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Amos 7

Amos pleads for Israel’s survival, then faces a priest who tries to silence the judgment God has sent him to announce.

Amos sees visions of locusts and consuming fire threatening Israel, and twice he pleads for the small nation to be spared. God relents both times. A third vision, a plumb line, announces judgment against Israel’s sanctuaries and royal house. Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, accuses Amos of conspiracy and orders him to leave. Amos answers that God sent him from tending livestock to prophesy, then declares disaster for Amaziah’s household and exile for Israel.

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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.’”
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Key verses
Amos 7:1The locust vision threatens the growth after the king’s harvest, setting the scene for Amos’s plea that Israel be spared.
Amos 7:10Amaziah recasts Amos’s prophetic warning as political conspiracy, bringing the conflict between God’s word and royal interests into view.
Amos 7:14Amos names his work with livestock and figs before explaining that his authority to prophesy comes from God’s command.
Where this chapter reaches

Amos and Jeremiah share accounts of priests opposing prophetic warnings of national disaster and treating those warnings as threats to public order. Amos and Jonah both describe God relenting from threatened judgment, though Amos pleads for mercy while Jonah protests when God spares a city.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What changes between the first two visions and the plumb line vision, and what troubles you about that change?

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How does Amaziah’s description of Bethel help explain his conflict with Amos?

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Questions people ask about Amos 7

What does the plumb line mean in Amos 7?

A plumb line is a weighted cord used to check whether a wall stands straight. In the vision, God sets one among Israel and announces that he will no longer pass over them. The image presents divine assessment leading to judgment against Israel’s worship sites and royal house.

Why does Amos say he was no prophet in Amos 7:14?

Amos answers Amaziah’s demand that he earn his bread by prophesying in Judah. He describes his former work as a herdsman and fig farmer, then recounts God’s command to prophesy to Israel. His point is that God’s call explains his presence and message; Amaziah cannot dismiss that commission.

Why does God relent in Amos 7?

After each of the first two visions, Amos pleads that Israel is too small to survive the threatened disaster. God responds by declaring that it will not happen. The account presents these reprieves as answers to Amos’s pleas. The third vision marks a change: judgment will no longer be withheld.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).