Amos 7:7

7 This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.

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 Then I said, "O Lord God, cease, I beg you! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!"
6 The Lord relented concerning this; "This also shall not be," said the Lord God.
7 This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.
8 And the Lord said to me, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass them by;
9 the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword."
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.