First Vision: Locusts

7 The Lord God showed me this: He was forming a swarm of locusts^(A) at the time the spring crop first began to sprout—after the cutting of the king’s hay. ² When the locusts finished eating the vegetation of the land,^(B) I said, “Lord God, please forgive!^(C) How will Jacob survive since he is so small?” ^(D)

³ The Lord relented concerning this.^(E) “It will not happen,” he said.

Second Vision: Fire

⁴ The Lord God showed me this: The Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire.^(F) It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. ⁵ Then I said, “Lord God, please stop!^(G) How will Jacob survive since he is so small?”

⁶ The Lord relented concerning this.^(H) “This will not happen either,” said the Lord God.

Third Vision: A Plumb Line

⁷ He showed me this: The Lord was standing there by a vertical wall with a plumb line in his hand. ⁸ The Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” ^(I)

I replied, “A plumb line.”

Then the Lord said, “I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel;^(J) I will no longer spare them:^(K)

Amaziah’s Opposition

¹⁰ Amaziah the priest^(N) of Bethel sent word to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you^(O) right here in the house of Israel. The land cannot endure all his words, ¹¹ for Amos has said this: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will certainly go into exile from its homeland.’”^(P)

¹² Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer!^(Q) Flee to the land of Judah. Earn your living^[a] and give your prophecies there, ¹³ but don’t ever prophesy^(R) at Bethel again, for it is the king’s sanctuary^(S) and a royal temple.”

¹⁴ So Amos answered Amaziah, “I was^[b] not a prophet or the son of a prophet;^[c](T) rather, I was^[d] a herdsman,^(U) and I took care of sycamore figs. ¹⁵ But the Lord took me from following the flock^(V) and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’”^(W)

¹⁶ Now hear the word of the Lord. You say:

¹⁷ Therefore, this is what the Lord says: