Amos 8
1 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: I saw a basket of summer fruit.
Nanku engakutshengiswa nguThixo Wobukhosi: isitsha esilezithelo ezivuthiweyo.
2 “Amos, what do you see?” He asked. “A basket of summer fruit,” I replied. So the LORD said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel; I will no longer spare them.”
Wangibuza wathi, “Kuyini okubonayo, Amosi?” Mina ngaphendula ngathi, “Yisitsha esilezithelo ezivuthiweyo.” UThixo wasesithi kimi, “Isikhathi sabantu bami bako-Israyeli sesifikile; kangisabaxoleli futhi.
3 “In that day,” declares the Lord GOD, “the songs of the temple will turn to wailing. Many will be the corpses, strewn in silence everywhere!”
Ngalolosuku, izingoma zethempelini zizaphenduka zibe yikulila. Izidumbu ezinengi kakhulu zidaklazelwe indawo yonke! Thulani!” Kutsho uThixo Wobukhosi.
4 Hear this, you who trample the needy, who do away with the poor of the land,
Zwanini lokhu, lina elincindezela abaswelayo njalo lichitha labayanga elizweni,
5 asking, “When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat? Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel; let us cheat with dishonest scales.
lisithi, “Ukuthwasa kweNyanga Entsha kuzaphela nini ukuze sithengise amabele, leSabatha lidlule ukuze sithengise ingqoloyi na?” Sinciphise isilinganiso, sikhweze intengo siqilibezele ngezilinganiso zenkohliso,
6 Let us buy the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the chaff with the wheat!”
sithenge abayanga ngesiliva, abaswelayo sibathenge ngamanyathelo, sithengise lamakhoba ngengqoloyi.
7 The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget any of their deeds.
UThixo ufungile ngokuziQhenya kukaJakhobe wathi, “Angisoze ngakhohliswa loba yini abayenzileyo.
8 Will not the land quake for this, and all its dwellers mourn? All of it will swell like the Nile; it will surge and then subside like the Nile in Egypt.
Ilizwe kaliyikuthuthumela ngalokhu yini labo bonke abahlala kulo kabayikulila na? Ilizwe lonke lizaqubuka njengeNayili; lizadungeka beselitshona phansi njengomfula waseGibhithe.
9 And in that day, declares the Lord GOD, I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the daytime.
Ngalolosuku,” kutsho uThixo Wobukhosi, “ngizakwenza ilanga litshone emini, ngenze emhlabeni kube mnyama emini ekhanyayo.
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth and every head to be shaved. I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son, and its outcome like a bitter day.
Ngizaphendula imikhosi yenu yokukhonza ibe yikulila lokuhlabelela kwenu konke kube yikukhala. Lonke ngizalenza ligqoke amasaka, njalo liphuce amakhanda enu. Lesosikhathi ngizasenza sifane lokulilela indodana eyiyo yodwa lokuphela kwaso kube njengosuku olubuhlungu.
11 Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.
Insuku ziyeza, kutsho uThixo Wobukhosi, lapho engizathumela khona indlala elizweni hatshi indlala yokudla kumbe ukomela amanzi, kodwa indlala yokuzwa amazwi kaThixo.
12 People will stagger from sea to sea and roam from north to east, seeking the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.
Abantu bazaphamazela besuka elwandle besiya elwandle, njalo bazule kusukela enyakatho kusiya empumalanga, bedinga ilizwi likaThixo, kodwa kabayikulithola.
13 In that day the lovely young women— the young men as well— will faint from thirst.
Ngalolosuku izintombi ezinhle lezinsizwa eziqinileyo zizaqaleka ngenxa yokoma.
14 Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria and say, ‘As surely as your god lives, O Dan,’ or, ‘As surely as the way of Beersheba lives’— they will fall, never to rise again.”
Bona labo abafunga ngesono seSamariya, loba bathi, ‘Ngeqiniso njengoba unkulunkulu wakho ephila, wena Dani,’ loba bathi, ‘Ngeqiniso njengoba unkulunkulu waseBherishebha ephila,’ bazakuwa, bangaphindi bavuke futhi.”
