Amos:7-9

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* Thus the Lord GOD showed me : Behold , He formed locust swarms at the beginning of the late crop ; indeed it was the late crop after the king 's mowings . * And so it was , when they had finished eating the grass of the land , that I said : "O Lord GOD , forgive , I pray ! Oh , that Jacob may stand , For he is small !" * So the LORD relented concerning this . "It shall not be ," said the LORD . * Thus the Lord GOD showed me : Behold , the Lord GOD called for conflict by fire , and it consumed the great deep and devoured the territory . * Then I said : "O Lord GOD , cease , I pray ! Oh , that Jacob may stand , For he is small !" * So the LORD relented concerning this . "This also shall not be ," said the Lord GOD . * Thus He showed me : Behold , the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line , with a plumb line in His hand . * And the LORD said to me , "Amos , what do you see ?" And I said , "A plumb line ." Then the Lord said : "Behold , I am setting a plumb line In the midst of My people Israel ; I will not pass by them anymore . * The high places of Isaac shall be desolate , And the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste . I will rise with the sword against the house of Jeroboam ." * Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel , saying , "Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel . The land is not able to bear all his words . * For thus Amos has said : "Jeroboam shall die by the sword , And Israel shall surely be led away captive From their own land ."' * Then Amaziah said to Amos : "Go , you seer ! Flee to the land of Judah . There eat bread , And there prophesy . * But never again prophesy at Bethel , For it is the king 's sanctuary , And it is the royal residence ." * Then Amos answered , and said to Amaziah : "I was no prophet , Nor was I a son of a prophet , But I was a sheepbreeder And a tender of sycamore fruit . * Then the LORD took me as I followed the flock , And the LORD said to me , "Go , prophesy to My people Israel .' * Now therefore , hear the word of the LORD : You say , "Do not prophesy against Israel , And do not spout against the house of Isaac .' * "Therefore thus says the LORD : "Your wife shall be a harlot in the city ; Your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword ; Your land shall be divided by survey line ; You shall die in a defiled land ; And Israel shall surely be led away captive From his own land ."' * Thus the Lord GOD showed me : Behold , a basket of summer fruit . * And He said , "Amos , what do you see ?" So I said , "A basket of summer fruit ." Then the LORD said to me : "The end has come upon My people Israel ; I will not pass by them anymore . * And the songs of the temple Shall be wailing in that day ," Says the Lord GOD -- "Many dead bodies everywhere , They shall be thrown out in silence ." * Hear this , you who swallow up the needy , And make the poor of the land fail , * Saying : "When will the New Moon be past , That we may sell grain ? And the Sabbath , That we may trade wheat ? Making the ephah small and the shekel large , Falsifying the scales by deceit , * That we may buy the poor for silver , And the needy for a pair of sandals -- Even sell the bad wheat ?" * The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob : "Surely I will never forget any of their works . * Shall the land not tremble for this , And everyone mourn who dwells in it ? All of it shall swell like the River , Heave and subside Like the River of Egypt . * "And it shall come to pass in that day ," says the Lord GOD , "That I will make the sun go down at noon , And I will darken the earth in broad daylight ; * I will turn your feasts into mourning , And all your songs into lamentation ; I will bring sackcloth on every waist , And baldness on every head ; I will make it like mourning for an only son , And its end like a bitter day . * "Behold , the days are coming ," says the Lord GOD , "That I will send a famine on the land , Not a famine of bread , Nor a thirst for water , But of hearing the words of the LORD . * They shall wander from sea to sea , And from north to east ; They shall run to and fro , seeking the word of the LORD , But shall not find it . * "In that day the fair virgins And strong young men Shall faint from thirst . * Those who swear by the sin of Samaria , Who say , "As your god lives , O Dan !' And , "As the way of Beersheba lives !' They shall fall and never rise again ." * I saw the Lord standing by the altar , and He said : "Strike the doorposts , that the thresholds may shake , And break them on the heads of them all . I will slay the last of them with the sword . He who flees from them shall not get away , And he who escapes from them shall not be delivered . * "Though they dig into hell , From there My hand shall take them ; Though they climb up to heaven , From there I will bring them down ; * And though they hide themselves on top of Carmel , From there I will search and take them ; Though they hide from My sight at the bottom of the sea , From there I will command the serpent , and it shall bite them ; * Though they go into captivity before their enemies , From there I will command the sword , And it shall slay them . I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good ." * The Lord GOD of hosts , He who touches the earth and it melts , And all who dwell there mourn ; All of it shall swell like the River , And subside like the River of Egypt . * He who builds His layers in the sky , And has founded His strata in the earth ; Who calls for the waters of the sea , And pours them out on the face of the earth -- The LORD is His name . * "Are you not like the people of Ethiopia to Me , O children of Israel ?" says the LORD . "Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt , The Philistines from Caphtor , And the Syrians from Kir ? * "Behold , the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom , And I will destroy it from the face of the earth ; Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob ," Says the LORD . * "For surely I will command , And will sift the house of Israel among all nations , As grain is sifted in a sieve ; Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground . * All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword , Who say , "The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us .' * "On that day I will raise up The tabernacle of David , which has fallen down , And repair its damages ; I will raise up its ruins , And rebuild it as in the days of old ; * That they may possess the remnant of Edom , And all the Gentiles who are called by My name ," Says the LORD who does this thing . * "Behold , the days are coming ," says the LORD , "When the plowman shall overtake the reaper , And the treader of grapes him who sows seed ; The mountains shall drip with sweet wine , And all the hills shall flow with it . * I will bring back the captives of My people Israel ; They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them ; They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them ; They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them . * I will plant them in their land , And no longer shall they be pulled up From the land I have given them ," Says the LORD your God . * the son of Mattathiah , the son of Amos , the son of Nahum , the son of Esli , the son of Naggai ,

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