Amos 8
1 Thus hath the Lord Jehovah shewed me, and, lo, a basket of summer-fruit.
The Lord God showed me this: a basket of summer fruit.
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.
“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 howled have songstresses of a palace in that day, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, Many [are] the carcases, into any place throw — hush!
The singing women in the palace will howl on that day, says the Lord: Corpses everywhere, thrown out in silence.
4 Hear this, ye who are swallowing up the needy, To cause to cease the poor of the land,
Listen to this, you who trample on the needy, who oppress the poor of 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 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 To purchase with money the poor, And the needy for a pair of sandals, Yea, the refuse of the pure corn we sell.
mixing the sweepings in with the wheat. Then we can buy the poor for money, the needy for a pair of shoes.
7 Sworn hath Jehovah by the excellency of Jacob: 'I forget not for ever any of their works.
Now the Lord has taken an oath by the Pride of Jacob: I will never forget all their deeds!
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.
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 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,
On that day, says the Lord God, I will make the sun set at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.
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, 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 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.
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 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.
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 faint do the fair virgins, And the young men, with thirst.
In that day beautiful girls and strong young men will faint from 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!'
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.
