1The LORD and King gave me a vision. He showed me a basket of ripe fruit.2‘What do you see, Amos?’ he asked. ‘A basket of ripe fruit,’ I replied. Then the LORD said to me, ‘The time is ripe for my people Israel. I will no longer spare them.3‘The time is coming when the songs in the temple will turn to weeping,’ announces the LORD and King. ‘Many, many bodies will be thrown everywhere! So be quiet!’4Listen to me, you who walk all over needy people. You crush those who are poor in the land.5You say, ‘When will the New Moon feast be over? Then we can sell our corn. When will the Sabbath day come to an end? Then people can buy our wheat.’ But you measure out less than the right amount. You raise your prices. You cheat others by using dishonest scales.6You buy poor people to make slaves out of them. You buy those who are in need for a mere pair of sandals. You even sell the worthless parts of your wheat.7People of Jacob, you are proud that the LORD is your God. But he has made a promise in his own name. He says, ‘I will never forget anything Israel has done.8‘The land will tremble because of what will happen. Everyone who lives in it will mourn. So the whole land will rise like the River Nile. It will be stirred up. Then it will settle back down again like that river in Egypt.’9The LORD and King announces, ‘At that time I will make the sun go down at noon. The earth will become dark in the middle of the day.10I will turn your holy feasts into times for mourning. I will turn all your songs into weeping. You will have to wear the clothing of sadness. You will shave your heads. I will make you mourn as if your only son had died. The end of that time will be like a bitter day.’11The LORD and King announces, ‘The days are coming when I will send hunger through the land. But people will not be hungry for food. They will not be thirsty for water. Instead, they will be hungry to hear a message from me.12People will wander from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean. They will travel from north to east. They will look for a message from me. But they will not find it.13‘At that time ‘the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because they are so thirsty.14Some people make promises in the name of Samaria’s god. That god has led them astray. Others say, “People of Dan, you can be sure that your god is alive.” Still others say, “You can be sure that Beersheba’s god is alive.” But all these people will fall dead. They will never get up 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)