3. Then the Lord changed his mind about this. The Lord said, “It will not happen.”
4. This is what the Lord GOD showed me: I saw the Lord GOD calling for judgment by fire. The fire destroyed the ocean and was beginning to eat up the land.
5. But I said, “Lord GOD, stop, I beg you! Jacob cannot survive! He is too small!”
6. Then the Lord changed his mind about this. The Lord GOD said, “It will not happen either.”
7. This is what the Lord showed me: He stood by a wall with a plumb line in his hand. (The wall had been marked with a plumb line.)
8. The Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said to me, “See, I will put a plumb line among my people Israel. I will not let their ‘crooked ways’ pass inspection anymore.
9. Isaac’s high places will be destroyed. Israel’s holy places will be made into a pile of rocks. I will attack and kill Jeroboam’s family with swords.”
10. Amaziah, a priest at Bethel, sent this message to Jeroboam, the king of Israel: “Amos is making plans against you. He is trying to make the people of Israel fight against you. He has been speaking so much that this country cannot hold all his words.
11. Amos has said, ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and the people of Israel will be taken as prisoners out of their country.’”
12. Amaziah also said to Amos, “You seer, go down to Judah and eat there. Do your prophesying there.
13. But don’t prophesy anymore here at Bethel. This is Jeroboam’s holy place. This is Israel’s temple.”
14. Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I am not a professional prophet, and I am not from a prophet’s family. I raise cattle and take care of sycamore trees.