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Amos 7:1-3, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Amos 7:1-3
The Locust Vision and Intercession for Small Jacob
Grasshoppers after the king's mowings
The Lord GOD showed Amos locusts forming in the beginning of the latter growth after the king's mowings. An early royal claim on produce or pasture has already been taken; the remaining crop is what ordinary people need. Then the insects finish the grass of the land.
The vision does not predict a modern swarm, famine, army, technology, or end-times event. "King's mowings" is not a full tax code, but it does place disaster after the powerful have taken their share.
O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee
Amos does not relish the vision. He asks forgiveness because Jacob is small: how shall he stand? The LORD relents and says, It shall not be. "Repented" here is relenting from an announced disaster, not a confession that God sinned.
Warning is joined to intercession. Announced judgment is not a license for the prophet to desire destruction. Jacob's smallness is vulnerability, not helplessness theater and not antisemitic pity. Prayer does not mechanically control outcomes, but the reprieve is genuine.
How this should shape us
When you foresee a crisis, pair the warning with mitigation for those who would bear it. Advocate for the least protected instead of treating a correct forecast as personal vindication. Ask what the powerful have already taken before the rest of the community is told to survive.
Teach it back
Explain Amos 7:1-3 in your own words. Include its place in Amos's judgment-restoration movement, one material uncertainty, and one use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: The crop calendar, king's share, locust species, vision's historical relation to events, and theology of relenting are debated; intercession and reprieve are explicit.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Amos 7:1-3, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, wordplays, names, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Amos.xml, 7:1-3
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
NET Bible Amos PDF, printed pp. 1718-1719, translation and notes on 7:1-3
Supports: Whole-book movement, eighth-century horizon, literary boundaries, composition, and verse-level alternatives.
Dines, 'Amos,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 587-588, discussion of 7:1-3
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Amos 7:1-3, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Amos
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, wordplays, names, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Amos.xml, 7:1-3
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Amos with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Amos PDF, printed pp. 1718-1719, translation and notes on 7:1-3
Open source ↗modern critical commentary
Amos
Jennifer M. Dines
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001
Supports: Whole-book movement, eighth-century horizon, literary boundaries, composition, and verse-level alternatives.
Exact location: Dines, 'Amos,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 587-588, discussion of 7:1-3
Open source ↗