Amos 7-9
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] 2 In 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?”
3 Then the Lord felt sorry and answered, “I won't let it be destroyed.”
A Vision of Fire
4 The Lord showed me that he is going to send a ball of fire to burn up everything on earth, including the ocean.[c] 5 Then I said, “Won't you please stop? How can our weak nation survive?”
6 Again the Lord felt sorry and answered, “I won't let it be destroyed.”
A Vision of a Measuring Line
7 The 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. 8 Then 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. 9 Their sacred places will be destroyed, and I will send war against the nation of King Jeroboam.”[d]
Amos and Amaziah
10 Amaziah 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. 11 Here is what he is saying:
‘Jeroboam will be put to death,
and the people will be taken
to a foreign country.’ ”
12 Then Amaziah told me, “Amos, take your visions and get out! Go back to Judah and earn your living there as a prophet. 13 Don't do any more preaching at Bethel. The king worships here at our national temple.”
14 I 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. 15 But the Lord told me to leave my herds and preach to the people of Israel. 16 And here you are, telling me not to preach! 17 Now, 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 2 and 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.
3 Instead 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:
4 You people crush those in need
and wipe out the poor.
5 You 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.”
7 I, the Lord, won't forget
any of this,
though you take great pride
in your ancestor Jacob.[g]
8 Your country will tremble,
and you will mourn.
It will be like the Nile River
that rises and overflows,
then sinks back down.
9 On that day, I, the Lord God,
will make the sun
go down at noon,
and I will turn daylight
into darkness.
10 Your 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.
11 I, the Lord, also promise you
a terrible shortage,
but not of food and water.
You will hunger and thirst
to hear my message.
12 You 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.
13 Your beautiful young women
and your young men
will faint from thirst.
14 You 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.
Judgment on Israel
9 I saw a vision of the Lord
standing by the temple altar,[j]
and he said,
“Shake the columns
until the tops fall loose,
and the doorposts crumble.
Then make the pieces fall
on the people below.
I will take a sword and kill
anyone who escapes.
2 “If they dig deep into the earth
or climb to the sky,
I'll reach out and get them.
3 If they escape to the peaks
of Mount Carmel,
I'll search and find them.
And if they hide from me
at the bottom of the ocean,
I'll command a sea monster
to bite them.
4 I'll send a sword to kill them,
wherever their enemies
drag them off as captives.
I'm determined to hurt them,
not to help them.”
His Name Is the Lord
5 When the Lord God All-Powerful
touches the earth, it melts,
and its people mourn.
God makes the earth rise
and then fall,
just like the Nile River.
6 He built his palace in the heavens
and let its foundations
rest on the earth.[k]
He scoops up the ocean
and empties it on the earth.
His name is the Lord.
The Lord Is God
7 Israel, I am the Lord God,
and the Ethiopians[l]
are no less important to me
than you are.
I brought you out of Egypt,
but I also brought
the Philistines from Crete[m]
and the Arameans from Kir.[n]
8 My eyes have seen
what a sinful nation you are,
and I'll wipe you out.
But I will leave a few
of Jacob's descendants.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
9 At my command, all of you
will be sifted like grain.
Israelites who remain faithful
will be scattered
among the nations.
And the others will be trapped
like trash in a sifter.
10 Some of you are evil,
and you deny
that you will ever get caught.
But you will be killed.
The Lord's Promise to Israel
11 (A) In the future, I will rebuild
David's fallen kingdom.
I will build it from its ruins
and set it up again,
just as it used to be.
12 Then you will capture Edom
and the other nations
that are mine.
I, the Lord, have spoken,
and my words will come true.
13 You will have such a harvest
that you won't be able
to bring in all of your wheat
before plowing time.
You will have grapes left over
from season to season;
your fruitful vineyards
will cover the mountains.
14 I'll make Israel prosper again.
You will rebuild your towns
and live in them.
You will drink wine
from your own vineyards
and eat the fruit you grow.
15 I'll plant your roots deep
in the land I have given you,
and you won't ever
be uprooted again.
I, the Lord God, have spoken!
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.”
- 9.1 the temple altar: The one at Bethel.
- 9.6 He built … earth: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 9.7 Ethiopians: The Hebrew text has “people of Cush,” which was a region south of Egypt that included parts of the present countries of Ethiopia and Sudan.
- 9.7 Crete: Hebrew “Caphtor.”
- 9.7 Philistines … Arameans from Kir: The Philistines were Israel's enemies to the west, and the Arameans were enemies to the northeast. For Kir, see the note at 1.5.
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