The Coming Day of Bitter Mourning

(A)This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. And he said, (B)“Amos, what do you see?” And I said, (C)“A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me,

(D)“The end[a] has come upon my people Israel;
    I will never again pass by them.
(E)The songs of the temple[b] (F)shall become wailings[c] in that day,”
declares the Lord God.
(G)“So many dead bodies!”
“They are thrown everywhere!”
(H)“Silence!”

Hear this, (I)you who trample on the needy
    and bring the poor of the land to an end,
saying, “When will (J)the new moon be over,
    that we may sell grain?
And (K)the Sabbath,
    that we may offer wheat for sale,
that we may make (L)the ephah small and the shekel[d] great
    and deal deceitfully with false balances,
that we may buy the poor for (M)silver
    and the needy for a pair of sandals
    and sell the chaff of the wheat?”

The Lord has sworn by (N)the pride of Jacob:
“Surely (O)I will never forget any of their deeds.
(P)Shall not the land tremble on this account,
    and everyone mourn who dwells in it,
(Q)and all of it rise like the Nile,
    and be tossed about (R)and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?”

“And on that day,” declares the Lord God,
    (S)“I will make the sun go down at noon
    and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 (T)I will turn your feasts into mourning
    and all your songs into lamentation;
(U)I will bring sackcloth on every waist
    (V)and baldness on every head;
(W)I will make it like the mourning for an only son
    and the end of it like a bitter day.

11 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God,
    “when (X)I will send a famine on the land—
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
    (Y)but of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 (Z)They shall wander from sea to sea,
    and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord,
    (AA)but they shall not find it.

13 (AB)“In that day the lovely virgins and the young men
    shall (AC)faint for thirst.
14 Those who swear by (AD)the Guilt of Samaria,
    and say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’
and, ‘As (AE)the Way of (AF)Beersheba lives,’
    they shall fall, and never rise again.”

Footnotes

  1. Amos 8:2 The Hebrew words for end and summer fruit sound alike
  2. Amos 8:3 Or palace
  3. Amos 8:3 Or The singing women of the palace shall wail
  4. Amos 8:5 An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters; a shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams

Fourth Vision: A Basket of Summer Fruit

The Lord God showed me this: A basket of summer fruit. He asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”(A)

I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.”(B)

The Lord said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel;(C) I will no longer spare them.(D) In that day the temple[a] songs(E) will become wailing”(F)—this is the Lord God’s declaration. “Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere!(G) Silence!”(H)

Hear this, you who trample on the needy(I)
and do away with the poor of the land,(J)
asking, “When will the New Moon be over
so we may sell grain,(K)
and the Sabbath,
so we may market wheat?(L)
We can reduce the measure
while increasing the price[b]
and cheat with dishonest scales.(M)
We can buy the poor with silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals(N)
and even sell the chaff!”

The Lord has sworn(O) by the Pride of Jacob:[c](P)

I will never forget all their deeds.(Q)
Because of this, won’t the land quake(R)
and all who dwell in it mourn?(S)
All of it will rise like the Nile;(T)
it will surge and then subside
like the Nile in Egypt.(U)

And in that day—
this is the declaration of the Lord God
I will make the sun go down at noon;(V)
I will darken the land in the daytime.(W)
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning(X)
and all your songs into lamentation;(Y)
I will cause everyone[d] to wear sackcloth(Z)
and every head to be shaved.(AA)
I will make that grief
like mourning for an only son(AB)
and its outcome like a bitter day.

11 Hear this! The days are coming—
this is the declaration of the Lord God
when I will send a famine through the land:
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord.(AC)
12 People will stagger from sea to sea
and roam from north to east,
seeking the word of the Lord,(AD)
but they will not find it.
13 In that day the beautiful young women,(AE)
the young men also, will faint from thirst.(AF)
14 Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria(AG)
and say, “As your god lives, Dan,”(AH)
or “As the way[e][f] of Beer-sheba lives”(AI)
they will fall, never to rise again.(AJ)

Footnotes

  1. Amos 8:3 Or palace
  2. Amos 8:5 Lit reduce the ephah and make the shekel great
  3. Amos 8:7 = the Lord or the promised land
  4. Amos 8:10 Lit every loin
  5. Amos 8:14 LXX reads god
  6. Amos 8:14 Or power