Add parallel Print Page Options

Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit.

He said, “Amos, what do you see?”

I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”

Then Yahweh said to me,

“The end has come on my people Israel.
    I will not again pass by them any more.
The songs of the temple will be wailing in that day,” says the Lord Yahweh.
    “The dead bodies will be many. In every place they will throw them out with silence.
Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy,
    and cause the poor of the land to fail,
    Saying, ‘When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain?
    And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat,
    making the ephah[a] small, and the shekel[b] large,
    and dealing falsely with balances of deceit;
that we may buy the poor for silver,
    and the needy for a pair of sandals,
    and sell the sweepings with the wheat?’”
Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob,
    “Surely I will never forget any of their works.
Won’t the land tremble for this,
    and everyone mourn who dwells in it?
Yes, it will rise up wholly like the River;
    and it will be stirred up and sink again, like the River of Egypt.
It will happen in that day,” says the Lord Yahweh,
    “that I will cause the sun to go down at noon,
    and I will darken the earth in the clear day.
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning,
    and all your songs into lamentation;
and I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies,
    and baldness on every head.
I will make it like the mourning for an only son,
    and its end like a bitter day.
11 Behold, the days come,” says the Lord Yahweh,
    “that I will send a famine in the land,
    not a famine of bread,
    nor a thirst for water,
    but of hearing Yahweh’s words.
12 They will wander from sea to sea,
    and from the north even to the east;
    they will run back and forth to seek Yahweh’s word,
    and will not find it.
13 In that day the beautiful virgins
    and the young men will faint for thirst.
14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria,
    and say, ‘As your god, Dan, lives;’
    and, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives;’
    they will fall, and never rise up again.”

Footnotes

  1. 8:5 1 ephah is about 22 liters or about 2/3 of a bushel
  2. 8:5 a normal shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces.

A Basket of Ripe Fruit

My Lord Yahweh showed me this, and there was a basket of summer fruit. And he said, “What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” And Yahweh said to me, “The end has come upon my people Israel. I will not pass by them again!” “And the songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,” declares[a] my Lord Yahweh. “The corpses are numerous; he throws them in every place. Be quiet!” Hear this, those who trample on the poor and who annihilate the afflicted of the land, saying, “When will the new moon be over, so that we can sell grain? And the Sabbath, so that we can open the grain bins, that we can make the ephah small and make the shekel large, and can practice deceit with a set of scales of deceit? That we can[b] buy the powerless with silver and the poor for the sake of a pair of sandals, and we can sell the waste of the grain?” Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob, “Surely I will never forget any of their deeds! On account of this, will not the land tremble and will not every living thing in it mourn? And all of it will rise like the Nile and it will be tossed about and subside like the Nile of Egypt. And then in that day,” declares[c] my Lord Yahweh, “I[d] will make the sun go down at noon and I will darken the land on a day of light. 10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all of your songs into lament, and I will put sackcloth on all loins and baldness on every head. And I will make it like the mourning for an only child, and its end like a bitter day. 11 Look, the days are coming,” declares[e] my Lord Yahweh, “when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread and not a thirst for water, but of hearing[f] the words of Yahweh! 12 And they will wander from sea to sea and from the north and to the east. They will roam about to seek the word of Yahweh, but they will not find it! 13 In that day the beautiful young women and the young men will faint because of thirst. 14 These are those who swear by the guilt of Samaria and say, ‘By the life of your gods, O Dan,’ and ‘By the life of the way of Beersheba,’ they will fall and they will not rise again.”

Footnotes

  1. Amos 8:3 Literally “a declaration of”
  2. Amos 8:6 Literally “to buy”
  3. Amos 8:9 Literally “a declaration of”
  4. Amos 8:9 Literally “and I”
  5. Amos 8:11 Literally “a declaration of”
  6. Amos 8:11 Literally “but if to hear”