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Merchants Only Want to Make Money

Listen to me, you who trample on helpless people.
    You are trying to destroy the poor of this country.
You merchants say,
    “When will the New Moon be over so that we can sell grain?
When will the Sabbath be over
    so that we can bring out more wheat to sell?
We can raise the price
    and make the measure smaller.[a]
We can fix the scales
    and cheat the people.[b]
The poor cannot pay their loans,
    so we will buy them as slaves.
We will buy those helpless people
    for the price of a pair of sandals.
Oh, and we can sell the wheat
    that was spilled on the floor.”

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Footnotes

  1. Amos 8:5 We … smaller Literally, “We will make the ephah small and the shekel large.”
  2. Amos 8:5 We … people Literally, “Cheat with lying balances.”

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