Amos 8

1 Here, My Lord, Yahweh, gave me to see, —and lo! there was a basket of summer fruit.

Thus has Lord YHWH showed me, and behold, a basket of summer-fruit.

2 So then he said, What canst thou see, Amos? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said Yahweh unto me, The end hath come unto my people Israel, I will not again any more forgive them;

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.

3 but palace-songs, shall become howlings, in that day, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh, —Many shall be the dead bodies in every place—cast forth—[with a] hush!

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!”

4 Hear this, ye who pant after the needy, and to make an end of the oppressed of the land:

Hear this, you who are swallowing up the needy, To cause the poor of the land to cease,

5 Who say, When will the new moon, pass away, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath that we may open grain? who diminish the ephah, and increase the shekel, and who falsify by deceitful weights:

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.

6 Who buy—for silver—the poor, and the needy for a pair of shoes, —and that the refuse of the grain we may sell.

To purchase the poor with money, And the needy for a pair of sandals, Indeed, the refuse of the pure grain we sell.”

7 Sworn hath Yahweh, by the Excellency of Jacob, —Surely I will never forget any of their doings!

YHWH has sworn by the excellence of Jacob: “I do not forget any of their works forever.

8 Is it not, for this, that the land, shall tremble? and shall mourn every inhabitant therein? Shall it not come up—like the Nile, all of it, and be tossed and subside like the river of Egypt?

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.

9 Yea it shall come to pass, in that day, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh, that I will cause the sun to go in at high noon, —and will darken the earth on a day of brightness!

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,

10 So will I turn your festivals into mourning, and all your songs into a dirge, and I will bring up—on all loins—sackcloth, and upon every head—baldness, —and I will make it like the mourning for an only one, even the afterpart thereof, as a day of bitterness.

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.

11 Lo! days are coming, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh, that I will send a hunger throughout the land, —not a hunger for food, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of Yahweh;

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.

12 Therefore shall men rove about—from sea to sea, and from the north even unto sunrise, —they shall run to and fro—seeking the word of Yahweh, but shall not find [it].

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].

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

In that day the beautiful virgins, And the young men, faint with thirst.

14 They who swear by the Guilt of Samaria, and say, As thy God, liveth, O Dan! and, As the Way of Beer-sheba, liveth, shall fall, and shall not rise any more.

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!”