Amos 8

1 This is what the Lord Yahweh showed me. Look, a basket of summer fruit!

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

2 He said, “What do you see, Amos?” I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then Yahweh said to me, “The end has come for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.

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 The songs of the temple will become wailings in that day —this is the declaration of the Lord Yahweh— many dead bodies, they are thrown everywhere! Silence!”

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 Listen to this, you who trample the needy and remove the poor of the land.

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

5 They say, “When will the new moon be over, so we can sell grain again? When will the Sabbath day be over, so that we can sell wheat? We will make the measure small and increase the price, as we cheat with false scales.

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 This is so we can sell bad wheat, buy the poor with silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals.”

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

7 Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob, “Surely I will never forget any of their actions.”

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

8 Will not the land quake for this, and every one who lives in it mourn? All of it will rise up like the Nile River, and it will be tossed about and sink again, 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 “It will come in that day —this is the declaration of the Lord Yahweh— that I will make the sun set at noon, and I will darken the earth at daylight.

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 I will turn your festivals into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and have baldness on every head. I will make it like mourning for an only son, and a bitter day to its end.

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 Look, the days are coming —this is the declaration of the Lord Yahweh— when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread, nor of 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 They will stagger from sea to sea; they will run from the north to the east to seek the word of Yahweh, but they will 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 the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint from thirst.

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

14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria and say, 'As your god lives, Dan,' and, 'As the way to Beersheba exists'— they will fall and never rise again.”

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!”