Amos 8

1 Thus did the Lord Eternal show unto me: and, behold, there was a basket of summer 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 dost thou see, 'Amos? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me, The end is come for my people Israel: I will not farther indulge 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 songs of the temple shall become a wailing on that day, saith the Lord Eternal: many shall be the dead bodies; in every place shall men throw them down, [saying, ] Be silent.

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, O ye that are greedy to swallow the needy, and to ruin the poor of the land,

壓榨窮人，使世上弱小絕跡的人哪! 你們應聽。

5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell provision? and the sabbath, that we may open the corn-warehouses, making the ephah small, and increasing the shekel, and cheating with 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 buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; and even 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 Sworn hath the Lord by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will not forget to eternity 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 because of this the land not tremble, and mourn every one that dwelleth therein? and shall it not rise up like a stream wholly, and roll onward and sink again like the stream 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 on that day, saith the Lord Eternal, that I will cause the sun to set at noon, and I will bring darkness over the earth on a bright day;

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 change your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentations; and I will bring upon all loins sackcloth, and upon every head baldness; and I will cause [the land] to mourn as one doth for an only son, and its end to be as a day of bitter [complaint].

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, days are coming, saith the Lord Eternal, when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread, nor a thirst for water, but to hear the words 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 will wander about from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they will roam about to seek the word of the Lord; but they 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 On that day shall the fair virgins and the young men 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 Those that swear by the guilt of Samaria, and say, As thy god liveth, O Dan; and, As liveth the worshipped idol of Beer-sheba', —yea, they shall fall, and never rise up again.

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。