Visions that Yahweh gave to Joel

1Yahweh our God showed me in a vision that he was going to send locusts to destroy our crops. It was going to happen right after the king’s share of the hay had been harvested/cut and before the rest of the hay was ready to be harvested.

2And in the vision I saw those locusts come, and they ate everything that was green. Then I cried out, “Yahweh our Lord, please forgive us! We Israeli people are very helpless; ◄how will we be able to survive [RHQ]?/we will not be able to survive!►”

3So Yahweh changed his mind and said, “That will not happen.”

4Then this is what Yahweh our Lord showed me in another vision: He was calling to a fire to come and punish his people. In the vision I saw that the fire dried up the ocean and also burned everything on the land.

5Then I cried out again, “Yahweh our Lord, I plead with you, please stop this! We Israeli people are very helpless; how will we be able to survive [RHQ]?”

6So Yahweh changed his mind again, and said, “That also will not happen.”

7Then Yahweh showed me another vision. I saw him standing beside a wall. It was very straight because it had been built using a ◄plumb line/cord with a weight on one end to determine if walls are vertically straight►. Yahweh had the plumb line in his hand.

8Yahweh asked me, “Amos, what do you see?” I replied, “A plumb line.” Then Yahweh said, “Look, I am going to use a plumb line among my Israeli people, to show that they are like a wall that is not straight. I will not change my mind again about punishing them.

9The places on hills where the descendants of [MTY] Isaac worship idols will be destroyed. And the other important shrines in Israel will also be destroyed. And I will enable your enemies to attack your people with swords and they will get rid of King Jeroboam and all his descendants.”

Amaziah criticized Amos

10Then Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, sent a message to Jeroboam, the King of Israel. In the message he said, “Amos is plotting against you among the Israeli people [MTY]. I am worried that the people of this country will not be able to refute his words.

11This is what he is saying: ‘Jeroboam will soon be killed by someone using a sword, and the people of Israel will be ◄exiled/forced to leave their land and go to another country►.’”

12Then Amaziah came to me and said, “You prophet, get out of here! Go back to the country of Judah! Earn money to buy food to be able to live there, and do your prophesying there!

13Do not prophesy any more here at Bethel, because this is where the national temple, the king’s temple, is!”

14I replied to Amaziah, “I was previously not a prophet, and my father was not a prophet; I was a shepherd. I also took care of sycamore-fig trees.

15But Yahweh took me away from taking care of my sheep, and he said to me, ‘Go to Israel and prophesy to my people there!’

16You said to me, ‘Do not prophecy saying terrible things will happen to the people of Israel; stop saying those things!’

17Therefore listen to what Yahweh says about you: ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in this city, and your sons and daughters will be killed by your enemies’ swords. Others will measure your land and divide it up among themselves; and you yourself will die in a foreign country.
And the people of Israel will certainly be forced to leave their country and go ◄into exile/to live in another country►.’”