U-Amosi 8
1 Nanku engakutshengiswa nguThixo Wobukhosi: isitsha esilezithelo ezivuthiweyo.
This is what the Lord GOD showed me: I saw a basket of summer fruit.
2 Wangibuza wathi, “Kuyini okubonayo, Amosi?” Mina ngaphendula ngathi, “Yisitsha esilezithelo ezivuthiweyo.” UThixo wasesithi kimi, “Isikhathi sabantu bami bako-Israyeli sesifikile; kangisabaxoleli futhi.
“Amos, what do you see?” He asked. “A basket of summer fruit,” I replied. So the LORD said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel; I will no longer spare them.”
3 Ngalolosuku, izingoma zethempelini zizaphenduka zibe yikulila. Izidumbu ezinengi kakhulu zidaklazelwe indawo yonke! Thulani!” Kutsho uThixo Wobukhosi.
“In that day,” declares the Lord GOD, “the songs of the temple will turn to wailing. Many will be the corpses, strewn in silence everywhere!”
4 Zwanini lokhu, lina elincindezela abaswelayo njalo lichitha labayanga elizweni,
Hear this, you who trample the needy, who do away with the poor of the land,
5 lisithi, “Ukuthwasa kweNyanga Entsha kuzaphela nini ukuze sithengise amabele, leSabatha lidlule ukuze sithengise ingqoloyi na?” Sinciphise isilinganiso, sikhweze intengo siqilibezele ngezilinganiso zenkohliso,
asking, “When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat? Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel; let us cheat with dishonest scales.
6 sithenge abayanga ngesiliva, abaswelayo sibathenge ngamanyathelo, sithengise lamakhoba ngengqoloyi.
Let us buy the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the chaff with the wheat!”
7 UThixo ufungile ngokuziQhenya kukaJakhobe wathi, “Angisoze ngakhohliswa loba yini abayenzileyo.
The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget any of their deeds.
8 Ilizwe kaliyikuthuthumela ngalokhu yini labo bonke abahlala kulo kabayikulila na? Ilizwe lonke lizaqubuka njengeNayili; lizadungeka beselitshona phansi njengomfula waseGibhithe.
Will not the land quake for this, and all its dwellers mourn? All of it will swell like the Nile; it will surge and then subside like the Nile in Egypt.
9 Ngalolosuku,” kutsho uThixo Wobukhosi, “ngizakwenza ilanga litshone emini, ngenze emhlabeni kube mnyama emini ekhanyayo.
And in that day, declares the Lord GOD, I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the daytime.
10 Ngizaphendula imikhosi yenu yokukhonza ibe yikulila lokuhlabelela kwenu konke kube yikukhala. Lonke ngizalenza ligqoke amasaka, njalo liphuce amakhanda enu. Lesosikhathi ngizasenza sifane lokulilela indodana eyiyo yodwa lokuphela kwaso kube njengosuku olubuhlungu.
I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth and every head to be shaved. I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son, and its outcome like a bitter day.
11 Insuku ziyeza, kutsho uThixo Wobukhosi, lapho engizathumela khona indlala elizweni hatshi indlala yokudla kumbe ukomela amanzi, kodwa indlala yokuzwa amazwi kaThixo.
Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.
12 Abantu bazaphamazela besuka elwandle besiya elwandle, njalo bazule kusukela enyakatho kusiya empumalanga, bedinga ilizwi likaThixo, kodwa kabayikulithola.
People will stagger from sea to sea and roam from north to east, seeking the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.
13 Ngalolosuku izintombi ezinhle lezinsizwa eziqinileyo zizaqaleka ngenxa yokoma.
In that day the lovely young women— the young men as well— will faint from thirst.
14 Bona labo abafunga ngesono seSamariya, loba bathi, ‘Ngeqiniso njengoba unkulunkulu wakho ephila, wena Dani,’ loba bathi, ‘Ngeqiniso njengoba unkulunkulu waseBherishebha ephila,’ bazakuwa, bangaphindi bavuke futhi.”
Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria and say, ‘As surely as your god lives, O Dan,’ or, ‘As surely as the way of Beersheba lives’— they will fall, never to rise again.”
