Amos 7

Amos 7:1

This is what the Lord GOD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts just after the king’s harvest, as the late spring crop was coming up.

Amos 7:1 · BSB

grasshoppers or , green worms , Govai in Arabic gabee "locusts ," probably in their caterpillar state , in which they are most destructive. This is supposed to have been an emblem of the first invasion of the Assyrians.

mowings Or rather , feedings or grazings , as the people of the East make no hay. This was probably in the month of March , which is the only time of the year that the Arabs to this day feed their horses with grass.

Amos 7:2

And when the locusts had eaten every green plant in the land, I said, “Lord GOD, please forgive! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?”

Amos 7:2 · BSB

Amos 7:3

So the LORD relented from this plan. “It will not happen,” He said.

Amos 7:3 · BSB

Amos 7:4

This is what the Lord GOD showed me: The Lord GOD was calling for judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land.

Amos 7:4 · BSB

Amos 7:5

Then I said, “Lord GOD, please stop! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?”

Amos 7:5 · BSB

Amos 7:6

So the LORD relented from this plan. “It will not happen either,” said the Lord GOD.

Amos 7:6 · BSB

Amos 7:7

This is what He showed me: Behold, the Lord was standing by a wall true to plumb, with a plumb line in His hand.

Amos 7:7 · BSB

Amos 7:8

“Amos, what do you see?” asked the LORD. “A plumb line,” I replied. “Behold,” said the Lord, “I am setting a plumb line among My people Israel; I will no longer spare them:

Amos 7:8 · BSB

a plumbline This was an emblem of strict justice; and intimated that God would now visit them according to their iniquities.

Amos 7:9

The high places of Isaac will be deserted, and the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste; and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with My sword.”

Amos 7:9 · BSB

Amos 7:10

Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words,

Amos 7:10 · BSB

Amos 7:11

for this is what Amos has said: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their homeland.’”

Amos 7:11 · BSB

Amos 7:12

And Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah; earn your bread there and do your prophesying there.

Amos 7:12 · BSB

Amos 7:13

But never prophesy at Bethel again, because it is the sanctuary of the king and the temple of the kingdom.”

Amos 7:13 · BSB

chapel or , sanctuary

king's court Heb. house of the kingdom

Amos 7:14

"I was not a prophet," Amos replied, "nor was I the son of a prophet; rather, I was a herdsman and a tender of sycamore-fig trees.

Amos 7:14 · BSB

a gatherer Rather , as bolais is rendered by the LXX and Vulgate , ךםיזשם , vellicans "a scraping ," or a scraper of sycamores; for the fruit does not ripen till it is rubbed with iron combs.

sycamore fruit or , wild figs

Amos 7:15

But the LORD took me from following the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’

Amos 7:15 · BSB

as I followed Heb. from behind

Amos 7:16

Now, therefore, hear the word of the LORD. You say: ‘Do not prophesy against Israel; do not preach against the house of Isaac.’

Amos 7:16 · BSB

Amos 7:17

Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be divided by a measuring line, and you yourself will die on pagan soil. And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their homeland.’”

Amos 7:17 · BSB