Read the passage and its setting
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
The Main Point
When a locust vision threatens the crop after the king's mowing, Amos intercedes for small Jacob and the LORD relents from this announced disaster.
What Is Happening Here?
When a locust vision threatens the crop after the king's mowing, Amos intercedes for small Jacob and the LORD relents from this announced disaster.
What Came Before—and What Comes Next?
The threat of an oppressive nation closed the public oracles of chapter 6.
A second vision of consuming fire again draws Amos's plea and divine relenting.
Follow the Prophecy's Movement
See why this section appears here and how the author's oracle leads to its meaning.
Why Is This Passage Here?
The first vision shows prophetic warning joined to intercession and reveals that announced judgment is not a license for the prophet to desire destruction.
Follow the Movement
The Lord GOD forms locusts at a vulnerable crop stage after the king's mowing.
The insects finish eating the land's grass.
Amos asks forgiveness because Jacob is small.
The LORD relents and says it shall not be.
What Is the Author Saying?
Why This Interpretation Fits
Movement 1
The Lord GOD forms locusts at a vulnerable crop stage after the king's mowing.
Movement 2
The insects finish eating the land's grass.
Movement 3
Amos asks forgiveness because Jacob is small.
Movement 4
The LORD relents and says it shall not be.
Understand the Meaning and Its Boundaries
Clarify the words that matter and keep the conclusion no broader than the passage allows.
Words That Matter
grasshoppers
·
KJV 'grasshoppers' can denote locusts. 'King's mowings' probably refers to an early royal claim on produce or pasture, though details are uncertain. 'Repented' describes divine relenting from the announced outcome, not moral wrongdoing.
What the Passage Is Not Saying
Reading Amos 7:1-3 inside Amos's complete judgment-restoration movement rules out these uses:
The locust vision does not predict a modern insect outbreak, famine, technology, army, or end-times event.
Divine relenting does not mean God committed sin or that prayer mechanically controls outcomes.
Jacob's smallness does not authorize helplessness theater or antisemitic pity.
Context check: The prophet sees threatened agricultural ruin, pleads from Jacob's vulnerability, and receives a genuine reprieve.
What Remains True Today
Accountable warning should be accompanied by advocacy for those who would bear the harm.
Respond and Remember
Let the meaning shape life carefully, then practice explaining the section in context.
How This Should Shape Us
Why these applications follow
When a locust vision threatens the crop after the king's mowing, Amos intercedes for small Jacob and the LORD relents from this announced disaster.
The prophet sees threatened agricultural ruin, pleads from Jacob's vulnerability, and receives a genuine reprieve.
Accountable warning should be accompanied by advocacy for those who would bear the harm.
How should this shape us today?
When forecasting a crisis, pair the warning with concrete mitigation and advocacy for the least protected.
A Concrete Example
An agricultural analyst can alert farmers to a pest risk while pressing for emergency support rather than treating a correct forecast as personal vindication.
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 main explanation above stands on its own. Open these optional sections for fuller language, history, disagreements, and source locations.
Read it sentence by sentenceEach line inside the larger movement
Movement 1
The Lord GOD forms locusts at a vulnerable crop stage after the king's mowing.
Movement 2
The insects finish eating the land's grass.
Movement 3
Amos asks forgiveness because Jacob is small.
Movement 4
The LORD relents and says it shall not be.
Original-language wording and grammarTechnical detail appears only where it helps
No original-language term in this unit requires a separate reader-facing lexical card beyond the translation notes.
What the first readers would have understoodRelevant history and culture
Israel, Judah, empire, land, and the limits of reconstruction
Agrarian dependence made late locust loss catastrophic. The royal mowing may expose unequal claims on the first crop, but the verse does not fully reconstruct taxation.
How certain? probableWhy translations sometimes differMaterial translation choices
KJV wording and material alternatives
KJV 'grasshoppers' can denote locusts. 'King's mowings' probably refers to an early royal claim on produce or pasture, though details are uncertain. 'Repented' describes divine relenting from the announced outcome, not moral wrongdoing.
How certain? probableEarlier Scripture and inherited backgroundSupported quotations, allusions, and inherited ideas
Amos among Israel's Scriptures
Moses, Samuel, and other prophets intercede after judgment announcements; such narratives hold warning and mercy together.
How certain? strongHow this connects with the rest of ScriptureThe passage's own meaning remains primary
Responsible canonical connections
The accepted plea contrasts with 7:8 and 8:2, where the LORD says he will no longer pass by the people.
How certain? probableTextual variantsManuscript differences only when they affect meaning
No textual variant materially changes this unit's responsible reader-facing explanation; translation and historical uncertainties remain documented elsewhere.
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? probableTheology that emerges from this passageConclusions drawn after reading the complete section
Theological contribution
The Lord GOD hears intercession for vulnerable Jacob and can withhold announced disaster.
How certain? strongTheological contribution
This unit contributes to Amos's movement from judgment through contested hope to covenant mercy: When a locust vision threatens the crop after the king's mowing, Amos intercedes for small Jacob and the LORD relents from this announced disaster.
How certain? strongCommon ways this passage gets misusedFair explanation, context check, and stronger reading
The locust vision does not predict a modern insect outbreak, famine, technology, army, or end-times event.
A vivid line can feel easier to reuse than the whole oracle's historical target and literary movement.
The prophet sees threatened agricultural ruin, pleads from Jacob's vulnerability, and receives a genuine reprieve.
Accountable warning should be accompanied by advocacy for those who would bear the harm.
The locust vision does not predict a modern insect outbreak, famine, technology, army, or end-times event.
Divine relenting does not mean God committed sin or that prayer mechanically controls outcomes.
A strong prophetic claim can be detached from the LORD's role and the text's protection of harmed people.
The prophet sees threatened agricultural ruin, pleads from Jacob's vulnerability, and receives a genuine reprieve.
Accountable warning should be accompanied by advocacy for those who would bear the harm.
Divine relenting does not mean God committed sin or that prayer mechanically controls outcomes.
Jacob's smallness does not authorize helplessness theater or antisemitic pity.
Readers may prefer a modern slogan where the passage preserves textual, historical, or ethical limits.
The prophet sees threatened agricultural ruin, pleads from Jacob's vulnerability, and receives a genuine reprieve.
Accountable warning should be accompanied by advocacy for those who would bear the harm.
Jacob's smallness does not authorize helplessness theater or antisemitic pity.
Research 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 ↗