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Amos 7
New International Version

### Locusts, Fire and a Plumb Line

7 This is what the SovereignLordshowed me:(A)He was preparing swarms of locusts(B)after the king’s share had been harvested and just as the late crops were coming up.2 When they had stripped the land clean,(C)I cried out, “SovereignLord, forgive! How can Jacob survive?(D)He is so small!(E)”

3 So theLordrelented.(F)

“This will not happen,” theLordsaid.(G)

4 This is what the SovereignLordshowed me: The SovereignLordwas calling for judgment by fire;(H)it dried up the great deep and devoured(I)the land.5 Then I cried out, “SovereignLord, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!(J)”

6 So theLordrelented.(K)

“This will not happen either,” the SovereignLordsaid.(L)

7 This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb,[a]with a plumb line[b]in his hand.8 And theLordasked me, “What do you see,(M)Amos?(N)”

“A plumb line,(O)” I replied.

Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.(P)

9 “The high places(Q)of Isaac will be destroyed
and the sanctuaries(R)of Israel will be ruined;
with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.(S)”

### Amos and Amaziah

10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel(T)sent a message to Jeroboam(U)king of Israel: “Amos is raising a conspiracy(V)against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words.(W)11 For this is what Amos is saying:

“‘Jeroboam will die by the sword,
and Israel will surely go into exile,(X)
away from their native land.’”(Y)

12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer!(Z)Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there.(AA)13 Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel,(AB)because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple(AC)of the kingdom.(AD)”

14 Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet(AE)nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees.(AF)15 But theLordtook me from tending the flock(AG)and said to me, ‘Go,(AH)prophesy(AI)to my people Israel.’(AJ)16 Now then, hear(AK)the word of theLord. You say,

“‘Do not prophesy against(AL)Israel,
and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’

17 “Therefore this is what theLordsays:

“‘Your wife will become a prostitute(AM)in the city,
and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword.
Your land will be measured and divided up,
and you yourself will die in a pagan[c]country.
And Israel will surely go into exile,(AN)
away from their native land.(AO)’”

#### Footnotes

1. Amos 7:7 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.
2. Amos 7:7 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain; also in verse 8.
3. Amos 7:17 Hebrewan unclean

#### Cross references

1. Amos 7:1:ver 7; Am 8:1
2. Amos 7:1:Ps 78:46; S Jer 51:14; S Joel 1:4
3. Amos 7:2:S Ex 10:15
4. Amos 7:2:S Isa 37:4
5. Amos 7:2:S Eze 11:13; S Am 4:9
6. Amos 7:3:S Ex 32:14; Dt 32:36; S Jer 18:8; 26:19
7. Amos 7:3:S Hos 11:8
8. Amos 7:4:S Isa 66:16; S Joel 1:19
9. Amos 7:4:Dt 32:22
10. Amos 7:5:S ver 1-2; Joel 2:17
11. Amos 7:6:S Ex 32:14; S Jer 18:8; Jnh 3:10
12. Amos 7:6:Jer 42:10; S Eze 9:8
13. Amos 7:8:Jer 1:11, 13
14. Amos 7:8:Am 8:2
15. Amos 7:8:S 2Ki 21:13
16. Amos 7:8:S Jer 15:6; Eze 7:2-9
17. Amos 7:9:S Lev 26:30
18. Amos 7:9:S Lev 26:31
19. Amos 7:9:S 1Ki 13:34; 2Ki 15:9; Isa 63:18; S Hos 10:8
20. Amos 7:10:S Jos 7:2
21. Amos 7:10:S 2Ki 14:23
22. Amos 7:10:Jer 38:4
23. Amos 7:10:2Ki 14:24; Jer 26:8-11
24. Amos 7:11:S Am 5:27
25. Amos 7:11:Jer 36:16
26. Amos 7:12:S 1Sa 9:9
27. Amos 7:12:Mt 8:34
28. Amos 7:13:S Jos 7:2; S 1Ki 12:29
29. Amos 7:13:Jer 36:5
30. Amos 7:13:S Jer 20:2; S Am 2:12; Ac 4:18
31. Amos 7:14:S 1Sa 10:5; 2Ki 2:5; 4:38; Zec 13:5
32. Amos 7:14:S 1Ki 10:27; S Isa 9:10
33. Amos 7:15:S Ge 37:2; S 2Sa 7:8
34. Amos 7:15:S Isa 6:9
35. Amos 7:15:S Jer 26:12
36. Amos 7:15:Jer 7:1-2; S Eze 2:3-4
37. Amos 7:16:Jer 22:2
38. Amos 7:16:S Eze 20:46; Mic 2:6
39. Amos 7:17:S Hos 4:13
40. Amos 7:17:S Am 5:27
41. Amos 7:17:S 2Ki 17:6; S Eze 4:13; S Hos 9:3; Am 2:12-13

New International Version(NIV)

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