Amos 7:1-17 TLB

[1] This is what the Lord God showed me in a vision: He was preparing a vast swarm of locusts to destroy all the main crop that sprang up after the first mowing, which went as taxes to the king. [2] They ate everything in sight. Then I said, "O Lord God, please forgive your people! Don't send them this plague! If you turn against Israel, what hope is there? For Israel is so small!" [3] So the Lord relented and did not fulfill the vision. "I won't do it," he told me. [4] Then the Lord God showed me a great fire he had prepared to punish them; it had burned up the waters and was devouring the entire land. [5] Then I said, "O Lord God, please don't do it. If you turn against them, what hope is there? For Israel is so small!" [6] Then the Lord turned from this plan too, and said, "I won't do that either." [7] Then he showed me this: The Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, checking it with a plumb line to see if it was straight. [8] And the Lord said to me, "Amos, what do you see?" I answered, "A plumb line." And he replied, "I will test my people with a plumb line. I will no longer turn away from punishing. [9] The idol altars and temples of Israel will be destroyed, and I will destroy the dynasty of King Jeroboam by the sword." [10] But when Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, heard what Amos was saying, he rushed a message to Jeroboam, the king: "Amos is a traitor to our nation and is plotting your death. This is intolerable. It will lead to rebellion all across the land. [11] He says you will be killed and Israel will be sent far away into exile and slavery." [12] Then Amaziah sent orders to Amos, "Get out of here, you prophet, you! Flee to the land of Judah and do your prophesying there! [13] Don't bother us here with your visions, not here in the capital where the king's chapel is!" [14] But Amos replied, "I am not really one of the prophets. I do not come from a family of prophets. I am just a herdsman and fruit picker. [15] But the Lord took me from caring for the flocks and told me, 'Go and prophesy to my people Israel.' [16] "Now, therefore, listen to this message to you from the Lord. You say, 'Don't prophesy against Israel.' [17] The Lord's reply is this: 'Because of your interference, your wife will become a prostitute in this city, your sons and daughters will be killed, and your land divided up. You yourself will die in a heathen land, and the people of Israel will certainly become slaves in exile, far from their land.'"