| 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. |
| 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. |
Cross references:
-
Amos 8:9 : Ezek. 32:7-10.
|