< Amos 8 >

1 Thus hath the Lord Jehovah shewed me, and, lo, a basket of summer-fruit.
And behold a fowler's basket.
2 And He saith, 'What art thou seeing, Amos?' and I say, 'A basket of summer-fruit.' And Jehovah saith unto me: 'The end hath come unto My people Israel, I do not add any more to pass over to it.
And he said, What see you, Amos? And I said, A fowler's basket. And the Lord said to me, The end is come upon my people Israel; I will not pass by them any more.
3 And howled have songstresses of a palace in that day, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, Many [are] the carcases, into any place throw — hush!
And the ceilings of the temple shall howl in that day, says the Lord God: [there shall be] many a fallen one in every place; I will bring silence upon [them].
4 Hear this, ye who are swallowing up the needy, To cause to cease the poor of the land,
Hear now this, you that oppress the poor in the morning, and drive the needy ones by tyranny from the earth,
5 Saying, When doth the new moon pass, And we sell ground corn? And the sabbath, and we open out pure corn? To make little the ephah, And to make great the shekel, And to use perversely balances of deceit.
saying, When will the month pass away, and we shall sell, and the sabbath, and we shall open the treasure, to make the measure small, and to enlarge the weight, and make the balance unfair?
6 To purchase with money the poor, And the needy for a pair of sandals, Yea, the refuse of the pure corn we sell.
That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for shoes; and we will trade in every kind of fruit.
7 Sworn hath Jehovah by the excellency of Jacob: 'I forget not for ever any of their works.
The Lord swears against the pride of Jacob, None of your works shall ever be forgotten.
8 For this doth not the land tremble, And mourned hath every dweller in it? And come up as a flood hath all of it. And it hath been cast out, and hath sunk, Like the flood of Egypt.
And shall not the land be troubled for these things, and shall not every one who dwells in it mourn? whereas destruction shall come up as a river, and shall descend as the river of Egypt.
9 And it hath come to pass in that day, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, I have caused the sun to go in at noon, And caused darkness on the land in a day of light,
And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord God, [that] the sun shall go down at noon, and the light shall be darkened on the earth by 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.
and I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head; and I will make them as the mourning of a beloved [friend], and those with them as a day of grief.
11 Lo, days are coming, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, 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 Jehovah.
Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will send forth a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord.
12 And they have wandered from sea unto sea, And from north even unto east, They go to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah, And they do not find.
And the waters shall be troubled from sea to sea, and from the north to the east shall [men] run hither and there, seeking the word of the Lord, and they shall not find [it].
13 In that day faint do the fair virgins, And the young men, with thirst.
In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst;
14 Those swearing by the guilt of Samaria, And have said, Live doth thy god, O Dan, And, Live doth the way of Beer-Sheba, And they have fallen — and rise not again!'
they who swear by the propitiation of Samaria, and who say, Your god, O Dan, lives; and, Your god, O Bersabee, lives; and they shall fall, and shall no more rise again.

< Amos 8 >