Amos 8
Easy-to-Read Version
The Vision of the Ripe Fruit
8 This is what the Lord God showed me: I saw a basket of summer fruit. 2 He said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”
I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”
Then the Lord said to me, “The end[a] has come to my people Israel. I will not ignore their sins anymore. 3 Their temple songs will become funeral songs.” This is what the Lord God said. “There will be dead bodies everywhere. In silence, people will take out the dead bodies and throw them onto the pile.[b]”
Merchants Only Want to Make Money
4 Listen to me, you who trample on helpless people.
You are trying to destroy the poor of this country.
5 You merchants say,
“When will the New Moon be over so that we can sell grain?
When will the Sabbath be over
so that we can bring out more wheat to sell?
We can raise the price
and make the measure smaller.[c]
We can fix the scales
and cheat the people.[d]
6 The poor cannot pay their loans,
so we will buy them as slaves.
We will buy those helpless people
for the price of a pair of sandals.
Oh, and we can sell the wheat
that was spilled on the floor.”
7 The Lord made a promise. He used his name, “Pride of Jacob,” and made this promise:
“I will never forget what those people did.
8 There will be an earthquake
that will shake the whole land because of what they did.
Everyone living there will cry for those who died.
The land will be tossed around.
The whole land will rise and fall like the Nile River in Egypt.”
9 The Lord God also said,
“At that time I will make the sun set at noon
and make the land dark on a clear day.
10 I will change your festivals into days of crying for the dead.
All your songs will be songs of sadness for those who are dead.
I will put mourning clothes on every body
and baldness on every head.[e]
I will cause mourning everywhere,
like that for an only son who has died.
It will be a very bitter end.”
A Famine of God’s Word
11 The Lord God says,
“Look, the days are coming
when I will cause a famine in the land.
The people will not be hungry for bread.
They will not be thirsty for water.
No, they will be hungry for words from the Lord.
12 The people will wander around the country,
from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea,
and from the north part of the country to the east.
They will go back and forth looking for a message from the Lord,
but they will not find it.
13 At that time the beautiful young men and women
will become weak from thirst.
14 They made promises by the sin of Samaria,[f]
They said, ‘Dan,[g] as surely as your god lives, we promise ….’
And they said, ‘As surely as the god of Beersheba[h] lives, we promise ….’
But they will fall
and never get up again.”
Footnotes
- Amos 8:2 end This Hebrew word sounds like the word for “summer fruit.”
- Amos 8:3 In silence … the pile Or “People will be saying, ‘Hush!’” See Amos 6:10.
- Amos 8:5 We … smaller Literally, “We will make the ephah small and the shekel large.”
- Amos 8:5 We … people Literally, “Cheat with lying balances.”
- Amos 8:10 baldness … head People shaved their heads to show that they were very sad or upset.
- Amos 8:14 sin of Samaria The calf god in Samaria.
- Amos 8:14 Dan One of Israel’s holy places was in this city.
- Amos 8:14 Beersheba A town in Judah. This name means “well of the oath.”
Amos 8
Svenska Folkbibeln
Nya syner. Israel har mognat för dom
8 Detta lät Herren, Herren mig se: Jag såg en korg med mogen frukt. 2 Han sade: "Vad ser du, Amos?" Jag svarade: "En korg med mogen frukt." Då sade Herren till mig: "Slutet har kommit för mitt folk Israel. Jag skall inte ytterligare en gång skona dem. 3 Sångerna i palatset skall på den dagen övergå i klagan, säger Herren, Herren. Döda kroppar i mängd skall i tysthet kastas överallt.
4 Hör detta, ni som står efter den fattiges liv
och vill göra slut på de olyckliga i landet,
5 ni som säger:
"När är nymånadsdagen förbi
så att vi får sälja säd,
och sabbaten
så att vi får öppna vårt sädesförråd?
Då skall vi göra efa-måttet mindre
och höja priset
och förfalska vågen
så att den visar orätt vikt.
6 Då skall vi köpa de utblottade för pengar
och den fattige för ett par skor.
Och spillsäden skall vi då sälja som säd."
7 Herren har svurit vid Jakobs stolthet:
Aldrig skall jag glömma någon av deras gärningar.
8 Skulle inte landet darra när sådant sker,
och skulle inte alla dess invånare sörja?
Skulle inte hela landet höja sig som Nilen
och röras upp och åter sjunka som Egyptens flod?
9 Det skall ske på den dagen,
säger Herren, Herren,
att jag skall låta solen gå ner vid middagstid
och lägga landet i mörker mitt på ljusa dagen.
10 Jag skall förvandla era högtider till sorg
och alla era sånger till klagovisor.
Jag skall klä allas höfter med säcktyg
och göra alla huvuden skalliga.
Jag skall låta det bli som när man sörjer ende sonen
och låta det sluta som en bitter dag.
11 Se, dagar skall komma,
säger Herren, Herren,
då jag skall sända hunger i landet,
inte en hunger efter bröd,
inte en törst efter vatten,
utan efter att höra Herrens ord.
12 De skall driva omkring från hav till hav
och springa hit och dit från norr till öster
för att söka efter Herrens ord,
men de skall inte finna det.
13 På den dagen
skall vackra unga kvinnor
och unga män
tyna bort av törst,
14 de som nu svär vid Samariens skam[a],
och säger: "Leve din gud, Dan!"
och: "Leve vägen till Beer-Sheba!"
De skall falla och inte mer resa sig.
Footnotes
- Amos 8:14 Samariens skam syftar förmodligen på den kananeiska modergudinnan Ashera (jfr 2 Kung 17:30).
Amos 8
King James Version
8 Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.
2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.
3 And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord God: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.
4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,
5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?
6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?
7 The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.
8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:
10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:
12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.
13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International
1996, 1998 by Stiftelsen Svenska Folkbibeln