Amos 8:1-6
New English Translation
More Visions and Messages of Judgment
8 The Sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw[a] a basket of summer fruit.[b] 2 He said, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end[c] has come for my people Israel! I will no longer overlook their sins.[d]
3 The women singing in the temple[e] will wail in that day.”
The Sovereign Lord is speaking.
“There will be many corpses littered everywhere![f] Be quiet!”
4 Listen to this, you who trample[g] the needy
and do away with[h] the destitute in the land.
5 You say,
“When will the new moon festival[i] be over,[j] so we can sell grain?
When will the Sabbath end,[k] so we can open up the grain bins?[l]
We’re eager[m] to sell less for a higher price,[n]
and to cheat the buyer with rigged scales![o]
6 We’re eager to trade silver for the poor,[p]
a pair of sandals[q] for the needy.
We want to mix in some chaff with the grain!”[r]
Footnotes
- Amos 8:1 tn Heb “behold” or “look.”
- Amos 8:1 sn The basket of summer fruit (also in the following verse) probably refers to figs from the summer crop, which ripens in August-September. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 115.
- Amos 8:2 sn There is a sound play here. The Hebrew word קֵץ (qets, “end”) sounds like קָיִץ (qayits, “summer fruit”). Possibly they were pronounced alike in the Northern dialect of Hebrew. This is a case where the vision is not the prophecy, but simply the occasion for a prophecy. The basket of summer fruit is only relevant as a means to get Amos to say qayits (קָיִץ) as an occasion for the Lord to say qets (קֵץ) and make the prophecy. Cf. Jer 1:11-14; Amos 7:7-8.
- Amos 8:2 tn Heb “I will no longer pass over him.”
- Amos 8:3 tn Or “palace” (NASB, NCV, TEV).
- Amos 8:3 tn Heb “Many corpses in every place he will throw out.” The subject of the verb is probably impersonal, though many emend the active (Hiphil) form to a passive (Hophal): “Many corpses in every place will be thrown out.”
- Amos 8:4 tn See the note on the word “trample” in 2:7.
- Amos 8:4 tn Or “put an end to”; or “exterminate.”
- Amos 8:5 sn Apparently work was prohibited during the new moon festival, just as it was on the Sabbath.
- Amos 8:5 tn Heb “pass by.”
- Amos 8:5 tn The verb, though omitted in the Hebrew text, is supplied in the translation from the parallel line.
- Amos 8:5 tn Heb “sell grain.” Here “grain” could stand by metonymy for the bins where it was stored.
- Amos 8:5 tn Here and in v. 6 the words “we’re eager” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
- Amos 8:5 tn Heb “to make small the ephah and to make great the shekel.” The “ephah” was a unit of dry measure used to determine the quantity purchased, while the “shekel” was a standard weight used to determine the purchase price. By using a smaller than standard ephah and a heavier than standard shekel, these merchants were able to increase their profit (“sell less for a higher price”) by cheating the buyer.
- Amos 8:5 tn Heb “and to cheat with deceptive scales”; cf. NASB, NIV “dishonest scales,” NRSV “false balances.”sn Rigged scales may refer to bending the crossbar or shifting the center point of the scales to make the amount weighed appear heavier than it actually was, thus cheating the buyer.
- Amos 8:6 tn Heb “to buy the poor for silver.”sn The expression trade silver for the poor refers to the slave trade.
- Amos 8:6 tn See the note on the word “sandals” in 2:6.
- Amos 8:6 tn Heb “The chaff of the grain we will sell.”
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