Amos 8
New American Standard Bible
Basket of Fruit and Israel’s Captivity
8 This is what the Lord [a]God showed me, and behold, there was a basket of summer fruit. 2 And He said, “What do you see, Amos?” And (A)I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The (B)end has come for My people Israel. I will not [b](C)spare them any longer. 3 [c]The (D)songs of the palace will turn to (E)wailing on that day,” declares the Lord God. “The (F)corpses will be many; in every place [d]they will throw them out. [e]Hush!”
4 Hear this, you who [f](G)trample the needy, to put an end to the humble of the land, 5 saying,
“When will the (H)new moon [g]be over,
So that we may sell grain;
And the (I)Sabbath, so that we may open the wheat market,
To make the [h]ephah smaller and the [i]shekel bigger,
And to (J)cheat with dishonest scales,
6 So as to (K)buy the helpless for [j]money,
And the needy for a pair of sandals,
And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?”
7 The Lord has (L)sworn by the (M)pride of Jacob,
“Indeed, I will (N)never forget any of their deeds.
8 Because of this will the land not (O)quake,
And everyone who lives in it (P)mourn?
Indeed, all of it will (Q)rise up like the Nile,
And it will be tossed about
And subside like the Nile of Egypt.
9 And it will come about on that day,” declares the Lord God,
“That I will make the (R)sun go down at noon,
And (S)make the earth dark in [k]broad daylight.
10 Then I will (T)turn your festivals into mourning,
And all your songs into songs of mourning;
And I will put (U)sackcloth around everyone’s waist,
And [l]baldness on every head.
And I will make it (V)like a time of mourning for an only son,
And the end of it will be like a bitter day.
11 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord God,
“When I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
But rather (W)for hearing the words of the Lord.
12 People will stagger from sea to sea
And from the north even to the east;
They will roam about to (X)seek the word of the Lord,
But they will not find it.
13 On that day the beautiful (Y)virgins
And the young men will (Z)faint from thirst.
14 As for those who swear by the [m](AA)guilt of Samaria,
And say, ‘As your god lives, (AB)Dan,’
And, ‘As the way of (AC)Beersheba lives,’
They will fall and (AD)not rise again.”
Footnotes
- Amos 8:1 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord, and so throughout the ch
- Amos 8:2 Lit pass him by
- Amos 8:3 Lit They will howl the palace songs
- Amos 8:3 Lit he has thrown
- Amos 8:3 An order for sacred silence
- Amos 8:4 Or snap at
- Amos 8:5 Lit pass by
- Amos 8:5 About 1 cubic foot or 0.03 cubic meters
- Amos 8:5 About 0.5 oz. or 14 gm
- Amos 8:6 Lit silver
- Amos 8:9 Lit a day of light
- Amos 8:10 I.e., shaved as a sign of mourning
- Amos 8:14 Or Ashimah
Amos 8
English Standard Version
The Coming Day of Bitter Mourning
8 (A)This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. 2 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.
3 (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!”
4 Hear this, (I)you who trample on the needy
and bring the poor of the land to an end,
5 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,
6 that we may buy the poor for (M)silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals
and sell the chaff of the wheat?”
7 The Lord has sworn by (N)the pride of Jacob:
“Surely (O)I will never forget any of their deeds.
8 (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?”
9 “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.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
