Amos 7:7

7 God showed me this vision: My Master was standing beside a wall. In his hand he held a plumb line.

Amos 7:7 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 7:7

Thus he showed me
A third vision, which was in the following manner: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall [made] by a plumbline, with a
plumbline in his hand:
this "wall" was the people of Israel, who were built up as a wall, firm and strong; and so stood against their enemies, while supported by the Lord, and he stood by them. The Septuagint version is, "an adamantine wall". In their constitution, both civil and ecclesiastic, they were formed according to the good and righteous laws of God, which may be signified by the plumbline; and so the Targum renders it, "the wall of judgment". And now the Lord appears standing upon this wall, to trample it down, and not to support it; and with a plumbline in his hand, to examine and try whether this wall was as it was first erected; whether it did not bulge out, and vary from its former structure, and was not according to the line and rule of his divine word, which was a rule of righteousness.

Amos 7:7 In-Context

5 I said, "God, my Master! Hold it - please! What's going to come of Jacob? He's so small."
6 God gave in. "All right, this won't happen either," God, my Master, said.
7 God showed me this vision: My Master was standing beside a wall. In his hand he held a plumb line.
8 God said to me, "What do you see, Amos?" I said, "A plumb line." Then my Master said, "Look what I've done. I've hung a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel. I've spared them for the last time. This is it!
9 Isaac's sex-and-religion shrines will be smashed, Israel's unholy shrines will be knocked to pieces. I'm raising my sword against the royal family of Jeroboam.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.