Amos 8

1 Thus did the Lord Eternal show unto me: and, behold, there was a basket of summer fruit.

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.

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.

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

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?

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?

7 Sworn hath the Lord by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will not forget to eternity all their works.

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?

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;

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].

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:

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.

13 On that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst;

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.