Amos 8

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

This is what the Lord Yahweh showed me. Look, a basket of summer fruit!

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.

He said, “What do you see, Amos?” I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then Yahweh said to me, “The end has come for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.

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.

The songs of the temple will become wailings in that day —this is the declaration of the Lord Yahweh— many dead bodies, they are thrown everywhere! Silence!”

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

Listen to this, you who trample the needy and remove the poor of the land.

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,

They say, “When will the new moon be over, so we can sell grain again? When will the Sabbath day be over, so that we can sell wheat? We will make the measure small and increase the price, as we cheat with false scales.

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?

This is so we can sell bad wheat, buy the poor with silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals.”

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

Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob, “Surely I will never forget any of their actions.”

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?

Will not the land quake for this, and every one who lives in it mourn? All of it will rise up like the Nile River, and it will be tossed about and sink again, like the river of Egypt.

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:

“It will come in that day —this is the declaration of the Lord Yahweh— that I will make the sun set at noon, and I will darken the earth at daylight.

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.

I will turn your festivals into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and have baldness on every head. I will make it like mourning for an only son, and a bitter day to its end.

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.

Look, the days are coming —this is the declaration of the Lord Yahweh— when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread, nor of thirst for water, but for hearing the words of Yahweh.

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.

They will stagger from sea to sea; they will run from the north to the east to seek the word of Yahweh, but they will not find it.

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

In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint from thirst.

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.

Those who swear by the sin of Samaria and say, 'As your god lives, Dan,' and, 'As the way to Beersheba exists'— they will fall and never rise again.”