Amos 8

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

[神視四：果籃]吾主上主叫我看見這事：看，有一籃熟果子。

2 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.

上主說：「亞毛斯，你看見了什麼﹖」我答說：「一籃熟果子。」上主又向我說：「我百姓以色列的結局已成熟，我不再放過她。

3 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.

在那一天，王宮中的歌女必要哀號──吾主上主的斷語──屍體成堆，拋在各處，鴉雀無聲。」

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

壓榨窮人，使世上弱小絕跡的人哪! 你們應聽。

5 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,

你們說：「月朔幾時才經過去，好讓我們賣五榖﹖安息日幾時才過去，好讓我們打開糧倉，縮小「厄法，」加重「協刻爾，」用假秤欺人﹖

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

用銀錢購買窮人，以一雙鞋換取貧人，連麥糠也賣掉﹖」

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

上主指著雅各伯的誇耀說：「我永不會忘了你們的所作所為。

8 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?

難道不是因此大地才震動，地上 居民才悲號，全地氾濫有如尼羅，退落有如埃及大河﹖

9 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:

在那一天──吾主上主的斷語──我必使太陽在中午落下，使大地白畫變為黑暗；

10 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.

使你們的喜慶變為喪事，使你們的一切樂曲變為哀歌，使你們都腰繫苦衣，頭都剃光；使你們哀悼，如哀悼獨生子，使那一天紿終是愁苦的日子。

11 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.

看，那日子一來臨──吾主上主的斷語──我必使飢餓臨於此地，汞是對食物的飢餓，也不是對水的飢渴，而是對聽上主的話的飢渴。

12 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.

他們必由這海走到那海，由北至東，去尋求上主的話，卻尋不到。

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

那一天，美麗的處女和健壯的青年，必因饑渴而暈眩。

14 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.

那些指著撒馬黎雅的罪過起誓，那些說：「丹，你的神永在，」或說：「貝爾舍巴，你的護守神永在」的人，必要跌倒，再不能起來。