The Lord was forming a great plague of locusts that would eat up all the grain in Israel, and showed this to Amos in a vision: and Amos pleaded, “O Lord God, forgive, I beg you! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” (Amos 7:2). And God ‘relented’ – depending on how you translate it, ‘repented’ or ‘turned’ or ‘changed his mind’ – and heeded Amos’s prayer and promised not to judge Israel in this way after all.

Instead, the Lord prepared a great shower of fire that would burn up the land and the sea, and showed this judgment to Amos in a second vision: and Amos pleaded, “O Lord God, cease, I beg you! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” (7:5). And once again God heard Amos’ prayer, and decided not to judge Israel this way either.

Then the Lord decided to judge the nation with a plumb line, which would assess in any given place whether the house of Israel was straight and true (7:7-8). And when Amos saw this vision, he had nothing to say. He could complain that condemning the whole nation to death by starvation or fire was too much: but he could not object to a judgment where every individual would be tested according to God’s plumb line: that is, judged according to the line that was true.

In the meantime, Amaziah the priest was pushing for Amos to go home to the southern kingdom of Judah and leave the people of Israel alone (7:12-13). It is quite ironic that Amaziah wanted to get rid of the person whose prayers had persuaded God not to judge the whole nation with one comprehensive judgment. The results for Amaziah would not be pretty (7:16-17).

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We give you thanks, O Lord, for the example of Amos praying to create mercy where you had declared judgment. Grant us the courage to do the same, praying for your mercy over our land: and teach us to measure our lives against your true plumb line, and to repent where we are not straight.