Amos 8:1–9:4

FOURTH VISION: A BASKET OF SUMMER FRUIT

8 The Lord God showed me this: a basket of summer fruit. 2 He asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”e

I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.”E,f

The Lord said to me, “The end has come for my people Israel;g I will no longer spare them.h 3 In that day the templeF songsi will become wailing”j—this is the Lord God’s declaration. “Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere!k Silence!”l

4 Hear this, you who trample on the needym

and do away with the poor of the land,n

5 asking, “When will the New Moon be over

so we may sell grain,o

and the Sabbath,

so we may market wheat?p

We can reduce the measure

while increasing the priceA

and cheat with dishonest scales.q

6 We can buy the poor with silver

and the needy for a pair of sandalsr

and even sell the chaff!”

7 The Lord has sworns by the Pride of Jacob:B,t

I will never forget all their deeds.u

8 Because of this, won’t the land quakev

and all who dwell in it mourn?w

All of it will rise like the Nile;x

it will surge and then subside

like the Nile in Egypt.y

9 And in that day—

this is the declaration of the Lord God—

I will make the sun go down at noon;z

I will darken the land in the daytime.aa

10 I will turn your feasts into mourningab

and all your songs into lamentation;ac

I will cause everyoneC to wear sackclothad

and every head to be shaved.ae

I will make that grief

like mourning for an only sonaf

and its outcome like a bitter day.

11 Look, the days are coming—

this is the declaration of the Lord God—

when I will send a famine through the land:

not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,

but of hearing the words of the Lord.ag

12 People will stagger from sea to sea

and roam from north to east

seeking the word of the Lord,ah

but they will not find it.

13 In that day the beautiful young women,ai

the young men also, will faint from thirst.aj

14 Those who swear by the guilt of Samariaak

and say, “As your god lives, Dan,”al

or, “As the wayD,E of Beer-sheba lives”am—

they will fall, never to rise again.an

FIFTH VISION: THE LORD BESIDE THE ALTAR

9 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar,ao and he said:

Strike the capitals of the pillarsap

so that the thresholds shake;

knock them down on the heads of all the people.

Then I will kill the rest of them with the sword.aq

None of those who flee will get away;ar

none of the fugitives will escape.

2 If they dig down to Sheol,as

from there my hand will take them;

if they climb up to heaven,at

from there I will bring them down.

3 If they hide

on the top of Carmel,

from there I will track them downau

and seize them;

if they conceal themselves

from my sight on the sea floor,a

from there I will command

the sea serpent to bite them.b

4 And if they are driven

by their enemies into captivity,c

from there I will command

the sword to kill them.d

I will keep my eye on them

for harm and not for good.e