Amos

Amos, chapter 7, New English Translation and King James Version

Chapter 7 New English Translation

Symbolic Visions of Judgment

   1 The sovereign LORD showed me this: I saw him making locusts just as the crops planted late were beginning to sprout. (The crops planted late sprout after the royal harvest. ) 2 When they had completely consumed the earth's vegetation, I said, "Sovereign LORD, forgive Israel! How can Jacob survive? He is too weak!" 3 The LORD decided not to do this. "It will not happen, " the LORD said.
   4 The sovereign LORD showed me this: I saw the sovereign LORD summoning a shower of fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the fields.
   5 I said, "Sovereign LORD, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is too weak!"
   6 The LORD decided not to do this. The sovereign LORD said, "This will not happen either."
   7 He showed me this: I saw the sovereign One standing by a tin wall holding tin in his hand. 8 The LORD said to me, "What do you see, Amos?" I said, "Tin." The sovereign One then said, "Look, I am about to place tin among my people Israel. I will no longer overlook their sin.
   9 Isaac's centers of worship will become desolate; Israel's holy places will be in ruins. I will attack Jeroboam's dynasty with the sword."

Amos Confronts a Priest

   10 Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent this message to King Jeroboam of Israel: "Amos is conspiring against you in the very heart of the kingdom of Israel! The land cannot endure all his prophecies. 11 As a matter of fact, Amos is saying this: 'Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel will certainly be carried into exile away from its land.'"
   12 Amaziah then said to Amos, "Leave, you visionary! Run away to the land of Judah! Earn your living and prophesy there! 13 Don't prophesy at Bethel any longer, for a royal temple and palace are here!"
   14 Amos replied to Amaziah, "I was not a prophet by profession. No, I was a herdsman who also took care of sycamore fig trees. 15 Then the LORD took me from tending flocks and gave me this commission, 'Go! Prophesy to my people Israel!' 16 So now listen to the LORD's message! You say, 'Don't prophesy against Israel! Don't preach against the family of Isaac!'
   17 "Therefore this is what the LORD says: 'Your wife will become a prostitute in the streets and your sons and daughters will die violently. Your land will be given to others and you will die in a foreign land. Israel will certainly be carried into exile away from its land.'"

King James Version

   1 Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings.
   2 And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.
   3 The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD.
   4 ¶ Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part.
   5 Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.
   6 The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord GOD.
   7 ¶ Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand.
   8 And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more:
   9 And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.
   10 ¶ Then Amaziah the priest of Beth-el sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.
   11 For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land.
   12 Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:
   13 But prophesy not again any more at Beth-el: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court.
   14 ¶ Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit:
   15 And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.
   16 ¶ Now therefore hear thou the word of the LORD: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac.
   17 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.