Amos 7-8

Contemporary English Version

A Vision of Locusts

7 The Lord God showed me that he is going to send locusts^[a] to attack your crops. It will happen after the king has already been given his share of the grain and before the rest of the grain has been harvested.^[b] ²In my vision the locusts ate every crop in the land, and I said to the Lord, “Please forgive your nation. It's so weak. How can it survive?”

³Then the Lord felt sorry and answered, “I won't let it be destroyed.”

A Vision of Fire

⁴The Lord showed me that he is going to send a ball of fire to burn up everything on earth, including the ocean.^[c] ⁵Then I said, “Won't you please stop? How can our weak nation survive?”

⁶Again the Lord felt sorry and answered, “I won't let it be destroyed.”

A Vision of a Measuring Line

⁷The Lord showed me a vision of himself standing beside a wall and holding a string with a weight tied to the end of it. The string and weight had been used to measure the straightness of the wall. ⁸Then he asked, “Amos, what do you see?”

“A measuring line,” I answered.

The Lord said, “I'm using this measuring line to show that my people Israel don't measure up, and I won't forgive them any more. ⁹Their sacred places will be destroyed, and I will send war against the nation of King Jeroboam.”^[d]

Amos and Amaziah

¹⁰Amaziah the priest at Bethel sent this message to King Jeroboam of Israel, “Amos is plotting against you in the very heart of Israel. Our nation cannot put up with his message for very long. ¹¹Here is what he is saying:

‘Jeroboam will be put to death,
and the people will be taken
to a foreign country.’ ”

¹²Then Amaziah told me, “Amos, take your visions and get out! Go back to Judah and earn your living there as a prophet. ¹³Don't do any more preaching at Bethel. The king worships here at our national temple.”

¹⁴I answered:

I'm not a prophet! And I wasn't trained to be a prophet. I am a shepherd, and I take care of fig trees. ¹⁵But the Lord told me to leave my herds and preach to the people of Israel. ¹⁶And here you are, telling me not to preach! ¹⁷Now, listen to what the Lord says about you:

Your wife will become
    a prostitute in the city,
your sons and daughters
    will be killed in war,
and your land will be divided
    among others.
You will die in a country
    of foreigners,
and the people of Israel
will be dragged
    from their homeland.

A Basket of Fruit

8 The Lord God showed me a basket of ripe fruit ²and asked, “Amos, what do you see?”

“A basket of ripe fruit,” I replied.

Then he said,

“This is the end^[e]
for my people Israel.
    I won't forgive them again.
³Instead of singing
in the temple,
    they will cry and weep.
Dead bodies will be everywhere.
    So keep silent!
I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Israel Is Doomed

The Lord said:

⁴You people crush those in need
    and wipe out the poor.
⁵You say to yourselves,
“How much longer before the end
    of the New Moon Festival?
When will the Sabbath^[f] be over?
Our wheat is ready,
    and we want to sell it now.
We can't wait to cheat
and charge high prices
    for the grain we sell.
We will use dishonest scales
⁶    and mix dust in the grain.
Those who are needy and poor
    don't have any money.
We will make them our slaves
for the price
    of a pair of sandals.”

⁷I, the Lord, won't forget
    any of this,
though you take great pride
    in your ancestor Jacob.^[g]
⁸Your country will tremble,
    and you will mourn.
It will be like the Nile River
that rises and overflows,
    then sinks back down.

⁹On that day, I, the Lord God,
will make the sun
    go down at noon,
and I will turn daylight
    into darkness.
¹⁰Your festivals and joyful singing
    will turn into sorrow.
You will wear sackcloth^[h]
    and shave your heads,
as you would at the death
of your only son.
    It will be a horrible day.

¹¹I, the Lord, also promise you
a terrible shortage,
    but not of food and water.
You will hunger and thirst
    to hear my message.
¹²You will search everywhere—
from north to south,
    from east to west.
You will go all over the earth,
    seeking a message
from me, the Lord.
    But you won't find one.

¹³Your beautiful young women
and your young men
    will faint from thirst.
¹⁴You made promises
to the goddess Ashimah
    at Samaria;
you made vows to other gods
at the shrines
    of Dan and Beersheba.^[i]
So now you will fall
    and never get up.

Footnotes

7.1 locusts: See the note at 4.9.
7.1 harvested: This would have been an especially bad time for a locust attack. The non-grain crops such as vegetables and onions were just beginning to sprout, and the grain crops were almost ready to be harvested.
7.4 to burn up everything … ocean: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
7.9 Jeroboam: Jeroboam II, who ruled Israel 783–743 b.c.
8.2 end: In Hebrew “ripe fruit” and “end” sound alike.
8.5 New Moon Festival … Sabbath: Selling grain at these times was forbidden by the Law of Moses.
8.7 though … Jacob: Or “though I am the God that Jacob proudly worshiped.”
8.10 sackcloth: A rough, dark-colored cloth made from goat or camel hair and used to make grain sacks. It was worn in times of trouble or sorrow.
8.14 You made … Beersheba: Or “You made promises to the goddess Ashimah at Samaria, and you made vows in the names of other gods at the shrines of Dan and Beersheba.”