4 This is what the Lord God showed me: The Lord God was calling for fire to come down like rain. It burned up the deep water and was going to burn up the land.
5 Then I cried out, “Lord God, stop! How could Israel live through this? It is too small already.”
6 So the Lord changed his mind about this too. “It will not happen,” said the Lord God.
7 This is what he showed me: The Lord stood by a straight wall, with a plumb line in his hand.
8 The Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”I said, “A plumb line.”Then the Lord said, “See, I will put a plumb line among my people Israel to show how crooked they are. I will not look the other way any longer.
9 “The places where Isaac’s descendants worship will be destroyed,Israel’s holy places will be turned into ruins,and I will attack King Jeroboam’s family with the sword.”
10 Amaziah, a priest at Bethel, sent this message to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos is making evil plans against you with the people of Israel. He has been speaking so much that this land can’t hold all his words.