Amos 8
8
The Vision of the Ripe Fruit
1This is what the Lord GOD showed me: I saw a basket of summer fruit. 2He said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”
I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”
Then the Lord said to me, “The end#8:2 end This Hebrew word sounds like the word for “summer fruit.” has come to my people Israel. I will not ignore their sins anymore. 3Their temple songs will become funeral songs.” This is what the Lord GOD said. “There will be dead bodies everywhere. In silence, people will take out the dead bodies and throw them onto the pile.#8:3 In silence … the pile Or “People will be saying, ‘Hush!’” See Amos 6:10.”
Merchants Only Want to Make Money
4Listen to me, you who trample on helpless people.
You are trying to destroy the poor of this country.
5You merchants say,
“When will the New Moon be over so that we can sell grain?
When will the Sabbath be over
so that we can bring out more wheat to sell?
We can raise the price
and make the measure smaller.#8:5 We … smaller Literally, “We will make the ephah small and the shekel large.”
We can fix the scales
and cheat the people.#8:5 We … people Literally, “Cheat with lying balances.”
6The poor cannot pay their loans,
so we will buy them as slaves.
We will buy those helpless people
for the price of a pair of sandals.
Oh, and we can sell the wheat
that was spilled on the floor.”
7The Lord made a promise. He used his name, “Pride of Jacob,” and made this promise:
“I will never forget what those people did.
8There will be an earthquake
that will shake the whole land because of what they did.
Everyone living there will cry for those who died.
The land will be tossed around.
The whole land will rise and fall like the Nile River in Egypt.”
9The Lord GOD also said,
“At that time I will make the sun set at noon
and make the land dark on a clear day.
10I will change your festivals into days of crying for the dead.
All your songs will be songs of sadness for those who are dead.
I will put mourning clothes on every body
and baldness on every head.#8:10 baldness … head People shaved their heads to show that they were very sad or upset.
I will cause mourning everywhere,
like that for an only son who has died.
It will be a very bitter end.”
A Famine of God’s Word
11The Lord GOD says,
“Look, the days are coming
when I will cause a famine in the land.
The people will not be hungry for bread.
They will not be thirsty for water.
No, they will be hungry for words from the Lord.
12The people will wander around the country,
from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea,
and from the north part of the country to the east.
They will go back and forth looking for a message from the Lord,
but they will not find it.
13At that time the beautiful young men and women
will become weak from thirst.
14They made promises by the sin of Samaria,#8:14 sin of Samaria The calf god in Samaria.
They said, ‘Dan,#8:14 Dan One of Israel’s holy places was in this city. as surely as your god lives, we promise ….’
And they said, ‘As surely as the god of Beersheba#8:14 Beersheba A town in Judah. This name means “well of the oath.” lives, we promise ….’
But they will fall
and never get up again.”
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Amos 8
8
Fourth Vision: A Basket of Summer Fruit
1The Lord God showed me this: A basket of summer fruit. 2He asked me, “What do you see, Amos? ” # Am 7:8
I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” # Jr 24:3
The Lord said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel; # Ezk 7:2-3,6 I will no longer spare them. # Am 7:8 3In that day the temple # Or palace songs # Am 5:23; 6:4-5 will become wailing” # Am 5:16 — this is the Lord God’s declaration. “Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere! # Is 34:3; Jr 33:5; Nah 3:3 Silence! ” # Am 6:10
4Hear this, you who trample on the needy # Am 2:7; 5:11-12
and do away with the poor of the land, # Is 10:2
5asking, “When will the New Moon be over
so we may sell grain, # Nm 28:11; 2Kg 4:23
and the Sabbath,
so we may market wheat? # Ex 31:13-17
We can reduce the measure
while increasing the price # Lit reduce the ephah and make the shekel great
and cheat with dishonest scales. # Dt 25:13-15; Pr 20:23; Hs 12:7
6We can buy the poor with silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals # Am 2:6
and even sell the chaff! ”
7The Lord has sworn # Am 4:2; 6:8 by the Pride of Jacob: # = the Lord or the promised land # Dt 33:26,29; Ps 47:4
I will never forget all their deeds. # Ps 10:11; Hs 7:2; 8:13
8Because of this, won’t the land quake # Ps 18:7; 60:2; Is 5:25; Am 1:1
and all who dwell in it mourn? # Hs 4:3
All of it will rise like the Nile; # Jr 46:7-8
it will surge and then subside
like the Nile in Egypt. # Am 9:5
9And in that day —
this is the declaration of the Lord God —
I will make the sun go down at noon; # Is 13:10; Ezk 32:7; Jl 2:10,31
I will darken the land in the daytime. # Is 59:9-10; Am 4:13; 5:8; Mt 27:45
10I will turn your feasts into mourning # Jb 20:23; Am 5:21
and all your songs into lamentation; # Lm 5:15; Hs 2:11; Jms 4:9
I will cause everyone # Lit every loin to wear sackcloth # Ezk 7:18
and every head to be shaved. # Is 22:12; Jr 48:37; Ezk 7:18
I will make that grief
like mourning for an only son # Zch 12:10-14
and its outcome like a bitter day.
11Hear this! The days are coming —
this is the declaration of the Lord God —
when I will send a famine through the land:
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord. # Mc 3:6-7
12People will stagger from sea to sea
and roam from north to east,
seeking the word of the Lord, # Ezk 20:3,31
but they will not find it.
13In that day the beautiful young women, # Lm 1:18; 2:21
the young men also, will faint from thirst. # Is 41:17; Hs 2:3
14Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria # Hs 8:5
and say, “As your god lives, Dan,” # 1Kg 12:28-29
or “As the way # LXX reads god # Or power of Beer-sheba lives” # Am 5:5 —
they will fall, never to rise again. # Am 5:2; Jr 25:27
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