< Amos 8 >
1 Thus has Lord YHWH showed me, and behold, a basket of summer-fruit.
Thus the Lord GOD showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit.
2 And He says, “What are you seeing, Amos?” And I say, “A basket of summer-fruit.” And YHWH says to me: “The end has come to My people Israel, I no longer pass over to it anymore.
He said, “Amos, what do you see?” I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the LORD said to me, “The end has come on my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more.
3 And female singers have howled of a palace in that day,” A declaration of Lord YHWH, “Many [are] the carcasses, into any place throw—hush!”
The songs of the temple will be wailing in that day,” says the Lord GOD. “The dead bodies will be many. In every place they will throw them out with silence.
4 Hear this, you who are swallowing up the needy, To cause the poor of the land to cease,
Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,
5 Saying, “When does the new moon pass, And we sell ground grain? And the Sabbath, and we open out pure grain? To make little the ephah, And to make great the shekel, And to use balances of deceit perversely.
saying, ‘When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel large, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit;
6 To purchase the poor with money, And the needy for a pair of sandals, Indeed, the refuse of the pure grain we sell.”
that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the sweepings with the wheat?’”
7 YHWH has sworn by the excellence of Jacob: “I do not forget any of their works forever.
The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob, “Surely I will never forget any of their works.
8 Does the land not tremble for this, And every dweller in it has mourned? And all of it has come up as a flood. And it has been cast out, and has sunk, Like the flood of Egypt.
Won’t the land tremble for this, and everyone mourn who dwells in it? Yes, it will rise up wholly like the River; and it will be stirred up and sink again, like the River of Egypt.
9 And it has come to pass in that day,” A declaration of Lord YHWH, “I have caused the sun to go in at noon, And caused darkness on the land in a day of light,
It will happen in that day,” says the Lord GOD, “that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.
10 And have turned your festivals to mourning, And all your songs to lamentation, And caused sackcloth to come up on all loins, And on every head—baldness, And made it as a mourning of an only one, And its latter end as a day of bitterness.
I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies, and baldness on every head. I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and its end like a bitter day.
11 Behold, days are coming,” A declaration of Lord YHWH, “And I have sent a famine into the land, Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, But of hearing the words of YHWH.
Behold, the days come,” says the Lord GOD, “that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the LORD’s words.
12 And they have wandered from sea to sea, And from north even to east, They go to and fro to seek the word of YHWH, And they do not find [it].
They will wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they will run back and forth to seek the LORD’s word, and will not find it.
13 In that day the beautiful virgins, And the young men, faint with thirst.
In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint for thirst.
14 Those swearing by the guilt of Samaria, And who have said, Your god lives, O Dan, And, The way of Beer-Sheba lives, Indeed, they have fallen and do not rise again!”
Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, ‘As your god, Dan, lives,’ and, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives,’ they will fall, and never rise up again.”