“The royal singers will wail when it happens.”
    My Master God said so.
“Corpses will be strewn here, there, and everywhere.
    Hush!”

4-6 Listen to this, you who walk all over the weak,
    you who treat poor people as less than nothing,
Who say, “When’s my next paycheck coming
    so I can go out and live it up?
How long till the weekend
    when I can go out and have a good time?”
Who give little and take much,
    and never do an honest day’s work.
You exploit the poor, using them—
    and then, when they’re used up, you discard them.

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

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

saying,

“When will the New Moon(E) be over
    that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath be ended
    that we may market(F) wheat?”(G)
skimping on the measure,
    boosting the price
    and cheating(H) with dishonest scales,(I)

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Footnotes

  1. Amos 8:3 Or “the temple singers will wail