The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob:(A) “I will never forget(B) anything they have done.(C)

“Will not the land tremble(D) 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.(E)

“In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord,

“I will make the sun go down at noon
    and darken the earth in broad daylight.(F)
10 I will turn your religious festivals(G) into mourning
    and all your singing into weeping.(H)
I will make all of you wear sackcloth(I)
    and shave(J) your heads.
I will make that time like mourning for an only son(K)
    and the end of it like a bitter day.(L)

11 “The days are coming,”(M) 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(N) of hearing the words of the Lord.(O)
12 People 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.(P)

13 “In that day

“the lovely young women and strong young men(Q)
    will faint because of thirst.(R)
14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria(S)
    who say, ‘As surely as your god lives, Dan,’(T)
    or, ‘As surely as the god[a] of Beersheba(U) lives’—
    they will fall,(V) never to rise again.(W)

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Footnotes

  1. Amos 8:14 Hebrew the way

“The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
    I will never forget anything they have done.
Surely the land will tremble because of this, won’t it?
    And all who live in it will mourn, won’t they?
The entire land will swell up like a flooded[a] river.
    It will be stirred up and then will sink
        like the river of Egypt.
It will come about at that time,” declares the Lord God,
    “I will cause the sun to set at noon
        and the earth to darken in the daylight.
10 I will turn your festivals into mourning,
    and all of your songs to dirges.
I will cause all of you to put on sackcloth
    and to shave all of your heads.
I will make that time like mourning for an only son,
    and its conclusion will be like the end of[b] a bitter day.”

A Famine of the Word of God

11 “Look! The days are coming,”
    declares the Lord God,
“when I will send a famine throughout the land—
    not a famine of food or a thirst for water—
        but rather a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 People[c] will stagger from sea to sea,
    from north to east.
They will run back and forth,
    searching for a message from the Lord,
        but they won’t find it.
13 At that time,
    the beautiful virgins will faint,
        as will the strong young men—from thirst.
14 Those who have been swearing oaths by the sin of Samaria,
    or who say, ‘As your god lives, Dan…’
or who say, ‘As the way of Beer-sheba lives…’—
    will fall, and will never rise again.”

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Footnotes

  1. Amos 8:8 The Heb. lacks flooded
  2. Amos 8:10 The Heb. lacks the end of
  3. Amos 8:12 Lit. They