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¶ Thus hath the Lord GOD showed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.

And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass over them any more.

And the cantors of the temple shall howl in that day, said the Lord GOD; there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.

¶ Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, and cut off the poor of the land,

saying, When the month is over, we will sell the wheat; and after the sabbath day we will open the storehouse of bread, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit;

that we may buy the poor for money and the needy for a pair of shoes and sell the refuse of the wheat.

The LORD has sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.

Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwells therein? and it shall all rise up as a flood, and it shall be cast out and sunk, as the river of Egypt.

And it shall come to pass in that day, said the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will cover the earth with darkness in the clear day;

10 and I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; and I will cause sackcloth to be brought up upon all loins and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son and the end thereof as a bitter day.

11 ¶ Behold, the days come, said the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine to the earth, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

12 and they 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, and shall not find it.

13 In that day the fair virgins and young men shall faint for thirst.

14 Those that swear by the guiltiness of Samaria and say, As thy God of Dan lives; and, As the way of Beersheba lives, even they shall fall, and never rise up again.

A Basket of Ripe Fruit

This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me:(A) a basket of ripe fruit. “What do you see,(B) Amos?(C)” he asked.

“A basket(D) 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.(E)

“In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “the songs in the temple will turn to wailing.[a](F) Many, many bodies—flung everywhere! Silence!(G)

Hear this, you who trample the needy
    and do away with the poor(H) of the land,(I)

saying,

“When will the New Moon(J) be over
    that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath be ended
    that we may market(K) wheat?”(L)
skimping on the measure,
    boosting the price
    and cheating(M) with dishonest scales,(N)
buying the poor(O) with silver
    and the needy for a pair of sandals,
    selling even the sweepings with the wheat.(P)

The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob:(Q) “I will never forget(R) anything they have done.(S)

“Will not the land tremble(T) 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.(U)

“In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord,

“I will make the sun go down at noon
    and darken the earth in broad daylight.(V)
10 I will turn your religious festivals(W) into mourning
    and all your singing into weeping.(X)
I will make all of you wear sackcloth(Y)
    and shave(Z) your heads.
I will make that time like mourning for an only son(AA)
    and the end of it like a bitter day.(AB)

11 “The days are coming,”(AC) 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(AD) of hearing the words of the Lord.(AE)
12 People 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.(AF)

13 “In that day

“the lovely young women and strong young men(AG)
    will faint because of thirst.(AH)
14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria(AI)
    who say, ‘As surely as your god lives, Dan,’(AJ)
    or, ‘As surely as the god[b] of Beersheba(AK) lives’—
    they will fall,(AL) never to rise again.(AM)

Footnotes

  1. Amos 8:3 Or “the temple singers will wail
  2. Amos 8:14 Hebrew the way