Three Visions of Judgment
Amos sees locusts and fire and twice asks his Father to relent, and twice he does. The third vision, a plumb line, will not be argued away. When Amaziah orders him out of Bethel, he answers that he was a herdsman until our Father took him.
7 1This is what the Sovereign Father showed me: he was forming a swarm of locusts as the late crop began to sprout—the late crop after the king's mowings. 2When they finished eating the land's plants, I said, "Sovereign Father, please forgive! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!" a a v2 When the prophet pleads, our Father listens and holds back the judgment — the heart behind his sovereignty is mercy, not eagerness to destroy.
3Our Father relented concerning this. "It will not happen," said our Father.
4This is what the Sovereign Father showed me: the Sovereign Father called for judgment by fire; it devoured the great deep and was consuming the land. 5Then I said, "Sovereign Father, please stop! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!"
6Our Father relented concerning this. "This also will not happen," said the Sovereign Father.
7This is what he showed me: the Sovereign Father stood by a wall built straight, a plumb line in his hand. b b v7 A plumb line is a weighted cord that tests whether a wall stands straight — here a picture of our Father measuring whether his people's lives are true.
8And our Father said to me, "What do you see, Amos?" I said, "A plumb line." Then the Sovereign Father said, "Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will never again pass them by."
9"The hilltop shrines of Isaac will be laid waste, and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword."
Amaziah Silences the Prophet
10Amaziah, priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel: "Amos has conspired against you within the house of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words. 11This is what Amos said: 'Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from its land.'"
12Amaziah said to Amos, "Go, seer! Run to Judah. Earn your bread there, prophesy there. 13But never prophesy again at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, a royal temple."
14Amos answered Amaziah, "I was no prophet or prophet's son, but a herdsman and a grower of sycamore figs. 15But our Father took me from following the flock, and our Father told me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.' 16Now hear the word of our Father. You say, 'Do not prophesy against Israel, do not preach against the house of Isaac.'
17So our Father says: 'Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, your sons and daughters will fall by the sword, your land will be divided by a measuring line, and you yourself will die in an unclean land. Israel will surely go into exile, away from its own land.'"
