The prophet sees, in three visions, evils coming upon Israel: he is
accused of treason by the false priest of Bethel.
7:1. These 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.
The locust, etc... These judgments by locusts and fire, which, by the
prophet's intercession, were moderated, signify the former invasions of
the Assyrians under Phul and Theglathphalasar, before the utter
desolation of Israel by Salmanasar.
7:2. And 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?
7:3. The Lord had pity upon this: It shall not be, said the Lord.
7:4. These 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.
7:5. And I said: O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee, who shall raise up
Jacob, for he is a little one?
7:6. The Lord had pity upon this. Yea this also shall not be, said the
Lord God.
7:7. These things the Lord shewed to me: and behold the Lord was
standing upon a plastered wall, and in his hand a mason's trowel.
7:8. And 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.
7:9. And 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.
7:10. And 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.
7:11. For thus saith Amos: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel
shall be carried away captive out of their own land.
Jeroboam shall die by the sword... The prophet did not say this; but
that the Lord would rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the
sword: which was verified, when Zacharias, the son and successor of
Jeroboam, was slain by the sword. 4 Kings 15.10.
7:12. And Amasias said to Amos: Thou seer, go, flee away into the land
of Juda: and eat bread there, and prophesy there.
7:13. But prophesy not again any more in Bethel: because it is the
king's sanctuary, and it is the house of the kingdom.
7:14. And 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.
I am not a prophet... That is, I am not a prophet by education: nor is
prophesying my calling or profession: but I am a herdsman, whom God was
pleased to send hither to prophesy to Israel.
7:15. And the Lord took me when I followed the flock, and the Lord said
to me: Go, prophesy to my people Israel.
7:16. And 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.
The house of the idol... Viz., of the calf worshipped in Bethel.
7:17. Therefore 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.