Amos 7:3-13

3 The LORD changed his plans about this. "This won't happen," the LORD said.

4 This is what the Almighty LORD showed me: The Almighty LORD was calling for judgment by fire. The fire dried up the ocean and burned up the land.

5 Then I said, "Almighty LORD, please stop! How can [the descendants of] Jacob survive? There are so few of them."

6 The LORD changed his plans about this. "This won't happen either," the Almighty LORD said.

7 This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall built with the use of a plumb line, and he had a plumb line in his hand.

8 He asked me, "What do you see, Amos?" I answered, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "I'm going to hold a plumb line in the middle of my people Israel. I will no longer overlook what they have done.

9 The worship sites of Isaac will be destroyed, and the holy places of Israel will be in ruins. I will attack Jeroboam's heirs with my sword."

10 Then Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, sent a message to King Jeroboam of Israel. It read, "Amos is plotting against you among the people of Israel. The country isn't able to endure everything he is saying.

11 Amos says that Jeroboam will be killed with a sword and that Israel cannot avoid being taken from its land into exile."

12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, "You seer, run away to Judah! Eat there, and prophesy there!

13 But don't [ever] prophesy again in Bethel, because this is the king's holy place and the king's palace."

Amos 7:3-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO AMOS 7

In this and the two following chapters are the visions of Amos, in number five; three of which are contained in this chapter, and with which it begins. The first is of the grasshoppers or locusts eating up the later grass of the land, which are stopped at the intercession of the prophet, Am 7:1-3; the second is of fire the Lord called for to contend by, whose devouring flames are made to cease by the same interposition, Am 7:4-6; and the other is of the plumbline, signifying the utter destruction of the people of Israel, according to the righteous judgment of God, Am 7:7-9; upon the delivery of which prophecies and visions, the priest of Bethel forms a charge against the prophet to the king; and advises Amos to flee into Judea, and prophesy there, and not at Bethel, being willing to be rid of him at any rate, Am 7:10-13; next follows the prophet's vindication of himself showing his divine call to the prophetic office, and his mission and express order he had from the Lord to prophesy unto Israel, Am 7:14,15; and concludes with a denunciation of divine judgments on the priest's family, and upon the whole land of Israel, Am 7:16,17.