The Locusts, Fire, and Plumbline

(Joel 2:1-11)

1These things the Lord God shewed to me: and behold the locust was formed in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter rain, and lo, it was the latter rain after the king's mowing.

2And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, I said: O Lord God, be merciful, I beseech thee: who shall raise up Jacob, for he is very little?

3The Lord had pity upon this: It shall not be, said the Lord.

4These things the Lord God shewed to me: and behold the Lord called for judgment unto fire, and it devoured the great deep, and ate up a part at the same time.

5And I said: O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee, who shall raise up Jacob, for he is a little one?

6The Lord had pity upon this. Yea this also shall not be, said the Lord God.

7These things the Lord shewed to me: and behold the Lord was standing upon a plastered wall, and in his hand a mason's trowel.

8And the Lord said to me: What seest thou, Amos? And I said: A mason's trowel. And the Lord said: Behold, I will lay down the trowel in the midst of my people Israel. I will plaster them over no more.

9And the high places of the idol shall be thrown down, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste: and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

Amaziah Accuses Amos

10And Amasias the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying: Amos hath rebelled against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. 11For thus saith Amos: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall be carried away captive out of their own land. 12And Amasias said to Amos: Thou seer, go, flee away into the land of Juda: and eat bread there, and prophesy there. 13But prophesy not again any more in Bethel: because it is the king's sanctuary, and it is the house of the kingdom.

14And Amos answered and said to Amasias: I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet: but I am a herdsman plucking wild figs. 15And the Lord took me when I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me: Go, prophesy to my people Israel. 16And now hear thou the word of the Lord: Thou sayest, thou shalt not prophesy against Israel, and thou shalt not drop thy word upon the house of the idol. 17Therefore thus saith the Lord: Thy wife shall play the harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be measured by a line: and thou shalt die in a polluted land, and Israel shall go into captivity out of their land.