Amos 8

1 This is what the Lord God let me see: and I saw a basket of summer fruit.

These things the Lord shewed to me: and behold a hook to draw down the fruit.

2 And he said, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then the Lord said to me, The end has come to my people Israel; never again will my eyes be shut to their sin.

And he said: What seest thou, Amos? And I said: A hook to draw down fruit. And the Lord said to me: The end is come upon my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more.

3 And the songs of the king's house will be cries of pain in that day, says the Lord God: great will be the number of the dead bodies, and everywhere they will put them out without a word.

And the hinges of the temple shall screak in that day, saith the Lord God: many shall die: silence shall be cast in every place.

4 Give ear to this, you who are crushing the poor, and whose purpose is to put an end to those who are in need in the land,

Hear this, you that crush the poor, and make the needy of the land to fail,

5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, so that we may do trade in grain? and the Sabbath, so that we may put out in the market the produce of our fields? making the measure small and the price great, and trading falsely with scales of deceit;

Saying: When will the month be over, and we shall sell our wares: and the sabbath, and we shall open the corn: that we may lessen the measure, and increase the sicle, and may convey in deceitful balances,

6 Getting the poor for silver, and him who is in need for the price of two shoes, and taking a price for the waste parts of the grain.

That we may possess the needy for money, and the poor for a pair of shoes, and may sell the refuse of the corn?

7 The Lord has taken an oath by the pride of Jacob, Truly I will ever keep in mind all their works.

The Lord hath sworn against the pride of Jacob: surely I will never forget all their works.

8 Will not the land be shaking with fear because of this, and everyone in it have sorrow? and all of it will be overflowing like the River; and it will be troubled and go down again like the River of Egypt.

Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein: and rise up altogether as a river, and be cast out, and run down as the river of Egypt?

9 And it will come about in that day, says the Lord God, that I will make the sun go down in the middle of the day, and I will make the earth dark in daylight:

And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that the sun shall go down at midday, and I will make the earth dark in the day of light:

10 Your feasts will be turned into sorrow and all your melody into songs of grief; everyone will be clothed with haircloth, and the hair of every head will be cut; I will make the weeping like that for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day.

And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation: and I will bring up sackcloth upon every back of yours, and baldness upon every head: and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the latter end thereof as a bitter day.

11 See, the days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send times of great need on the land, not need of food or desire for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.

Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send forth a famine into the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord.

12 And they will go wandering from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, running here and there in search of the word of the Lord, and they will not get it.

And they shall move from sea to sea, and from the north to the east: they shall go about seeking the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.

13 In that day the fair virgins and the young men will be feeble from need of water.

In that day the fair virgins, and the young men shall faint for thirst.

14 Those who make their oaths by the sin of Samaria and say, By the life of your God, O Dan; and, By the living way of Beer-sheba; even they will go down, never again to be lifted up.

They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say: Thy God, O Dan, liveth: and the way of Bersabee liveth: and they shall fall, and shall rise no more.