The Locusts, Fire, and Plumb Line (Joel 2:1–11)
1 UDB Yahweh 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 and before the rest of the hay was ready to be harvested. BSB BSB: This is what the Lord GOD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts just after the king’s harvest, as the late spring crop was coming up.
2 UDB 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 Israelite people are very helpless; how will we be able to survive?" BSB BSB: And when the locusts had eaten every green plant in the land, I said, “Lord GOD, please forgive! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?”
3 UDB So Yahweh changed his mind and said, "That will not happen." BSB BSB: So the LORD relented from this plan. “It will not happen,” He said.
4 UDB Then 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 had dried up the water under all the land and also had burned everything on the land. BSB BSB: This is what the Lord GOD showed me: The Lord GOD was calling for judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land.
5 UDB Then I cried out again, "Yahweh our Lord, I plead with you, please stop this! We Israelite people are very helpless; how will we be able to survive?" BSB BSB: Then I said, “Lord GOD, please stop! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?”
6 UDB So Yahweh changed his mind again, and said, "That also will not happen." BSB BSB: So the LORD relented from this plan. “It will not happen either,” said the Lord GOD.
7 UDB Then 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. Yahweh had the plumb line in his hand. BSB BSB: This is what He showed me: Behold, the Lord was standing by a wall true to plumb, with a plumb line in His hand.
8 UDB Yahweh 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 Israelite people, to show that they are like a wall that is not straight. I will not change my mind again about punishing them. BSB BSB: “Amos, what do you see?” asked the LORD. “A plumb line,” I replied. “Behold,” said the Lord, “I am setting a plumb line among My people Israel; I will no longer spare them:
9 UDB The hilltop places of idolatry where the descendants of Isaac worship idols will be destroyed. And the other important holy places 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." BSB BSB: The high places of Isaac will be deserted, and the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste; and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with My sword.”
Amaziah Accuses Amos 10 UDB Then 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 Israelite people. I am worried that the people of this country will not know that he is wrong. BSB BSB: Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words,
11 UDB This is what he is saying: 'Jeroboam will soon be killed by someone using a sword, and the people of Israel will be exiled.'" BSB BSB: for this is what Amos has said: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their homeland.’”
12 UDB Then Amaziah came to me and said, "You prophet, get out of here! Go back to the country of Judah! Do your prophesying there if you want to earn money! BSB BSB: And Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah; earn your bread there and do your prophesying there.
13 UDB Do not prophesy anymore here at Bethel, because this is where the national temple, the king's temple, is!" BSB BSB: But never prophesy at Bethel again, because it is the sanctuary of the king and the temple of the kingdom.”
14 UDB I 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. BSB BSB: “I was not a prophet,” Amos replied, “nor was I the son of a prophet; rather, I was a herdsman and a tender of sycamore-fig trees.
15 UDB But Yahweh took me away from taking care of my sheep, and he said to me, 'Go to Israel and prophesy to my people there!' BSB BSB: But the LORD took me from following the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’
16 UDB You said to me, 'Do not prophesy and say that terrible things will happen to the people of Israel; stop saying those things!' BSB BSB: Now, therefore, hear the word of the LORD. You say: ‘Do not prophesy against Israel; do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
17 UDB So listen to what Yahweh says about you: 'Your wife will become a prostitute in this very city; your sons and daughters will die because their enemies will kill them. 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 have to leave their country and go into exile.'" BSB BSB: 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 divided by a measuring line, and you yourself will die on pagan soil. And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their homeland.’”