Basket of Fruit and Israel’s Captivity
1 This is what the Lord 8:1 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord, and so throughout the chGod showed me, and behold, there was a basket of summer fruit. 2 And He said, "What do you see, Amos?" And I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the Lord said to me, "The end has come for My people Israel. I will not 8:2 Lit pass him byspare them any longer. 3 8:3 Lit They will howl the palace songsThe songs of the palace will turn to wailing on that day," declares the Lord God. "The corpses will be many; in every place 8:3 Lit he has thrownthey will throw them out. 8:3 An order for sacred silenceHush!"
4 Hear this, you who 8:4 Or snap attrample the needy, to put an end to the humble of the land, 5 saying,
"When will the new moon 8:5 Lit pass bybe over,
So that we may sell grain;
And the Sabbath, so that we may open the wheat market,
To make the 8:5 About 1 cubic foot or 0.03 cubic metersephah smaller and the 8:5 About 0.4 oz. or 11 gmshekel bigger,
And to cheat with dishonest scales,
6 So as to buy the helpless for 8:6 Lit silvermoney,
And the needy for a pair of sandals,
And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?"
7 The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob,
"Indeed, I will never forget any of their deeds.
8 "Because of this will the land not quake,
And everyone who lives in it mourn?
Indeed, all of it will rise up like the Nile,
And it will be tossed about
And subside like the Nile of Egypt.
9 "And it will come about on that day," declares the Lord God,
"That I will make the sun go down at noon,
And make the earth dark in 8:9 Lit a day of lightbroad daylight.
10 "Then I will turn your festivals into mourning,
And all your songs into songs of mourning;
And I will put sackcloth around everyone’s waist,
And 8:10 I.e., shaved as a sign of mourningbaldness on every head.
And I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son,
And the end of it will be like a bitter day.
11 "Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord God,
"When I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
But rather for hearing the words of the Lord.
12 "People will stagger from sea to sea
And from the north even to the east;
They will roam about to seek the word of the Lord,
But they will not find it.
13 "On that day the beautiful virgins
And the young men will faint from thirst.
14 "As for those who swear by the 8:14 Or Ashimahguilt of Samaria,
And say, ‘As your god lives, Dan,’
And, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives,’
They will fall and not rise again."