wine^(ao) will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills,^(ap)

and I will bring^(aq) my people Israel back from exile.^[f](ar) "They will rebuild the ruined cities^(as) and live in them. They will plant vineyards^(at) and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.^(au)

I will plant^(av) Israel in their own land,^(aw) never again to be uprooted^(ax) from the land I have given them,"^(ay) says the Lord your God.^(az)