1The Lord GOD made me see this: And behold, He is forming locusts at the beginning of the growth of the late grass--even behold, the late grass after the king's mowings.

2And it came to pass that when they had made an end of eating the tender plant of the land, then I said, "O Lord GOD, forgive, I pray You. How can Jacob stand? For he is small."

3The LORD repented for this; "It shall not be," says the LORD.

4The Lord GOD made me see this: And behold, the Lord GOD was calling to contend by fire. And it consumed the great deep, and it was devouring part of it.

5Then I said, "O Lord GOD, I pray You, cease. How can Jacob stand? For he is small."

6The LORD repented for this; "This also shall not be," says the Lord GOD.

7He made me see this: And behold, the LORD was standing upon a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand.

8And the LORD said to me, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A plumb line." Then the LORD said, "Behold, I will set a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more.

9And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the holy places of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword."

10Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, "Amos has plotted against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. 11For thus Amos says, 'Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely go into exile out of his land. ' " 12And Amaziah said to Amos, "O seer, go, flee for yourself into the land of Judah; and eat bread there, and prophesy there. 13But do not prophesy again any more at Bethel; for it is the king's temple, and it is the king's royal house."

14Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, "I was no prophet, nor was I a prophet's son. But I was a shepherd and a gatherer of fruit from sycamore trees. 15And the LORD took me from behind the flock, and the LORD said to me, 'Go, prophesy to My people Israel. ' 16Now therefore hear the Word of the LORD. You say, 'Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not drop words against the house of Isaac. ' 17Therefore thus says the LORD, 'Your wife shall be a harlot in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line. And you shall die in a defiled land; and Israel shall surely go into exile out of his land. ' "