Add parallel Print Page Options

A Vision of Ripe Fruit

Then the Sovereign Lord showed me another vision. In it I saw a basket filled with ripe fruit. “What do you see, Amos?” he asked.

I replied, “A basket full of ripe fruit.”

Then the Lord said, “Like this fruit, Israel is ripe for punishment! I will not delay their punishment again. In that day the singing in the temple will turn to wailing. Dead bodies will be scattered everywhere. They will be carried out of the city in silence. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”

Listen to this, you who rob the poor
    and trample down the needy!
You can’t wait for the Sabbath day to be over
    and the religious festivals to end
    so you can get back to cheating the helpless.
You measure out grain with dishonest measures
    and cheat the buyer with dishonest scales.[a]
And you mix the grain you sell
    with chaff swept from the floor.
Then you enslave poor people
    for one piece of silver or a pair of sandals.

Now the Lord has sworn this oath
    by his own name, the Pride of Israel[b]:
“I will never forget
    the wicked things you have done!
The earth will tremble for your deeds,
    and everyone will mourn.
The ground will rise like the Nile River at floodtime;
    it will heave up, then sink again.

“In that day,” says the Sovereign Lord,
“I will make the sun go down at noon
    and darken the earth while it is still day.
10 I will turn your celebrations into times of mourning
    and your singing into weeping.
You will wear funeral clothes
    and shave your heads to show your sorrow—
as if your only son had died.
    How very bitter that day will be!

11 “The time is surely coming,” says the Sovereign Lord,
    “when I will send a famine on the land—
not a famine of bread or water
    but of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 People will stagger from sea to sea
    and wander from border to border[c]
searching for the word of the Lord,
    but they will not find it.
13 Beautiful girls and strong young men
    will grow faint in that day,
    thirsting for the Lord’s word.
14 And those who swear by the shameful idols of Samaria—
    who take oaths in the name of the god of Dan
    and make vows in the name of the god of Beersheba[d]
they will all fall down,
    never to rise again.”

Footnotes

  1. 8:5 Hebrew You make the ephah [a unit for measuring grain] small and the shekel [a unit of weight] great, and you deal falsely by using deceitful balances.
  2. 8:7 Hebrew the pride of Jacob. See note on 3:13.
  3. 8:12 Hebrew from north to east.
  4. 8:14 Hebrew the way of Beersheba.

A vision of summer fruit

This is what the Lord God showed me: a basket of summer fruit. He said, “Amos, what do you see?”

I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”

Then the Lord said to me,

    “The end has come upon my people Israel;
        I will never again forgive them.
    On that day, the people will wail the temple songs,”
        says the Lord God;
    “there will be many corpses,
    thrown about everywhere.[a]
        Silence.”

Judgment on oppressors and hypocrites

    Hear this, you who trample on the needy and destroy
        the poor of the land, saying,
    “When will the new moon
        be over so that we may sell grain,
        and the Sabbath
        so that we may offer wheat for sale,
        make the ephah smaller, enlarge the shekel,
        and deceive with false balances,
        in order to buy the needy for silver
        and the helpless for sandals,
        and sell garbage as grain?”

    The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
        Surely I will never forget what they have done.
    Will not the land tremble on this account,
        and all who live in it mourn,
    as it rises and overflows like the Nile,
        and then falls again, like the River of Egypt?[b]

    On that day, says the Lord God,
        I will make the sun go down at noon,
        and I will darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your feasts into sad affairs
        and all your singing into a funeral song;
    I will make people wear mourning clothes
        and shave their heads;
    I will make it like the loss of an only child,
        and the end of it like a bitter day.
11 The days are surely coming, says the Lord God,
        when I will send hunger and thirst on the land;
    neither a hunger for bread, nor a thirst for water,
        but of hearing the Lord ’s words.
12 They will wander from sea to sea,
        and from north to east;
    they will roam all around, seeking the Lord’s word,
        but they won’t find it.
13 On that day the beautiful young women and the young men
        will faint with thirst.
14 Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria,
        and say, “As your god lives, Dan,”
    and, “As the way of Beer-sheba lives”—
        even they will fall and never rise again.

Footnotes

  1. Amos 8:3 Heb uncertain
  2. Amos 8:8 Heb uncertain

A Basket of Ripe Fruit

This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me:(A) a basket of ripe fruit. “What do you see,(B) Amos?(C)” he asked.

“A basket(D) of ripe fruit,” I answered.

Then the Lord said to me, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.(E)

“In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “the songs in the temple will turn to wailing.[a](F) Many, many bodies—flung everywhere! Silence!(G)

Hear this, you who trample the needy
    and do away with the poor(H) of the land,(I)

saying,

“When will the New Moon(J) be over
    that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath be ended
    that we may market(K) wheat?”(L)
skimping on the measure,
    boosting the price
    and cheating(M) with dishonest scales,(N)
buying the poor(O) with silver
    and the needy for a pair of sandals,
    selling even the sweepings with the wheat.(P)

The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob:(Q) “I will never forget(R) anything they have done.(S)

“Will not the land tremble(T) for this,
    and all who live in it mourn?
The whole land will rise like the Nile;
    it will be stirred up and then sink
    like the river of Egypt.(U)

“In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord,

“I will make the sun go down at noon
    and darken the earth in broad daylight.(V)
10 I will turn your religious festivals(W) into mourning
    and all your singing into weeping.(X)
I will make all of you wear sackcloth(Y)
    and shave(Z) your heads.
I will make that time like mourning for an only son(AA)
    and the end of it like a bitter day.(AB)

11 “The days are coming,”(AC) declares the Sovereign Lord,
    “when I will send a famine through the land—
not a famine of food or a thirst for water,
    but a famine(AD) of hearing the words of the Lord.(AE)
12 People will stagger from sea to sea
    and wander from north to east,
searching for the word of the Lord,
    but they will not find it.(AF)

13 “In that day

“the lovely young women and strong young men(AG)
    will faint because of thirst.(AH)
14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria(AI)
    who say, ‘As surely as your god lives, Dan,’(AJ)
    or, ‘As surely as the god[b] of Beersheba(AK) lives’—
    they will fall,(AL) never to rise again.(AM)

Footnotes

  1. Amos 8:3 Or “the temple singers will wail
  2. Amos 8:14 Hebrew the way