Amos 8:1-12

New International Version

A Basket of Ripe Fruit

8 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me:^(A) a basket of ripe fruit. ²“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)

³“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)”

⁴Hear this, you who trample the needy
and do away with the poor^(H) of the land,^(I)

⁵saying,

“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)
⁶buying the poor^(O) with silver
    and the needy for a pair of sandals,
    selling even the sweepings with the wheat.^(P)

⁷The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob:^(Q) “I will never forget^(R) anything they have done.^(S)

⁸“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)

⁹“In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord,

“I will make the sun go down at noon
    and darken the earth in broad daylight.^(V)
¹⁰I 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)
¹²People 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)

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Footnotes

Amos 8:3 Or “the temple singers will wail

Micah 6:6-16

New International Version

⁶With what shall I come before^(A) the Lord
    and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?^(B)
⁷Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,^(C)
    with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?^(D)
Shall I offer my firstborn^(E) for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?^(F)
⁸He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly^(G) and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly^[a]^(H) with your God.^(I)

Israel’s Guilt and Punishment

⁹Listen! The Lord is calling to the city—
    and to fear your name is wisdom—
    “Heed the rod^(J) and the One who appointed it.^[b]
¹⁰Am I still to forget your ill-gotten treasures, you wicked house,
    and the short ephah,^[c] which is accursed?^(K)
¹¹Shall I acquit someone with dishonest scales,^(L)
    with a bag of false weights?^(M)
¹²Your rich people are violent;^(N)
    your inhabitants are liars^(O)
    and their tongues speak deceitfully.^(P)
¹³Therefore, I have begun to destroy^(Q) you,
    to ruin^[d] you because of your sins.
¹⁴You will eat but not be satisfied;^(R)
    your stomach will still be empty.^[e]
You will store up but save nothing,^(S)
    because what you save^[f] I will give to the sword.
¹⁵You will plant but not harvest;^(T)
    you will press olives but not use the oil,
    you will crush grapes but not drink the wine.^(U)
¹⁶You have observed the statutes of Omri^(V)
    and all the practices of Ahab’s^(W) house;
    you have followed their traditions.^(X)
Therefore I will give you over to ruin^(Y)
    and your people to derision;
    you will bear the scorn^(Z) of the nations.^[g]”

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Footnotes

Micah 6:8 Or prudently
Micah 6:9 The meaning of the Hebrew for this line is uncertain.
Micah 6:10 An ephah was a dry measure.
Micah 6:13 Or Therefore, I will make you ill and destroy you; / I will ruin
Micah 6:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
Micah 6:14 Or You will press toward birth but not give birth, / and what you bring to birth
Micah 6:16 Septuagint; Hebrew scorn due my people