Amos 8:1-9

Amplified Bible

Basket of Fruit and Israel’s Captivity

8 Thus the Lord God showed me [a vision], and behold, there was a basket of [overripe] summer fruit. ²And 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]. ³In 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.”

⁴Hear this, you who trample down the needy, and do away with the poor of the land, ⁵saying,

“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 ^[a]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.^(A)