Amos 7, Three Visions and a Dismissal

Amos has accused the people of Samaria of living in luxury, blind to issues of justice.

Amos 7:1-3, Swarms of locusts

This 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 second crop was coming up. When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out, "Sovereign LORD, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!" 

So the LORD relented. "This will not happen," the LORD said. 

Amos is shown YHWH preparing destructive swarms of locusts. If these came after the "king's share", they would devastate the crops that go to the common people. Amos cries out and says that this would destroy Israel. (The prophet Joel, speaking at roughly the same time, reports on a swarm of locusts in Joel 1 and uses it to warn of a coming swarm of soldiers.)

Amos 7:4-6, Judgment by fire

This 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.  

Then I cried out, "Sovereign LORD, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!"

So the LORD relented. "This will not happen either," the Sovereign LORD said.  

In a second vision, YHWH shows Amos plans to destroy Israel by a devastating fire, a fire that dries up the sea and destroys the land. Again Amos cries out and YHWH relents.

In these two visions, the plea of Amos has an effect and changes the mind of God. The idea that God can change His mind is not a new one; we see this in Abraham's conversation with God regarding Sodom in Genesis 18:16-33 and in Moses's pleas to God in Exodus 32:9-14.

Amos 7:7-9, Plumb line (or metal wall)

This 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. And 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. 

"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."  

The third vision of this chapter has YHWH describing a future destruction of Israel, a destruction that will also rise against the house of Jeroboam.

Niehaus disagrees with the NIV translation "plumb line." The Hebrew word there has core anak, which appears nowhere else in the Old Testament. The word might mean "tall" or "vertical"; it could be a plumbline, used to make sure that the vertical component of a wall was a straight line. In that context, it is possible that YHWH is claiming to measure Israel and see if it meets His standard. But Niehaus argues that a close Akkadian word would suggest translating that word as "tin," a metal representing strength. Niehaus suggests that Amos is referring to a metal wall, using an Akkadian term, the language of Assyria, and that YHWH, above the wall, is announcing a powerful invasion from Assyria.

Our English translations miss many chiasmi. The first two poetic lines of verse 9, rendered in parallel by the NIV, are a chiasmus in Hebrew. The Hebrew of this verse is literally

and shall be desolate

the high places of Isaac

and the sanctuaries of Israel

shall be laid waste....

(There are far too many of these in the original Hebrew for me to point out all of them, but good commentaries, like that by Niehaus, attempt to do so.)

Amos 7:10-11, Opposition of Amaziah 

Then 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. For this is what Amos is saying: 

"`Jeroboam will die by the sword,

and Israel will surely go into exile, 

away from their native land.'"  

Amaziah is angered by the messages of Amos and so he complains to the king, accusing Amos of treason. Amos has not said that Jeroboam II will be killed but has said that the sword will rise against Jeroboam's house. In the future it will be Jeroboam's son Zechariah who is assassinated. After the death of Jeroboam II there will be six kings in 30 years, four of them dying by assassination. (Some of these events are recorded in 2 Kings 15.)

Amos 7:12-13, Go home!

Then Amaziah said to Amos, "Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. Don't prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king's sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom."  

Amos is told "Go home!", to go back to Judah. The powerful in Israel are displeased with Amos's prophecy.

Isaiah received a similar rebuke in Isaiah 30:10-11.

Amos 7:14-17, Neither prophet nor prophet's son

Amos answered Amaziah, "I was neither a prophet nor a prophet's son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, `Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'  Now then, hear the word of the LORD. You say, 

"`Do not prophesy against Israel, 

and stop preaching against the house of Isaac.'  

"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 certainly go into exile, 

away from their native land.'"

Amos does not shirk from this confrontation. Amos gives a brief summary of his background. He was not in the guild of prophets (see for example 1 Kings 20:35, 2 Kings 2:3, 4:1), but has been called to this job. Prior to his tenure as a prophet, he had been a shepherd and one who took care of fig trees. 

In response to Amaziah's attack, Amos predicts that the family of Amaziah will become destitute, his wife falling to the role of prostitute and his children killed. Amaziah himself will die in exile (in Assyria.) Amos repeats part of verse 9, stressing that the nation of Israel will indeed be taken into exile.

Some Random Thoughts

In the Old Testament commentaries, in discussions on the meanings of certain words, I routinely come across the latin term hapax legomenon. A hapax legomenon is a word that only appears once in the ancient manuscripts and is thus difficult to translate, as it is hard to find context. The Hebrew word "anak", in verses 7 and 8 avove, translated "plumb line" by the NIV and "tin" by Niehaus, is such a word. One often attempts to translate a rare word by its relationships to Akkadian or Ugarit words since those ancient languages were close to Biblical Hebrew.

I note that in my experience the term "hapax legomenon" is itself a rare term and thus one that I had to look on the internet. My first reaction to the definition is that " 'hapax legomenon' is itself a hapax legomenon!". It is a word that describes itself! My math friends will recognize echoes of Russell's Barber Paradox.... (Is there a term for "terms that do not describe themselves"?)

First published July 3, 2025; updated July 3, 2025