Chapter 7

1 Thus hath the Lord Jehovah showed me,-- Even lo, he formed locusts when grass began to grow, And, lo, it was the grass after the cuttings of the king:

2 And it was, after they had finished to eat, That I then said, "Lord Jehovah, spare, I pray; Who will restore Israel, for he is small?"

3 Jehovah repented of this; "It shall not be," said Jehovah.

4 Thus hath the Lord Jehovah showed me,-- Even lo, the Lord Jehovah called to contend by fire; And it devoured the great deep and their portion:

5 And I said, "Lord Jehovah, cease, I pray; Who will restore Israel, for he is small?

6 Jehovah repented of this; "This also shall not be," said the Lord Jehovah.

7 Thus hath he showed me,-- Even lo, the Lord stood on a plumbline wall, And in his hand a plumbline,

8 And Jehovah said to me, "What seest thou, Amos?" And I said, "A plumbline:" Then said the Lord, "Behold, I shall set A plumbline in the midst of my people Israel; I will no longer pass by them:

9 And destroyed shall be the high places of Isaac, And overthrown shall be the sanctuaries of Israel, And I shall rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword."

10 Then sent Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, To Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying,-- "Conspired against thee has Amos In the midst of the house of Israel; The land cannot bear all his words:

11 For thus saith Amos,-- 'By the sword shall Jeroboam die, And Israel, by migrating, shall migrate from their own land.'"

12 Amaziah said also to Amos,-- "Seer, go, flee into the land of Judah, And there eat bread, and there prophesy:

13 But in Bethel, prophesy no more; For it is the king's sanctuary, and the house of the kingdom."

14 Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah,-- "No Prophet was I, nor was I a Prophet's son, For a shepherd I was, and a gatherer of sycamores:

15 But Jehovah took me from after the sheep, And Jehovah said to me,-- 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'

16 And now hear the word of Jehovah, thou who sayest,-- 'Prophesy not concerning Israel, And speak not concerning the house of Isaac:'

17 Therefore thus saith Jehovah,-- Thy wife in the city shall be prostituted, And thy sons and thy daughters shall by the sword fall, And thy land shall by a line be divided, And thou in a polluted land shalt die, And Israel, by migrating, shall migrate from their own land."