עמוס 8

1 כה הראני אדני יהוה והנה כלוב קיץ

Yahweh showed me [in a vision] a basket full of ripe fruit.

2 ויאמר מה אתה ראה עמוס ואמר כלוב קיץ ויאמר יהוה אלי בא הקץ אל עמי ישראל--לא אוסיף עוד עבור לו

He asked me, “Amos, what do you see?” I replied, “A basket of [very] ripe fruit.” He said, “That indicates that it almost the end for my Israeli people. I will not change my mind again about punishing them.

3 והילילו שירות היכל ביום ההוא--נאם אדני יהוה רב הפגר בכל מקום השליך הס

[Soon, ] instead of singing in the temple, they will be wailing. There will be corpses everywhere [HYP]. So, remain silent (OR, Everyone will be silent). [These things will surely happen because] I, Yahweh, have said it!”

4 שמעו זאת השאפים אביון ולשבית ענוי (עניי) ארץ

[It is as though] you people trample on needy people, and you destroy the poor people.

5 לאמר מתי יעבר החדש ונשבירה שבר והשבת ונפתחה בר--להקטין איפה ולהגדיל שקל ולעות מאזני מרמה

You habitually say, “We wish that [RHQ] the new moon [festival] would end soon, in order that [restrictions on doing business during the festival will be ended] and we can sell grain. We wish that the Sabbath would end soon, in order that we will again be permitted to sell our wheat”— and [when you sell it], you charge a big price for it, and you cheat people by using scales that do not weigh correctly.

6 לקנות בכסף דלים ואביון בעבור נעלים ומפל בר נשביר

You sell wheat that you have swept up from the floor, and as a result it is mixed with dirt. Those who are needy and poor [DOU] and who do not have money [to buy things], you cause them to become your slaves by buying them with the [small amount of] silver [with which you could buy] a pair of sandals!

7 נשבע יהוה בגאון יעקב אם אשכח לנצח כל מעשיהם

Yahweh has declared, “Although you are very proud of [being descendants] [MTY] of Jacob, I solemnly declare that I will not forget the [evil things] that you have done.

8 העל זאת לא תרגז הארץ ואבל כל יושב בה ועלתה כאר כלה ונגרשה ונשקה (ונשקעה) כיאור מצרים

[Because of those evil things], your country will certainly [RHQ] soon be shaken, and all of you will mourn. [It will be as though] it will repeatedly rise and fall like [SIM] the Nile [River] that gets full of water [and overflows it banks] and then settles back into its riverbed.

9 והיה ביום ההוא נאם אדני יהוה והבאתי השמש בצהרים והחשכתי לארץ ביום אור

On the day [when I punish my people], I will cause the sun to set at noontime, and the [entire] earth will be dark in the daytime.

10 והפכתי חגיכם לאבל וכל שיריכם לקינה והעליתי על כל מתנים שק ועל כל ראש קרחה ושמתיה כאבל יחיד ואחריתה כיום מר

I will cause your [religious] celebrations to become times when you mourn; instead of singing, everyone will be weeping. Because of what I [will do], all of you will wear rough sackcloth and shave your heads [to show that you are sorrowing]. I will cause that time to be like when people mourn after an only son [has died]. All of you will be extremely sad all of that day.”

11 הנה ימים באים נאם אדני יהוה והשלחתי רעב בארץ לא רעב ללחם ולא צמא למים--כי אם לשמע את דברי יהוה

And Yahweh our God says this: “It will [soon] be the time when I will cause something to be very scarce [MET] throughout the country. But it will not be a time when there is no food or water; it will instead be a time when there will be no messages from me for anyone to hear.

12 ונעו מים עד ים ומצפון ועד מזרח ישוטטו לבקש את דבר יהוה ולא ימצאו

People will stagger from the [Dead] Sea to the [Mediterranean] Sea, and wander from the north to the east, searching for a message from me, but there will not be any.

13 ביום ההוא תתעלפנה הבתולת היפות והבחורים--בצמא

At that time, even beautiful young women and strong young men will faint because of being very thirsty.

14 הנשבעים באשמת שמרון ואמרו חי אלהיך דן וחי דרך באר שבע ונפלו ולא יקומו עוד

Those who (make oaths/solemnly promise to do something) using the names of their shameful gods of Samaria, and those who solemnly promise to do something [using the name of] the god of Dan, and those who solemnly promise to do something [using the name of] the god of Beersheba, will all die; and they will never live again.”