Amos 8:1-12 ▼

1 Thus the Lord GOD showed me [a vision], and behold, there was a basket of [overripe] summer fruit.

2 And He said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the LORD said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel. I will spare them no longer [for the nation is ripe for judgment].

3 In that day, the songs of the palace shall turn to wailing,” says the Lord GOD. “There will be many dead bodies; in [sacred] silence they will throw them everywhere.”

4 Hear this, you who trample down the needy, and do away with the poor of the land,

5 saying, “When will the New Moon [festival] be over So that we may sell grain, And the Sabbath ended so that we may open the wheat market, Making the ephah [measure] smaller and the shekel bigger [that is, selling less for a higher price] And to cheat by falsifying the scales,

6 So that we may buy the poor [as slaves] for silver [since they are unable to support themselves] And the needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the leftovers of the wheat [as if it were a good grade of grain]?”

7 The LORD has sworn [an oath] by the pride of Jacob, “Surely I shall never forget [nor leave unpunished] any of their [rebellious] acts.

8 “Because of this [coming judgment] will the land not quake And everyone mourn who dwells in it? Indeed, all of it shall rise up like the Nile, And it will be tossed around [from the impact of judgment] And [afterward] subside again like the Nile of Egypt.

9 “It shall come about in that day,” says the Lord GOD, “That I shall cause the sun to go down at noon, And I shall darken the earth in broad daylight.

10 “And I shall turn your festivals and feasts into mourning And all your songs into dirges (funeral poems to be sung); And I shall cause sackcloth to be put on everyone’s loins And baldness on every head [shaved for mourning]. And I shall make that time like a time of mourning for an only son [who has died], And the end of it shall be like a bitter day.

11 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord GOD, “When I will send hunger over the land, Not hunger for bread or a thirst for water, But rather [a hunger] for hearing the words of the LORD.

12 “People shall stagger from sea to sea [to the very ends of the earth] And from the north even to the east; They will roam here and there to seek the word of the LORD [longing for it as essential for life], But they will not find it.