Amos 7-8
GOD’S WORD Translation
The Lord Threatens to Bring a Famine by Locusts
7 This is what the Almighty Lord showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts when the second crop was being harvested. It was the harvest that followed the harvest for the king. 2 When the locusts had finished eating every plant in the land, I said, “Almighty Lord, please forgive us! How can ⌞the descendants of⌟ Jacob survive? There are so few of them.”
3 The Lord changed his plans about this. “This won’t happen,” the Lord said.
The Lord Threatens to Bring a Drought by Fire
4 This is what the Almighty Lord showed me: The Almighty Lord was calling for judgment by fire. The fire dried up the ocean and burned up the land. 5 Then I said, “Almighty Lord, please stop! How can ⌞the descendants of⌟ Jacob survive? There are so few of them.”
6 The Lord changed his plans about this. “This won’t happen either,” the Almighty Lord said.
The Lord Refuses to Overlook Israel’s Sin
7 This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall built with the use of a plumb line, and he had a plumb line in his hand. 8 He asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”
I answered, “A plumb line.”
Then the Lord said, “I’m going to hold a plumb line in the middle of my people Israel. I will no longer overlook what they have done. 9 The worship sites of Isaac will be destroyed, and the holy places of Israel will be in ruins. I will attack Jeroboam’s heirs with my sword.”
Amaziah Opposes Amos
10 Then Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, sent a message to King Jeroboam of Israel. It read, “Amos is plotting against you among the people of Israel. The country isn’t able to endure everything he is saying. 11 Amos says that Jeroboam will be killed with a sword and that Israel cannot avoid being taken from its land into exile.”
12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “You seer,[a] run away to Judah! Eat there, and prophesy there! 13 But don’t ⌞ever⌟ prophesy again in Bethel, because this is the king’s holy place and the king’s palace.”
14 Amos responded, “I’m not a prophet, and I’m not a disciple of the prophets. I am a rancher and a grower of figs. 15 But the Lord took me away from herding the flock and said to me, ‘Prophesy to my people Israel.’
16 “Now listen to the Lord’s word: You said, ‘Stop prophesying against Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’
17 “However, this is what the Lord says: Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will be killed with swords. Your land will be surveyed and divided up, and you will die in an unclean [b] land. Israel cannot avoid being taken from its land into exile.”
The End Has Come for Israel
8 This is what the Almighty Lord showed me: a basket of ripe summer fruit.
2 He asked, “What do you see, Amos?”
“A basket of ripe summer fruit,” I answered.
Then the Lord said to me, “My people Israel are now ripe. I will no longer overlook what they have done. 3 On that day the songs of the temple will become loud cries,” declares the Almighty Lord. “There will be dead bodies scattered everywhere. Hush!”
4 Listen to this, those who trample on the needy
and ruin those who are oppressed in the world.
5 You say to yourselves,
“When will the New Moon Festival be over
so that we can sell more grain?
When will the day of rest—a holy day, be over
so that we can sell more wheat?
We can shrink the size of the bushel baskets,
increase the cost,
and cheat with dishonest scales.
6 We can buy the poor with money
and the needy for a pair of sandals.
We can sell the husks mixed in with the wheat.”
7 The Lord has sworn an oath by Jacob’s pride:
“I will never forget anything that they have done.”
8 The land will tremble because of this.
Everyone who lives in it will mourn.
The entire land will rise like the Nile,
be tossed about, and then sink like Egypt’s river.
9 On that day, declares the Almighty Lord,
I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your festivals into funerals
and all your songs into funeral songs.
I will put sackcloth around everyone’s waist
and shave everyone’s head.
I will make that day seem like a funeral for an only child,
and its end will be bitter.
11 The days are going to come, declares the Almighty Lord,
when I will send a famine throughout the land.
It won’t be an ordinary famine or drought.
Instead, there will be a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 People will wander from sea to sea
and roam from the north to the east,
searching for the Lord’s word.
But they won’t find it.
13 On that day beautiful young women and strong young men
will faint because of their thirst.
14 ⌞How horrible it will be for⌟ those who swear by Ashimah,
the idol of Samaria, and say,
“I solemnly swear, Dan, as your god lives….”
“I solemnly swear as long as there is a road to Beersheba….”
Those who say this will fall and never get up again.
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