Amos 8:1-6 ▼

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]?”