1 The Lord GOD let me see this: he was shaping a swarm of locusts just when the second crop began to come up, the second crop that follows the king's mowing.
2 When they had finished eating up the greenery of the land, I said, "Lord GOD, pardon, please! How will Jacob survive? He is so small."
3 The LORD changed his mind about this. "It will not happen," the LORD said.
4 The Lord GOD let me see this: the Lord GOD was summoning fire to contend in judgment; it consumed the great deep and was consuming the allotted land.
5 Then I said, "Lord GOD, hold back, please! How will Jacob survive? He is so small."
6 The LORD changed his mind about this as well. "This will not happen either," said the Lord GOD.
7 He let me see this: the Lord was standing on a wall made true with a plumb line, and a plumb line was in his hand.
8 The LORD asked me, "What do you see, Amos?" I answered, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will not overlook them again.
9 Isaac's high places will be laid desolate, Israel's sanctuaries will be wrecked, and I will rise up with the sword against the house of Jeroboam."
10 Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, then sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: "Amos is conspiring against you right inside the house of Israel; the land cannot endure all his words.
11 For this is what Amos says: 'Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely be carried away captive from its land.'"
12 And Amaziah said to Amos, "Seer, go, run away to the land of Judah; earn your bread there and do your prophesying there.
13 But never prophesy again at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary and a royal house."
14 Amos answered Amaziah, "I am not a prophet, and I am not a prophet's son; I am a cattle herder and one who tends sycamore figs.
15 The LORD took me from behind the flock and told me, 'Go and prophesy to my people Israel.'
16 So now, hear the word of the LORD. You say, 'Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.'
17 Therefore thus says the LORD: 'Your wife will become a harlot in the city; your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword; your land will be portioned out with a line; and you yourself will die on unclean soil; and Israel will surely be carried away captive from its land.'"