Amos 8

1 Thus hath the Lord GOD shown to me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.

The Lord God showed me this: a basket of summer fruit.

2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD to me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.

‘What do you see, Amos?’ he asked. I replied, ‘A basket of ripe summer fruit.’ Then the Lord said to me: The time is ripe for my people Israel, I will no longer overlook their crimes.

3 And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: [there shall be] many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast [them] forth with silence.

The singing women in the palace will howl on that day, says the Lord: Corpses everywhere, thrown out in silence.

4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,

Listen to this, you who trample on the needy, who oppress the poor of the earth,

5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?

saying: When will the feast of the new moon be over so that we may sell grain? And the sabbath ended so that we may offer wheat for sale? Reducing the measure and increasing the price, cheating with false scales,

6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; and even sell the refuse of the wheat?

mixing the sweepings in with the wheat. Then we can buy the poor for money, the needy for a pair of shoes.

7 The LORD hath sworn by the excellence of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.

Now the Lord has taken an oath by the Pride of Jacob: I will never forget all their deeds!

8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth in it? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood: and it shall be cast out and drowned, as [by] the flood of Egypt.

Because of this won’t the land quake, and all its inhabitants mourn? Won’t the whole of it rise like the Nile, churn and subside like the Nile in Egypt?

9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:

On that day, says the Lord God, I will make the sun set at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.

10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only [son], and the end of it as a bitter day.

I will turn your feasts into mourning, all your songs into dirges. I will cause you to dress in sackcloth, every head shaved. I will make you mourn like you have lost your only son, all that happens will end in bitterness.

11 Behold, the days come, saith 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 words of the LORD:

The day is coming, says the Lord God, when I will send hunger in the land. Not a famine of bread or thirst for water, but for hearing the message of the Lord.

12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find [it].

Then they will wander from sea to sea, from the north to the east, to seek a message from the Lord, but they will not find it.

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

In that day beautiful girls and strong young men will faint from thirst.

14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise again.

Those who take oaths by the shameful idol of Samaria, who swear, “As surely as your God lives, O Dan!” and, “By the sacred way to Beer-sheba!” – they will fall and never rise again.