New Living Translation NLT
Common English Bible CEB
1 The Sovereign LORD showed me a vision. I saw him preparing to send a vast swarm of locusts over the land. This was after the king’s share had been harvested from the fields and as the main crop was coming up.
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This is what the LORD God showed me: The LORD God was forming locusts at the time the late grass began to sprout. (It was the late grass after the king's harvest.)
2 In my vision the locusts ate every green plant in sight. Then I said, “O Sovereign LORD, please forgive us or we will not survive, for Israel is so small.”
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When they had finished eating the green plants of the land, I said, "LORD God, please forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!"
3 So the LORD relented from this plan. “I will not do it,” he said.
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The LORD relented concerning this: "It won't take place,"
4 Then the Sovereign LORD showed me another vision. I saw him preparing to punish his people with a great fire. The fire had burned up the depths of the sea and was devouring the entire land.
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says the LORD. This is what the LORD God showed me: The LORD God was calling for judgment with fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up part of the land.
5 Then I said, “O Sovereign LORD, please stop or we will not survive, for Israel is so small.”
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Then I said, "LORD God, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!"
6 Then the LORD relented from this plan, too. “I will not do that either,” said the Sovereign LORD .
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The LORD relented concerning this: "This also won't take place,"
7 Then he showed me another vision. I saw the Lord standing beside a wall that had been built using a plumb line. He was using a plumb line to see if it was still straight.
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says the LORD God. This is what the LORD showed me: The LORD was standing by a wall, with a plumb line in his hand.
8 And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” I answered, “A plumb line.” And the Lord replied, “I will test my people with this plumb line. I will no longer ignore all their sins.
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The LORD said to me, "Amos, what do you see?" "A plumb line," I said. Then the LORD said, "See, I am setting a plumb line in the middle of my people Israel. I will never again forgive them.
9 The pagan shrines of your ancestors will be ruined, and the temples of Israel will be destroyed; I will bring the dynasty of King Jeroboam to a sudden end.”
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The shrines of Isaac will be made desolate, and the holy places of Israel will be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword."
10 Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent a message to Jeroboam, king of Israel: “Amos is hatching a plot against you right here on your very doorstep! What he is saying is intolerable.
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Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, reported to Israel's King Jeroboam, "Amos has plotted against you within the house of Israel. The land isn't able to cope with everything that he is saying.
11 He is saying, ‘Jeroboam will soon be killed, and the people of Israel will be sent away into exile.’”
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Amos has said, ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will be forced out of its land.'"
12 Then Amaziah sent orders to Amos: “Get out of here, you prophet! Go on back to the land of Judah, and earn your living by prophesying there!
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Amaziah said to Amos, "You who see things, go, run away to the land of Judah, eat your bread there, and prophesy there;
13 Don’t bother us with your prophecies here in Bethel. This is the king’s sanctuary and the national place of worship!”
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but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's holy place and his royal house."
14 But Amos replied, “I’m not a professional prophet, and I was never trained to be one. I’m just a shepherd, and I take care of sycamore-fig trees.
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Amos answered Amaziah, "I am not a prophet, nor am I a prophet's son; but I am a shepherd, and a trimmer of sycamore trees.
15 But the LORD called me away from my flock and told me, ‘Go and prophesy to my people in Israel.’
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But the LORD took me from shepherding the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'
16 Now then, listen to this message from the LORD : “You say, ‘Don’t prophesy against Israel. Stop preaching against my people. ’
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“Now then hear the LORD's word. You say, ‘Don't prophesy against Israel, and don't preach against the house of Isaac.'
17 But this is what the LORD says: ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in this city, and your sons and daughters will be killed. Your land will be divided up, and you yourself will die in a foreign land. And the people of Israel will certainly become captives in exile, far from their homeland.’”
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“Therefore, the LORD proclaims: ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword, and your land will be measured and divided up; you yourself will die in an unclean land, and Israel will surely be taken away from its land.'"
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Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible