1Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me, and behold, he was forming a swarm of locusts at the beginning of the sprouting of the latter growth—and behold, the latter growth was after the king’s mowings.
2And it came about, when it had finished devouring the vegetation of the land, that I said, “Lord Yahweh, forgive, please! How can Jacob stand? For he is small.”
3Yahweh relented concerning this. “It shall not be,” said Yahweh.
4Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me, and behold, the Lord Yahweh was calling for a contention by fire; and it devoured the great deep and would have devoured the portion.
5And I said, “Lord Yahweh, cease, please! How can Jacob stand? For he is small.”
6Yahweh relented concerning this. “This also shall not be,” said the Lord Yahweh.
7Thus he showed me, and behold, the Lord was standing on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.
8And Yahweh said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A plumb line.” And the Lord said, “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will no longer pass over them.”
9The high places of Isaac shall be laid waste, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be ruined; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.
10Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is not able to endure all his words.
11For thus Amos has said: ‘By the sword Jeroboam shall die, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’”
12And Amaziah said to Amos, “Seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah; eat bread there, and prophesy there.
13But at Bethel do not prophesy any longer, for it is the king’s sanctuary and a royal house.”
14Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I am not a prophet, nor am I a prophet’s son; for I am a herdsman and a tender of sycamore figs.
15But Yahweh took me from following the flock, and Yahweh said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
16And now, hear the word of Yahweh: You are saying, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
17Therefore thus says Yahweh: ‘Your wife shall play the harlot in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up by the measuring line; and you yourself shall die on unclean soil, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’”
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