Amos 8

A Basket of Ripe Fruit

1 This 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. Many, many bodies—flung everywhere! Silence!”

4 Hear this, you who trample the needy
and do away with the poor of the land,

5 saying,
“When will the New Moon be over
that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath be ended
that we may market wheat?”—
skimping the measure,
boosting the price
and cheating with dishonest scales,

6 buying the poor with silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
selling even the sweepings with the wheat.

7 The Lord has sworn by 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.

10 I will turn your religious feasts 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.

12 Men 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.

14 They who swear by the shame of Samaria,
or say, ‘As surely as your god lives, O Dan,’
or, ‘As surely as the god of Beersheba lives’—
they will fall,
never to rise again.”

AMOS 8

A Basket of Fruit

1 The [Lord] God showed me a basket of ripe fruit

2 and asked, “Amos, what do you see?”
“A basket of ripe fruit,” I replied.
Then he said,
“This is the endt
for my people Israel.
I won't forgive them again.

3 Instead of singing
in the temple,
they will cry and weep.
Dead bodies will be everywhere.
So keep silent!
I, the [Lord], have spoken!”

Israel Is Doomed

The [Lord] said:

4 You people crush those in need
and wipe out the poor.

5 You say to yourselves,
“How much longer before the end
of the New Moon Festival?
When will the Sabbatht be over?
Our wheat is ready,
and we want to sell it now.
We can't wait to cheat
and charge high prices
for the grain we sell.
We will use dishonest scales

6 and mix dust in the grain.
Those who are needy and poor
don't have any money.
We will make them our slaves
for the price
of a pair of sandals.”

7 I, the [Lord], won't forget
any of this,
though you take great pride
in your ancestor Jacob.t

8 Your country will tremble,
and you will mourn.
It will be like the Nile River
that rises and overflows,
then sinks back down.

9 On that day, I, the [Lord] God,
will make the sun
go down at noon,
and I will turn daylight
into darkness.

10 Your festivals and joyful singing
will turn into sorrow.
You will wear sackclotht
and shave your heads,
as you would at the death
of your only son.
It will be a horrible day.

11 I, the [Lord], also promise you
a terrible shortage,
but not of food and water.
You will hunger and thirst
to hear my message.

12 You will search everywhere—
from north to south,
from east to west.
You will go all over the earth,
seeking a message
from me, the [Lord].
But you won't find one.

13 Your beautiful young women
and your young men
will faint from thirst.

14 You made promises
to the goddess Ashimah
at Samaria;
you made vows to other gods
at the shrines
of Dan and Beersheba.t
So now you will fall
and never get up.