Amos 8

1 These things the Lord has revealed to me. And behold, a hook to draw down fruit.

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

2 And he said, “What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A hook to draw down fruit.” And the Lord said to me, “The end has come for my people Israel. I will no longer pass through them.”

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.

3 And the hinges of the temple will creak in that day, says the Lord God. Many will die. Silence will be thrown away in all places.

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.

4 Hear this, you who crush the poor and who make those in need of land to do without.

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,

5 You say, “When will the first day of the month be over, so we can sell our wares, and the Sabbath, so we can open the grain: in order that we may decrease the measure, and increase the price, and substitute deceitful scales,

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;

6 in order that we may possess the destitute with money, and the poor for a pair of shoes, and may sell even the refuse of the grain?”

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.

7 The Lord has sworn by the arrogance of Jacob: I will not forget, even to the end, all their works.

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

8 Will not the earth shudder over this, and all its inhabitants mourn, and all rise up like a river, and be cast out, and flow away like the river of Egypt?

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.

9 And it will be in that day, says the Lord God, that the sun will decline at midday, and I will cause the earth to become dark on the day of light.

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:

10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your hymns into lamentation. And I will put sackcloth over every one of your backs, and baldness on every head. And I will begin it like the mourning for an only-begotten son, and complete it like a bitter day.

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.

11 Behold, the days pass, says the Lord, and I will send a famine on the earth: not a famine of bread, nor of thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the Lord.

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.

12 And they will move even from sea to sea, and from the North all the way to the East. They will wander around seeking the word of the Lord, and they will not find it.

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.

13 In that day, beautiful virgins, and young men, will fail because of thirst.

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

14 They swear by the offense of Samaria, and they say, “As your God lives, Dan,” and “The way of Beer-sheba lives.” And they will fall, and they will not rise up any more.

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.