7:1  Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, He was forming a locust-swarm when the spring crop began to sprout. And behold, the spring crop {was} after the king's mowing.

7:2  And it came about, when it had finished eating the vegetation of the land, that I said, "Lord GOD, please pardon! How can Jacob stand, For he is small?"

7:3  The LORD changed His mind about this. "It shall not be, said the LORD."

7:4  Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, the Lord GOD was calling to contend {with them} by fire, and it consumed the great deep and began to consume the farm land.

7:5  Then I said, "Lord GOD, please stop! How can Jacob stand, for he is small?"

7:6  The LORD changed His mind about this. "This too shall not be, said the Lord GOD."

7:7  Thus He showed me, and behold, the Lord was standing by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand.

7:8  The LORD said to me, "What do you see, Amos? And I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "Behold I am about to put a plumb line In the midst of My people Israel. I will spare them no longer."

7:9  "The high places of Isaac will be desolated And the sanctuaries of Israel laid waste. Then I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword."

7:10  Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent {word} to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, "Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is unable to endure all his words.

7:11  "For thus Amos says, `Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.'"

7:12  Then Amaziah said to Amos, "Go, you seer, flee away to the land of Judah and there eat bread and there do your prophesying!

7:13  "But no longer prophesy at Bethel, for it is a sanctuary of the king and a royal residence."

7:14  Then Amos replied to Amaziah, "I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet; for I am a herdsman and a grower of sycamore figs.

7:15  "But the LORD took me from following the flock and the LORD said to me, `Go prophesy to My people Israel.'

7:16  "Now hear the word of the LORD: you are saying, `You shall not prophesy against Israel nor shall you speak against the house of Isaac.'

7:17  "Therefore, thus says the LORD, `Your wife will become a harlot in the city, your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword, your land will be parceled up by a {measuring} line and you yourself will die upon unclean soil. Moreover, Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.'"