Amos 8
1 And behold a fowler's basket.
The Lord God showed me this: a basket of summer fruit.
2 And he said, What see you, Amos? And I said, A fowler's basket. And the Lord said to me, The end is come upon my people Israel; I will not pass by them any more.
“What do you see, Amos?” he asked. I replied, “A basket of ripe summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me: The time is ripe for my people Israel, I will no longer overlook their crimes.
3 And the ceilings of the temple shall howl in that day, says the Lord God: [there shall be] many a fallen one in every place; I will bring silence upon [them].
The singing women in the palace will howl on that day, says the Lord: Corpses everywhere, thrown out in silence.
4 Hear now this, you that oppress the poor in the morning, and drive the needy ones by tyranny from the earth,
Listen to this, you who trample on the needy, who oppress the poor of the earth,
5 saying, When will the month pass away, and we shall sell, and the sabbath, and we shall open the treasure, to make the measure small, and to enlarge the weight, and make the balance unfair?
saying: When will the feast of the new moon be over so that we may sell grain? And the sabbath ended so that we may offer wheat for sale? Reducing the measure and increasing the price, cheating with false scales,
6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for shoes; and we will trade in every kind of fruit.
mixing the sweepings in with the wheat. Then we can buy the poor for money, the needy for a pair of shoes.
7 The Lord swears against the pride of Jacob, None of your works shall ever be forgotten.
Now the Lord has taken an oath by the Pride of Jacob: I will never forget all their deeds!
8 And shall not the land be troubled for these things, and shall not every one who dwells in it mourn? whereas destruction shall come up as a river, and shall descend as the river of Egypt.
Because of this won’t the land quake, and all its inhabitants mourn? Won’t the whole of it rise like the Nile, churn and subside like the Nile in Egypt?
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord God, [that] the sun shall go down at noon, and the light shall be darkened on the earth by day:
On that day, says the Lord God, I will make the sun set at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 and I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head; and I will make them as the mourning of a beloved [friend], and those with them as a day of grief.
I will turn your feasts into mourning, all your songs into dirges. I will cause you to dress in sackcloth, every head shaved. I will make you mourn like you have lost your only son, all that happens will end in bitterness.
11 Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will send forth a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord.
The day is coming, says the Lord God, when I will send hunger in the land. Not a famine of bread or thirst for water, but for hearing the message of the Lord.
12 And the waters shall be troubled from sea to sea, and from the north to the east shall [men] run hither and there, seeking the word of the Lord, and they shall not find [it].
Then they will wander from sea to sea, from the north to the east, to seek a message from the Lord, but they will not find it.
13 In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst;
In that day beautiful girls and strong young men will faint from thirst.
14 they who swear by the propitiation of Samaria, and who say, Your god, O Dan, lives; and, Your god, O Bersabee, lives; and they shall fall, and shall no more rise again.
Those who take oaths by the shameful idol of Samaria, who swear, ‘As surely as your God lives, O Dan!’ and, ‘By the sacred way to Beer-sheba!’ – they will fall and never rise again.
