Amos sees locusts
1-2The Lord showed me what He wanted to do. He sent lots and lots of locusts. It was after they had cut grass for the king's horses. The grass started to grow again and it became green. Then the locusts came and they ate all the green plants in the land. Then I said: ‘Lord, please forgive your people. There are only a few descendants of Joseph left over. They will not be able to stay alive.’
3The Lord then decided not to send the locusts. He said: ‘It will not happen.’
Amos sees fire
4The Lord showed me what He wanted to do. He sent a burning fire to punish the Israelites. The fire was so hot that all the water in the sea dried up and then the land started to burn. 5Then I said: ‘Lord, please stop the fire. There are only a few descendants of Joseph left over. They will not be able to stay alive.’
6Then the Lord decided not to let the fire burn. He said: ‘It will not happen.’
The Lord will not forgive their sins again
7The Lord showed me what He wanted to do. He was standing next to an upright wall and in his hand was a plumb-line. 8He asked me: ‘Amos, what do you see?’ I said: ‘I see a plumb-line.’
Then the Lord said: ‘I will put a plumb-line next to the Israelites to show that they are not right and then I will do with them what people do with a wall that is not upright. I will not forgive their sins again. 9I will destroy the places_of_sacrifice that the Israelites have built. I will destroy their temples. I will cause King Jeroboam's descendants to die in war.’
The priest Amaziah wants to stop Amos
10Amaziah was the priest at Bethel. He sent a message to King Jeroboam of Israel and he said: ‘Amos is making plans against you. He wants the people to fight against you. The things he says are dangerous for the land. 11Amos tells the Israelites that you will die in war and the enemies will defeat the Israelites and take them away to another land.’
12The priest Amaziah said to Amos: ‘Go away, prophet. Go back to the land_of_Judah. Go and prophesy there and go and get money from them. 13You may not prophesy here in the town of Bethel because this is the temple of the king and of the land_of_Israel.’
14Amos said to Amaziah: ‘I am not a prophet like other prophets and my father was not a prophet. I did not learn to be a prophet. I am a farmer with lots of cattle and goats and sheep and I plant sycamore trees. 15But the Lord took me away from the sheep and goats and He told me: “You must be my prophet. Go and tell my people, the Israelites, that I am going to punish them.”
16Now listen to what the Lord says. You say I must not prophesy_against the Israelites and I must not tell them what God says. 17But the Lord says:
“Your wife will become a prostitute in the city
and your children will die in war.
The enemies will take your land and divide it
and you will die in an impure land.
The enemies will defeat the Israelites
and take them away to another land.” ’
