Amos 8
8
Amos Has a Vision of a Basket of Ripe Fruit
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 grain.
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 Nile River.
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.”
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Amos 8: NIrV
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Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998, 2014 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Amos 8
8
1 THUS THE Lord God showed to me, and behold, a basket of [ripe and therefore soon to perish] summer fruit.
2 And He said, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord to me, The end has come upon My people Israel; I will not pass by and spare them any more.
3 And the songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day, says the Lord God. The dead bodies shall be many; in every place they shall be cast forth in silence.
4 Hear this, O you who would swallow up and trample down the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail and come to an end,
5 Saying, When will the New Moon festival be past that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath that we may offer wheat for sale, making the ephah [measure] small and the shekel [measure] great and falsifying the scales by deceit,
6 That we may buy [into slavery] the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals; yes, and sell the refuse of the wheat [as if it were good grade]?
7 The Lord has sworn by [Himself Who is] the Glory and Pride of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their [rebellious] deeds.
8 Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who dwells in it? Yes, it shall rise like the river [Nile], all of it, and it shall be tossed about and sink back again to normal level, as does the Nile of Egypt.
9 And in that day, says the Lord God, I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the broad daylight. [Ezek. 32:7-10.]
10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation, and I will cause sackcloth to be put upon all loins and baldness [for mourning] shall come on every head; and I will make that time as the mourning for an only son, and the end of it as a bitter day.
11 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but [a famine] for hearing the words of the Lord.
12 And [the people] shall wander from sea to sea and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord [inquiring for and requiring it as one requires food], but shall not find it.
13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
14 Those who swear by Ashimah or the sin of Samaria and say, By the life of your god [the golden calf], O Dan! and [swear], By the life of the way of [idolatrous] Beersheba, they shall fall and rise no more.
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