Bible Strands
Amos 7:8
“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:
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The LORD interrupts a vision of a wall to ask Amos what he sees. After Amos identifies a plumb line, the LORD declares He is placing one among Israel and will cease sparing them.
The words — רֹאֶה (ro.'Eh) means seeing, framing the prophet’s role as a witness to divine inspection. עָמ֔וֹס (a.Mos) directly addresses the recipient, anchoring the vision in a specific prophetic call.
The thread — This dialogue pattern repeats in Amos 8:2 with a basket of summer fruit, while Lamentations 2:8 and Jeremiah 15:6 echo the measuring line and outstretched hand motifs of judgment.
Why it lands — The text establishes God’s standard against Israel and announces the end of forbearance. A reader must acknowledge that divine inspection precedes irreversible judgment.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more:
Cross-references
- Amos 8:2 “Amos, what do you see?” He asked. “A basket of summer fruit,” I replied. So the LORD said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel; I will no longer spare them.”
- Lamentations 2:8 The LORD determined to destroy the wall of the Daughter of Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withdraw His hand from destroying. He made the ramparts and walls lament; together they waste away.
- Jeremiah 15:6 You have forsaken Me, declares the LORD. You have turned your back. So I will stretch out My hand against you and I will destroy you; I am weary of showing compassion.
- Isaiah 28:17 I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the level. Hail will sweep away your refuge of lies, and water will flood your hiding place.
- Ezekiel 7:2 “O son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says to the land of Israel: ‘The end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.
- 2 Kings 21:13 I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab, and I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes out a bowl—wiping it and turning it upside down.
- Micah 7:18 Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
- Jeremiah 1:11 And the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” “I see a branch of an almond tree,” I replied.
- Nahum 1:8 But with an overwhelming flood He will make an end of Nineveh and pursue His enemies into darkness.
- Zechariah 5:2 “What do you see?” asked the angel. “I see a flying scroll,” I replied, “twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.”