1Thus the Lord GOD showed me: behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s harvest. 2When they finished eating the grass of the land, then I said, “ Lord GOD, forgive, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small.” 3The LORD relented concerning this. “ It shall not be,” says the LORD. 4Thus the Lord GOD showed me: behold, the Lord GOD called for judgment by fire; and it dried up the great deep, and would have devoured the land. 5Then I said, “ Lord GOD, stop, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small.” 6The LORD relented concerning this. “ This also shall not be,” says the Lord GOD. 7Thus he showed me: behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 8The LORD said to me, “ Amos, what do you see?” I said, “ A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “ Behold, I will set a plumb line in the middle of my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more. 9The high places of Isaac will be desolate, the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.” 10Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “ Amos has conspired against you in the middle of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. 11For Amos says, ‘ Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.’” 12Amaziah also said to Amos, “ You seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there, 13but don’t prophesy again any more at Bethel; for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a royal house!” 14Then Amos answered Amaziah, “ I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman, and a farmer of sycamore figs; 15and the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘ Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16Now therefore listen to the LORD’s word: ‘ You say, Don’t prophesy against Israel, and don’t preach against the house of Isaac.’ 17Therefore the LORD says: ‘ Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line; and you yourself shall die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.’”