1This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: a basket of ripe fruit.2‘What do you see, Amos?’ he asked. ‘A basket of ripe fruit,’ I answered. Then the Lord said to me, ‘The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.3‘In that day,’ declares the Sovereign Lord, ‘the songs in the temple will turn to wailing.[1] Many, many bodies – flung everywhere! Silence!’4Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land,5saying, ‘When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?’ – skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales,6buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.7The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob: ‘I will never forget anything they have done.8‘Will not the land tremble for this, and all who live in it mourn? The whole land will rise like the Nile; it will be stirred up and then sink like the river of Egypt.9‘In that day,’ declares the Sovereign Lord, ‘I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.10I will turn your religious festivals into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.11‘The days are coming,’ declares the Sovereign Lord, ‘when I will send a famine through the land – not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.12People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.13‘In that day ‘the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of thirst.14Those who swear by the sin of Samaria – who say, “As surely as your god lives, Dan”, or, “As surely as the god[2] of Beersheba lives” – they will fall, never to rise again.’
Amos 8
English Standard Version
The Coming Day of Bitter Mourning
1This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. (Am 7:1)2And he said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end[1] has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass by them. (Jer 24:1; La 4:18; Am 7:8; Mic 7:1)3The songs of the temple[2] shall become wailings[3] in that day,” declares the Lord God. “So many dead bodies!” “They are thrown everywhere!” “Silence!” (Jer 16:4; Jer 16:6; Jer 47:2; Am 5:23; Am 6:9; Am 6:10)4Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end, (Ps 14:4)5saying, “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel[4] great and deal deceitfully with false balances, (Nu 28:11; Ne 13:15; Eze 45:10; Ho 12:7; Mic 6:10)6that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and sell the chaff of the wheat?” (Am 2:6)7The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: “Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. (Ho 8:13; Ho 9:9; Am 6:8)8Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who dwells in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?” (Ho 4:3; Am 9:5; Zec 10:11)9“And on that day,” declares the Lord God, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. (Jer 15:9; Am 4:13; Am 5:8; Mic 3:6; Mt 24:29)10I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day. (Isa 3:24; Jer 6:26; Jer 7:34; Jer 16:9; Ho 2:11; Zec 12:10)11“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. (Ps 74:9; Pr 29:18; Isa 8:20; Mic 3:7)12They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it. (Am 4:8; Am 8:11)13“In that day the lovely virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst. (Isa 51:20; Jon 4:8)14Those who swear by the Guilt of Samaria, and say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’ and, ‘As the Way of Beersheba lives,’ they shall fall, and never rise again.” (De 9:21; 1Ki 12:29; Ho 10:8; Am 5:5; Ac 9:2)