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
You Who Give Little and Take Much
1My Master God showed me this vision: A bowl of fresh fruit.
2He said, “What do you see, Amos?”
I said, “A bowl of fresh, ripe fruit.”
God said, “Right. So, I’m calling it quits with my people Israel. I’m no longer acting as if everything is just fine.”
3“The royal singers will wail when it happens.”
My Master God said so.
“Corpses will be strewn here, there, and everywhere.
Hush!”
4-6Listen to this, you who walk all over the weak,
you who treat poor people as less than nothing,
Who say, “When’s my next paycheck coming
so I can go out and live it up?
How long till the weekend
when I can go out and have a good time?”
Who give little and take much,
and never do an honest day’s work.
You exploit the poor, using them—
and then, when they’re used up, you discard them.
7-8 God swears against the arrogance of Jacob:
“I’m keeping track of their every last sin.”
God’s oath will shake earth’s foundations,
dissolve the whole world into tears.
God’s oath will sweep in like a river that rises,
flooding houses and lands,
And then recedes,
leaving behind a sea of mud.
9-10“On Judgment Day, watch out!”
These are the words of God, my Master.
“I’ll turn off the sun at noon.
In the middle of the day the earth will go black.
I’ll turn your parties into funerals
and make every song you sing a dirge.
Everyone will walk around in rags,
with sunken eyes and bald heads.
Think of the worst that could happen
—your only son, say, murdered.
That’s a hint of Judgment Day
—that and much more.
11-12“Oh yes, Judgment Day is coming!”
These are the words of my Master God.
“I’ll send a famine through the whole country.
It won’t be food or water that’s lacking, but my Word.
People will drift from one end of the country to the other,
roam to the north, wander to the east.
They’ll go anywhere, listen to anyone,
hoping to hear God’s Word—but they won’t hear it.
13-14“On Judgment Day,
lovely young girls will faint of Word-thirst,
robust young men will faint of God-thirst,
Along with those who take oaths at the Samaria Sin-and-Sex Center,
saying, ‘As the lord god of Dan is my witness!’
and ‘The lady goddess of Beer-sheba bless you!’
Their lives will fall to pieces.
They’ll never put it together again.”
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.