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Amos 7

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The Vision of the Locusts 1–3

1
Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me: and, behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. ​
2
And it came to pass that, when they made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord Jehovah, forgive, I beseech thee: how shall Jacob stand? for he is small. ​
3
Jehovah repented concerning this: It shall not be, saith Jehovah. ​

The Vision of the Fire 4–6

4
Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me: and, behold, the Lord Jehovah called to contend by fire; and it devoured the great deep, and would have eaten up the land. ​
5
Then said I, O Lord Jehovah, cease, I beseech thee: how shall Jacob stand? for he is small. ​
6
Jehovah repented concerning this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord Jehovah.

The Vision of the Plumbline 7–9

7
Thus he showed me: and, behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumb-line, with a plumb-line in his hand. ​
8
And Jehovah said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumb-line. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel; I will not again pass by them any more; ​
9
and the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. ​

Amos Confronts Amaziah at Bethel 10–13

10
Then Amaziah the priest of Beth-el sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. ​
11
For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land. ​
12
Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thou away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: ​
13
but prophesy not again any more at Beth-el; for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a royal house. ​

Amos Defends His Calling 14–17

14
Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdsman, and a dresser of sycomore-trees: ​
15
and Jehovah took me from following the flock, and Jehovah said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. ​
16
Now therefore hear thou the word of Jehovah: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac; ​
17
therefore thus saith Jehovah: Thy wife shall be a harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou thyself shalt die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Amos 7

Verse 1

the latter growth after the king's mowings — Leqesh, the late crop, occurs only here; the 'mowings' (gez) are the first cutting, called the king's. The locusts (gob, found elsewhere only in Nah 3:17) come when the first yield is gone and the second is just rising. 'Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me' also opens the visions of 7:4 and 8:1.

Verse 2

forgive, I beseech thee — Salach, 'forgive', is the word of Moses' plea, 'Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people' (Num 14:19), and of Solomon's prayer (1 Kings 8:30). 'By whom shall Jacob arise?' asks who could raise Jacob up, since he is 'small' (qatan, little in size or number).

Verse 3

The LORD repented for this — Nacham, to relent, is the verb of Ex 32:14, 'the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people', after Moses' prayer, and of Jonah 3:10, when Nineveh turned. Here the judgment of v.1 is turned aside by the plea of v.2, and the LORD's own word closes the verse: 'It shall not be'.

Verse 4

called to contend by fire — 'Contend' is rib, to plead a case, a word of the law court: the LORD summons the nation to judgment with fire. It 'devoured the great deep' (tehom, the word of Gen 7:11 and Isa 51:10) and 'did eat up a part'. Joel 1:19–20 likewise has fire devour the pastures while 'the rivers of waters are dried up'.

Verse 5

cease, I beseech thee — The plea uses a different word from v.2. Chadal, 'cease', asks the LORD to stop the fire, as Samuel speaks of 'ceasing to pray' for Israel (1 Sam 12:23). The reason is the same as before, 'by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small', and v.6 answers in nearly the words of v.3.

Verse 7

a plumbline — Anak, the word the KJV renders 'plumbline', occurs nowhere else than these two verses. The LORD stands on a wall with one in his hand. A different word, mishqeleth, 'plummet', carries the same figure of testing a building in 2 Kings 21:13 and Isa 28:17, 'Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet'.

Verse 8

I will not again pass by them any more — The same sentence is spoken again in 8:2, after the same question, 'Amos, what seest thou?' To 'pass by' (abar) is to let a wrong go, as the LORD 'passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage' (Mic 7:18). The line is set 'in the midst of my people Israel', and Amos makes no plea this time.

Verse 9

the high places of Isaac — 'Isaac' is spelled Yischaq only in Ps 105:9, Jer 33:26 and Amos 7:9, 16. Isaac built an altar at Beersheba (Gen 26:23–25), and Amos warns against going there with Bethel and Gilgal (5:5). The house of Jeroboam ended when his son Zachariah, after six months, was struck down by Shallum (2 Kings 15:8–10).

Verse 10

Amos hath conspired against thee — Amaziah is priest at the Bethel Jeroboam son of Nebat set up (1 Kings 12:29–33). Qashar, 'conspired', is the verb of the plots that cut down Israel's kings, as Shallum's against Zachariah (2 Kings 15:10). Amos's words were a message from the LORD, who 'revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets' (3:7).

Verse 11

Jeroboam shall die by the sword — Amaziah turns v.9, which spoke of the sword against 'the house of Jeroboam', into a prophecy of the king's own death; Jeroboam 'slept with his fathers' (2 Kings 14:29). The second charge, that Israel 'shall surely be led away captive' (galah), is what Amos had said (5:27), and he repeats it in v.17.

Verse 12

O thou seer — Chozeh, 'seer', is a title given to prophets, as in 'the prophet Gad, David's seer' (2 Sam 24:11), though Amaziah uses it as he sends Amos away. Amos came from Tekoa in Judah (1:1), so 'flee thee away into the land of Judah' sends him home, and to 'eat bread' there treats prophesying as a livelihood, which v.14 answers.

Verse 13

the king's chapel — 'Chapel' is miqdash, 'sanctuary', the word of 'the sanctuaries of Israel' in v.9, and 'court' is literally 'house of the kingdom' (mamlakah). Jeroboam son of Nebat made at Bethel a calf of gold, 'an house of high places', and priests 'of the lowest of the people' (1 Kings 12:29, 31). Amaziah describes it as the king's own.

Verse 14

no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son — 'A prophet's son' is the idiom of the prophetic companies, 'the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel' (2 Kings 2:3). Amos names his trades in two words found only here: boqer, a cattle-tender, and balas, one who pinches sycomore figs to ripen them. His warrant is the call of v.15 and 3:8, 'the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?'

Verse 15

the LORD took me — The wording is close to the LORD's word to David, 'I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people' (2 Sam 7:8); both verses use laqach, 'took', and achar, 'after'. Amos is sent to 'my people Israel', the same people of whom the LORD said in v.8 that he would not pass by them again.

Verse 16

drop not thy word — Nataph, 'drop', is a word for prophetic speech: 'drop thy word toward the holy places' (Ezek 21:2); in Micah 2:6 those who say 'Prophesy ye not' use it too. Amaziah's 'Prophesy not against Israel' is met with 'hear thou the word of the LORD', which v.17 gives. 'The house of Isaac' repeats the title of v.9.

Verse 17

thou shalt die in a polluted land — The sentence reaches Amaziah's household, his land 'divided by line' (chebel, a measuring cord), and closes with the charge he had quoted, 'Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land' (v.11). The 'polluted' (tame', unclean) land is the Assyria of Hos 9:3, fulfilled when Assyria 'carried Israel away' (2 Kings 17:6).