He asked me, ‘What do you see, Amos? ’ I replied, ‘A basket of summer fruit.’ , The Lord said to me, ‘The end has come for my people Israel; I will no longer spare them.
The Lord asked me, ‘What do you see, Amos? ’ I replied, ‘A plumb line.’ Then the Lord said, ‘I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will no longer spare them:
How sad for me! For I am like one who – when the summer fruit has been gathered after the gleaning of the grape harvest – finds no grape cluster to eat, no early fig, which I crave.
Therefore say to them, “This is what the Lord God says: I will put a stop to this proverb, and they will not use it again in Israel.” But say to them, “The days have arrived, as well as the fulfilment of every vision.
And he said to me, ‘Do you see this, son of man? Is it not enough for the house of Judah to commit the detestable acts they are doing here, that they must also fill the land with violence and repeatedly anger me, even putting the branch to their nose?
He said to me, ‘Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his idol? For they are saying, “The Lord does not see us. The Lord has abandoned the land.” ’
He said to me, ‘Son of man, do you see what they are doing here #– #more detestable acts that the house of Israel is committing #– #so that I must depart from my sanctuary? You will see even more detestable acts.’
But the house of Israel will not want to listen to you because they do not want to listen to me. For the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted.
As for me, I am going to live in Mizpah to represent you before the Chaldeans who come to us. As for you, gather wine, summer fruit, and oil, place them in your storage jars, and live in the cities you have captured.’
The fading flower of his beautiful splendour, which is on the summit above the rich valley, will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest. Whoever sees it will swallow it while it is still in his hand.
Then God said to Noah, ‘I have decided to put an end to every creature, for the earth is filled with wickedness because of them; therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth.
The days of punishment have come; the days of retribution have come. Let Israel recognise it! The prophet is a fool, and the inspired man is insane, because of the magnitude of your iniquity and hostility.