Fourth Vision: A Basket of Summer Fruit

The Lord God showed me this: a basket of summer fruit. He asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” (A)

I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.”[a](B)

The Lord said to me, “The end has come for my people Israel;(C) I will no longer spare them.(D) In that day the temple[b] songs(E) will become wailing”(F)—this is the Lord God’s declaration. “Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere!(G) Silence!” (H)

Hear this, you who trample on the needy(I)
and do away with the poor of the land,(J)
asking, “When will the New Moon be over
so we may sell grain,(K)
and the Sabbath,
so we may market wheat?(L)
We can reduce the measure
while increasing the price[c]
and cheat with dishonest scales.(M)
We can buy the poor with silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals(N)
and even sell the chaff!”

The Lord has sworn(O) by the Pride of Jacob:[d](P)

I will never forget all their deeds.(Q)
Because of this, won’t the land quake(R)
and all who dwell in it mourn?(S)
All of it will rise like the Nile;(T)
it will surge and then subside
like the Nile in Egypt.(U)

And in that day—
this is the declaration of the Lord God
I will make the sun go down at noon;(V)
I will darken the land in the daytime.(W)
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning(X)
and all your songs into lamentation;(Y)
I will cause everyone[e] to wear sackcloth(Z)
and every head to be shaved.(AA)
I will make that grief
like mourning for an only son(AB)
and its outcome like a bitter day.

11 Look, the days are coming—
this is the declaration of the Lord God
when I will send a famine through the land:
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord.(AC)
12 People will stagger from sea to sea
and roam from north to east
seeking the word of the Lord,(AD)
but they will not find it.
13 In that day the beautiful young women,(AE)
the young men also, will faint from thirst.(AF)
14 Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria(AG)
and say, “As your god lives, Dan,”(AH)
or, “As the way[f][g] of Beer-sheba lives”(AI)
they will fall, never to rise again.(AJ)

Footnotes

  1. 8:2 In Hb the word for summer fruit sounds like the word for end.
  2. 8:3 Or palace
  3. 8:5 Lit reduce the ephah and make the shekel great
  4. 8:7 = the Lord or the promised land
  5. 8:10 Lit every waist
  6. 8:14 LXX reads god
  7. 8:14 Or power

The Basket of Fruit

This is what the Lord God showed me: a basket of summer fruit. He said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me,

“The end[a] has come upon my people Israel;
    I will spare them no longer.(A)
The songs of the temple[b] shall become wailings on that day,”
            says the Lord God;
“the dead bodies shall be many,
    cast out in every place. Be silent!”(B)

Hear this, you who trample on the needy,
    and bring to ruin the poor of the land,(C)
saying, “When will the new moon be over
    so that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath,
    so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah smaller and the shekel heavier
    and practice deceit with false balances,(D)
buying the poor for silver
    and the needy for a pair of sandals
    and selling the sweepings of the wheat.”(E)

The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.(F)
Shall not the land tremble on this account,
    and everyone mourn who lives in it,
and all of it rise like the Nile,
    and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?(G)

On that day, says the Lord God,
    I will make the sun go down at noon
    and darken the earth in broad daylight.(H)
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning
    and all your songs into lamentation;
I will bring sackcloth on all loins
    and baldness on every head;
I will make it like the mourning for an only son
    and the end of it like a bitter day.(I)

11 The time is surely coming, says the Lord God,
    when I will send a famine on the land,
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
    but of hearing the words of the Lord.(J)
12 They shall wander from sea to sea
    and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,
    but they shall not find it.(K)

13 On that day the beautiful young women and the young men
    shall faint for thirst.(L)
14 Those who swear by Ashimah of Samaria
    and say, “As your god lives, O Dan,”
and, “As the way of Beer-sheba lives”—
    they shall fall and never rise again.(M)

Footnotes

  1. 8.2 In Heb the word for end is related to the word for summer fruit
  2. 8.3 Or palace