Episode 222: With a plumbline in his hand

Amos 6-9

Woe to everyone!

6 ¹ Woe to those who are at ease in Zion and trust in the mountain of Samaria.

^3-6 Who forget about the evil day, lie on ivory beds and stretch out on couches, eat lambs and calves, sing to the sound of music, and drink wine in bowls.

I hate Jacob's pride and palaces

⁸ God has sworn by himself, saying,

I hate Jacob's pride and palaces, so I'll destroy the city.

⁹ If ten men survive in one house, they will die.

¹⁰ When a man burns his dead uncle's body and buries his bones, he'll say to the man on the side of the house, "Is anyone with you?"

¹¹And he'll say, "No, and don't say anything, or mention God's name. If you do, God will smash the house."

Locusts

7 ¹ This is what God showed me: "God formed locusts who ate grass."

² When they finished eating, I said to God, "How will Jacob survive? He's small."

³ God repented and said, "It won't happen."

An ocean-burning fire

⁴ God also showed me this: God started a fire that burned part of the ocean.

⁵ I said to God, "Please stop. How will Jacob get up? He's small."

⁶ God repented and said, "It won't happen."

God stood on a wall with a plumbline in his hand

⁷ God also showed me this: He stood on a wall with a plumbline in his hand.

⁸ He said to me, "Amos, what do you see?"

I said, "I see a plumbline."

⁹ He said,

I'll hang a plumbline in the midst of my people. I won't spare them anymore.

The high places of Israel will be destroyed, and I'll fight against Jeroboam's family with a sword.

Your wife will be a harlot

¹⁰ Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent a message to King Jeroboam, saying,

Amos has conspired against you, saying,

¹¹Jeroboam will die with the sword, and Israel will be enslaved.

¹² Then Amaziah said to Amos,

Run away to Judah. Eat bread and prophesy there.

¹³ But don't prophesy at Bethel anymore.

¹⁴ Amos said to Amaziah,

I'm not a prophet, I'm just a shepherd and a gatherer of sycamore fruit.

¹⁵ God told me to prophesy to Israel.

¹⁶ But now you tell me not to prophesy against Israel.

¹⁷ Here's what God says to you:

Your wife will be a harlot, your children will be killed with the sword, your land will be divided, you will die in a polluted land, and Israel will be enslaved.

A basket of summer fruit

8 ¹ God showed me a basket of summer fruit.

² He said, "Amos, what do you see?"

I said, "I see a basket of summer fruit."

God said,

³ My people will be wiped out. I won't see them anymore. Instead of singing songs, they will be howling. There will be dead bodies everywhere.

⁴ Because they mistreat the poor.

⁵ They deceive their customers with false balances.

⁶ They buy the poor with silver, the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the chaff as wheat.

⁸ The land will tremble, and everyone will mourn.

⁹ On that day, I'll cause the sun to set at noon, and the earth will be dark in the middle of the day.

¹⁰ Everyone will put sackcloth on their loins, and there will be baldness on every head.

¹¹ I'll put a famine on the land. Not a famine of bread or thirst, but of hearing my word.

¹² People will go from sea to sea looking for my word, but they won't find it.

¹³ In that day, fair virgins and young men will faint from thirst.

¹⁴ They will fall and never get up.

For evil, and not for good

9 ¹ I saw God standing on the altar, and he said,

Smite this building so hard that it falls down on the heads of all the people. I will kill any survivors with a sword. No one will escape.

² If they try to dig into hell, I'll find them there. If they climb their way into heaven, I'll bring them down.

³ If they climb to the top of Mount Carmel, I'll find them. If they hide in the bottom of the sea, I'll command the serpent to bite them.

⁴ If they are enslaved by their enemies, I'll find them and kill them with the sword. I'll do things that are evil to them, not good.

The sinful kingdom

⁵ God will touch the land, and it will melt. Everyone will mourn. Then there'll be a flood that drowns them all.

⁶ God said,

My eyes are on the sinful kingdom. I'll destroy it all, except for some of Jacob's descendants.

¹⁰ All the sinners among my people will die with the sword.

A happy ending? - They'll drink wine

^11-13 In that day, the mountains will drip sweet wine, and all the hills will melt.

¹⁴ They will plant vineyards, and drink wine.

¹⁵ I will return my people to the land that I gave them, and they will never be removed from it.