Amos 8

1 The Lord God showed me this: a basket of summer fruit.

This is what the Lord Yahweh showed me. Look, a basket of summer fruit!

2 ‘What do you see, Amos?’ he asked. I replied, ‘A basket of ripe summer fruit.’ Then the Lord said to me: The time is ripe for my people Israel, I will no longer overlook their crimes.

He said, “What do you see, Amos?” I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then Yahweh said to me, “The end has come for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.

3 The singing women in the palace will howl on that day, says the Lord: Corpses everywhere, thrown out in silence.

The songs of the temple will become wailings in that day —this is the declaration of the Lord Yahweh— many dead bodies, they are thrown everywhere! Silence!”

4 Listen to this, you who trample on the needy, who oppress the poor of the earth,

Listen to this, you who trample the needy and remove the poor of the land.

5 saying: When will the feast of the new moon be over so that we may sell grain? And the sabbath ended so that we may offer wheat for sale? Reducing the measure and increasing the price, cheating with false scales,

They say, “When will the new moon be over, so we can sell grain again? When will the Sabbath day be over, so that we can sell wheat? We will make the measure small and increase the price, as we cheat with false scales.

6 mixing the sweepings in with the wheat. Then we can buy the poor for money, the needy for a pair of shoes.

This is so we can sell bad wheat, buy the poor with silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals.”

7 Now the Lord has taken an oath by the Pride of Jacob: I will never forget all their deeds!

Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob, “Surely I will never forget any of their actions.”

8 Because of this won’t the land quake, and all its inhabitants mourn? Won’t the whole of it rise like the Nile, churn and subside like the Nile in Egypt?

Will not the land quake for this, and every one who lives in it mourn? All of it will rise up like the Nile River, and it will be tossed about and sink again, like the river of Egypt.

9 On that day, says the Lord God, I will make the sun set at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.

“It will come in that day —this is the declaration of the Lord Yahweh— that I will make the sun set at noon, and I will darken the earth at daylight.

10 I will turn your feasts into mourning, all your songs into dirges. I will cause you to dress in sackcloth, every head shaved. I will make you mourn like you have lost your only son, all that happens will end in bitterness.

I will turn your festivals into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and have baldness on every head. I will make it like mourning for an only son, and a bitter day to its end.

11 The day is coming, says the Lord God, when I will send hunger in the land. Not a famine of bread or thirst for water, but for hearing the message of the Lord.

Look, the days are coming —this is the declaration of the Lord Yahweh— when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread, nor of thirst for water, but for hearing the words of Yahweh.

12 Then they will wander from sea to sea, from the north to the east, to seek a message from the Lord, but they will not find it.

They will stagger from sea to sea; they will run from the north to the east to seek the word of Yahweh, but they will not find it.

13 In that day beautiful girls and strong young men will faint from thirst.

In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint from thirst.

14 Those who take oaths by the shameful idol of Samaria, who swear, “As surely as your God lives, O Dan!” and, “By the sacred way to Beer-sheba!” – they will fall and never rise again.

Those who swear by the sin of Samaria and say, 'As your god lives, Dan,' and, 'As the way to Beersheba exists'— they will fall and never rise again.”