“This is what
He showed me.
Yahweh was standing beside
A wall
Built with a plumb line.
He had a plumb line
In his hand.”
This third vision of Amos was about a plumb line that Yahweh showed him. Yahweh was holding the plumb line in his hand near a completed wall.
“Then one of the seraphim
Flew to me.
He was holding
A live burning coal
That he had taken
From the altar
With tongs.
The seraph touched
My mouth with it.
He said.
‘Now that this has touched your lips,
Your guilt has departed.
Your sin blotted out.’”
One of the seraphim flew over to Isaiah, holding a burning coal taken from the altar with tongs. This seraph touched the mouth of Isaiah with the burning coals. Then he said that his guilt and sin had been blotted out and gone away. Isaiah was made clean.
“A bad wife is
Like a chafing yoke.
Taking hold of her is
Like grasping a scorpion.
A drunken wife
Arouses great anger.
She cannot hide her shame.
The haughty stare betrays
An unchaste wife.
Her eyelids give her away.”
Oh, oh, we are back to the evil bad wife. She is like a chafing yoke, which was put on oxen. Holding her was like trying to grab a scorpion. Now she is also a drunkard, as if no husbands were ever drunkards. This over indulging wife brings anger and shame. You can tell that she is an unchaste wife by her eyelids. Watch out for those eyelids!
Mem
“Our steps are made firm
By Yahweh.
He delights in our way.
Though we stumble,
We shall not fall headlong.
Yahweh holds us by the hand.”
Yahweh helps us to walk. He delights in how we go on our way. Even though we might stumble, we do not fall down headlong because Yahweh is holding us with his hand. What a delightful thought that our every step depends on God.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 