¹This is what my Lord the Lord showed me, and what I saw was him fashioning the locust at the start of when the latter growth springs up, and then I saw the latter growth after the king's reapings. ²And it came to pass, when the locust had finished eating the grass of the land, that I said, “My Lord the Lord, please forgive the question. Who will endure it? Will Jacob? For he is small.” ³And the Lord repented over this. “It will not come to pass”, said the Lord. ⁴This is what my Lord the Lord showed me, and what I saw was my Lord the Lord calling for a contention by fire, and it consumed the Great Ocean, and it consumed a portion of land. ⁵And I said, “My Lord the Lord, please stop. Who will endure it? Will Jacob? For he is small.” ⁶And the Lord repented over this. “This will not come to pass either”, my Lord the Lord said. ⁷This is what he showed me, and what I saw was the Lord^* standing on a vertical wall, and in his hand was a plumbline. ⁸And the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A plumbline.” And the Lord^* said,

“I am about to place a plumbline

In the midst of my people Israel.

I will not forgive them any more.

⁹And the high places of Isaac will become desolate,

And the sanctuaries of Israel will be devastated.

And I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

¹⁰Then Amaziah the priest of Beth-El sent word to Jeroboam the king of Israel and said, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to endure any of his words. ¹¹For this is what Amos says:

‘Jeroboam will die by the sword,

And Israel will certainly go into captivity,

Away from its land.’ ”

¹²And Amaziah said to Amos, “Go, you seer. Flee to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there. ¹³And do not prophesy any more in Beth-El, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is the royal residence.” ¹⁴Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I am not a prophet, and I am not a prophet's son, for I am a herdsman and a picker of sycamore fig fruit. ¹⁵But the Lord took me from looking after the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go and prophesy to my people Israel, and say, ¹⁶«And now, hear the word of the Lord, you who are saying,

‹Do not prophesy against Israel,

And do not distil prognostications against the house of Isaac.›

¹⁷Because of that, this is what the Lord says:

‹Your wife will commit whoredom in the city,

And your sons and daughters will fall by the sword,

And your land will be divided up with the measuring line,

And you will die on unclean land,

And Israel will certainly go into captivity

Away from its land.› » ’ ”