Amos7
New International Version
1This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts after the king’s share had been harvested and just as the late crops were coming up.
2When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out, “Sovereign Lord, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!”
3So the Lord relented. “This will not happen,” the Lord said.
4This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: The Sovereign Lord was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land.
5Then I cried out, “Sovereign Lord, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!”
6So the Lord relented. “This will not happen either,” the Sovereign Lord said.
7This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand.
8And the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” “A plumb line,” I replied. Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
9“The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.”
10Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words.
11For this is what Amos is saying: “‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’”
12Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there.
13Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.”
14Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees.
15But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
16Now then, hear the word of the Lord. You say, “‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’
17“Therefore this is what the Lord says: “‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country. And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’”
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Amos 7.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Visions of judgments to come upon Israel. (1–9). Amaziah threatens Amos. (10–17).
vv1-9
God bears long, but he will not bear always with a provoking people. The remembrance of the mercies we formerly received, like the produce of the earth of the former growth, should make us submissive to the will of God, when we meet with disappointments in the latter growth. The Lord has many ways of humbling a sinful nation. Whatever trouble we are under, we should be most earnest with God for the forgiveness of sin. Sin will soon make a great people small. What will become of Israel, if the hand that should raise him be stretched out against him? See the power of prayer. See what a blessing praying people are to a land. See how ready, how swift God is to show mercy; how he waits to be gracious. Israel was a wall, a strong wall, which God himself reared as a defence to his sanctuary. The Lord now seems to stand upon this wall. He measures it; it appears to be a bowing, bulging wall. Thus God would bring the people of Israel to the trial, would discover their wickedness; and the time will come, when those who have been spared often, shall be spared no longer. But the Lord still calls Israel his people. The repeated prayer and success of the prophet should lead us to seek the Saviour.
vv10-17
It is no new thing for the accusers of the brethren, to misrepresent them as enemies to the king and kingdom, as traitors to their prince, and troublers of the land, when they are the best friends to both. Those who make gain their godliness, and are governed by the hopes of wealth and preferment, are ready to think these the most powerful motives with others also. But those who have a warrant from God, like Amos, ought not to fear the face of man. If God, that sent him, had not strengthened him, he could not thus have set his face as a flint. The Lord often chooses the weak and foolish things of the world to confound the wise and mighty. But no fervent prayers, or self-denying labours, can bring proud sinners to bear faithful reproofs and warnings. And all who oppose or despise the Divine word, must expect fatal effects to their souls, unless they repent.
Key Words
אֲדֹנָי: the Lord (used as a proper name of God only)
רָאָה: to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)
הִנֵּה: lo!
יָצַר: to mould into a form; especially as apotter; figuratively, to determine (i.e. form a resolution)
גּוֹב: the locust (from its grubbing as a larvae)
לֶקֶשׁ: the after crop
תְּחִלָּה: a commencement; rel. original (adverb, -ly)
עָלָה: to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount); used in a great variety of senses, primary and secondary, literal and figurative
אַחַר: properly, the hind part; generally used as an adverb or conjunction, after (in various senses)
מֶלֶךְ: a king
Cross References
Amos 7Repeats the definitive decree of divine judgment: 'I will not again pass by them any more.'
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
The symbolic plumbline represents the absolute standards of divine justice and judgment.
Supported by JFB
Using a measuring line/plumbline to mark out walls for systematic destruction.
Supported by JFB
The line and plummet used as instruments of exact, measured judicial destruction of a city.
Supported by JFB
Echoes the identical distress of Amos: asking how Jacob can stand or be raised when desolate.
Supported by JFB
Illustrates God 'repenting' or relenting of a threatened judgment in response to intercessory prayer.
Supported by JFB
Classic parallel of God relenting of threatened disaster upon a change in circumstances or intercession.
Supported by JFB
Parallels the hostile silencing of prophets: 'Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy.'
Supported by JFB
Fulfillment of the sword against Jeroboam's house; his son Zachariah is assassinated.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Contrast: False prophets falsely claim to be mere husbandmen; Amos was a true herdsman called by God.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Amos's word 'drop' (prophesy) matches Moses's metaphor of doctrine dropping as rain.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Contrasts Amos's divinely mandated prophecies with false prophets who prophesy out of their own hearts.
Supported by John Calvin
Establishes the historical context of the apostate golden calf priesthood of Bethel established by Jeroboam I.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Parallels the threat of exile to Assyria, where Israel must eat unclean food in a polluted land.
Supported by JFB