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.”