Amos 7-8
English Standard Version
Warning Visions
7 (A)This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, (B)he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings. 2 When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said,
“O Lord God, please forgive!
(C)How can Jacob stand?
He is so small!”
3 (D)The Lord relented concerning this:
“It shall not be,” said the Lord.
4 (E)This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling (F)for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. 5 Then I said,
“O Lord God, please cease!
(G)How can Jacob stand?
He is so small!”
6 (H)The Lord relented concerning this:
“This also shall not be,” said the Lord God.
7 (I)This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with (J)a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the Lord said to me, (K)“Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,
“Behold, I am setting (L)a plumb line
in the midst of my people Israel;
(M)I will never again pass by them;
9 (N)the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,
and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,
and I will rise against (O)the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
Amos Accused
10 Then Amaziah (P)the priest of Bethel sent to (Q)Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has (R)conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. 11 For thus Amos has said,
“‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
and (S)Israel must go into exile
away from his land.’”
12 And Amaziah said to Amos, (T)“O seer, go, flee away (U)to the land of Judah, and (V)eat bread there, and prophesy there, 13 but (W)never again prophesy at Bethel, for (X)it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”
14 Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, (Y)“I was[a] no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but (Z)I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. 15 (AA)But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16 (AB)Now therefore hear the word of the Lord.
“You say, (AC)‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
and (AD)do not preach against the house of (AE)Isaac.’
17 (AF)Therefore thus says the Lord:
“‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city,
and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,
and your land (AG)shall be divided up with a measuring line;
you yourself shall die in an unclean land,
and (AH)Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’”
The Coming Day of Bitter Mourning
8 (AI)This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. 2 And he said, (AJ)“Amos, what do you see?” And I said, (AK)“A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me,
(AL)“The end[b] has come upon my people Israel;
I will never again pass by them.
3 (AM)The songs of the temple[c] (AN)shall become wailings[d] in that day,”
declares the Lord God.
(AO)“So many dead bodies!”
“They are thrown everywhere!”
(AP)“Silence!”
4 Hear this, (AQ)you who trample on the needy
and bring the poor of the land to an end,
5 saying, “When will (AR)the new moon be over,
that we may sell grain?
And (AS)the Sabbath,
that we may offer wheat for sale,
that we may make (AT)the ephah small and the shekel[e] great
and deal deceitfully with false balances,
6 that we may buy the poor for (AU)silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals
and sell the chaff of the wheat?”
7 The Lord has sworn by (AV)the pride of Jacob:
“Surely (AW)I will never forget any of their deeds.
8 (AX)Shall not the land tremble on this account,
and everyone mourn who dwells in it,
(AY)and all of it rise like the Nile,
and be tossed about (AZ)and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?”
9 “And on that day,” declares the Lord God,
(BA)“I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 (BB)I will turn your feasts into mourning
and all your songs into lamentation;
(BC)I will bring sackcloth on every waist
(BD)and baldness on every head;
(BE)I will make it like the mourning for an only son
and the end of it like a bitter day.
11 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God,
“when (BF)I will send a famine on the land—
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
(BG)but of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 (BH)They shall wander from sea to sea,
and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord,
(BI)but they shall not find it.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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