8 Yahweh said to me, "Amos, what do you see?" I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "Behold, I will set a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Amos, what seest thou? - o: "He calls the prophet by name, as a familiar friend, known and approved by Him, as He said to Moses, "I know thee by name" Exodus 33:12, Exodus 33:17. For "the Lord knoweth them that are His. What seest thou?" 2-Timothy 2:19. God had twice heard the prophet. Two judgments upon His people He had mitigated, not upon their repentance, but on the single intercession of the prophet. After that, He willed to be no more entreated. And so He exhibits to Amos a symbol, whose meaning He does not explain until He had pronounced their doom. "The plumbline" was used in pulling down, as well as in building up. Whence Jeremiah says, "The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; He hath stretched out a line; He hath not withdrawn His hand from destroying; therefore He made the rampart and wall to lament" Lamentations 2:8 : and Isaiah; "He shall stretch out upon it the line of wasteness" (as in Genesis 1:2) "and the stone of emptiness" Isaiah 34:11 (as in Genesis 1:2): and God said of Judah, "I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab" 2-Kings 21:13.
Accordingly God explains the vision, "Behold I will set," that is, shortly, (literally, "am setting") "a plumbline in the midst of My people Israel." The wall, then, is not the emblem of Samaria or of any one city. It is the strength and defense of the whole people, whatever held it together, and held out the enemy. As in the vision to Belshazzar, the word "Tekel," He "weighed," was explained, "Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting" Daniel 5:27, so God here applies the plumbline, at once to convict and to destroy upon conviction. In this Judgment, as at the Last Day, God would not condemn, without having first made clear the justice of His condemnation. He sets it "in the midst of" His "people," showing that He would make trial of all, one by one, and condemn in proportion to the guilt of each. But the day of grace being past, the sentence was to be final. "I will not pass by them," literally, "I will not pass over" (that is, their transgressions) "to them (as in Amos 8:2) anymore," that is, I will no more forgive them.
I will set a plumbline - I will visit them by justice without any mixture of mercy.
And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou?.... This question was put to him, the rather, since he was silent, and did not upon this vision, as the former, make any supplication to the Lord; as also, because this vision portended something of moment and importance, which he would have the prophet attend to:
and I said, a plumbline; the same word as before, and is differently rendered, as already observed. The Vulgate Latin version renders it, "a plasterer's" or "mason's trowel"; with which they lay their plaster and mortar on in building: the Septuagint, an adamant: and which, by Pliny (f), is called "anachites"; a word in sound near to this here used: the Targum renders it, "judgment": but Jarchi and Aben Ezra observe, that in the Arabic tongue it signifies lead or tin, as it does (g); and so a line with lead at the end of it;
then said the Lord, behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel; take an exact account of their actions, and see how they agree or disagree with the rule of the word; and in the most strict and righteous manner deal with them for their sins and transgressions, "lay judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet", Isaiah 28:17;
I will not again pass by them any more; wink at their sins, and overlook their transgressions, by not correcting and punishing for them; or will not pardon them, but inflict punishment on them. So the Targum,
"behold, I will exercise judgment in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not add any more to pardon them.''
Though some understand it of God's making such an utter end of them, that he should no more "pass through them" (h), to destroy them, having done it at once, and thoroughly.
(f) Nat. Hist. l. 3. c. 4. (g) "plumbum, sive nigrum, sive album puriusque", Camusus; "plumbum et stannum", Ibn Maruph apud Golium, col. 176. Avicenna apud Castel. col. 161. Vid. Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. l. 1. c. 7. p. 122. (h) "non adjiciam ultra pertransire eum", Montanus; "non ultra per eum transibit", some in Mercerus.
plumb-line in . . . midst of . . . Israel--No longer are the symbols, as in the former two, stated generally; this one is expressly applied to Israel. God's long-suffering is worn out by Israel's perversity: so Amos ceases to intercede (compare Genesis 18:33). The plummet line was used not only in building, but in destroying houses (2-Kings 21:13; Isaiah 28:17; Isaiah 34:11; Lamentations 2:8). It denotes that God's judgments are measured out by the most exact rules of justice. Here it is placed "in the midst" of Israel, that is, the judgment is not to be confined to an outer part of Israel, as by Tiglath-pileser; it is to reach the very center. This was fulfilled when Shalmaneser, after a three years' siege of Samaria, took it and carried away Israel captive finally to Assyria (2-Kings 17:3, 2-Kings 17:5-6, 2-Kings 17:23).
not . . . pass by . . . any more--not forgive them any more (Amos 8:2; Proverbs 19:11; Micah 7:18).
Set a plumb - line - I will exactly measure the whole ten tribes. Pass by them - I will no more forbear, but will pull down all that is faulty.
*More commentary available at chapter level.