Amos 8:1–9:4

1  Thus did Jehovah shew unto me; and behold, a basket of summer-fruit. 2  And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer-fruit. And Jehovah said unto me, The end is come upon my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more. 3  And the songs of the palace shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah. The dead bodies shall be many; in every place they shall be cast forth. Silence!

4  Hear this, ye that pant after the needy, even to cause to fail the poor of the land, 5  saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat? making the ephah small and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances for deceit: 6  that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; and that we may sell the refuse of the wheat. 7  Jehovah hath sworn by the glory of Jacob, Certainly I will never forget any of their works. 8  Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? And it shall wholly rise up like the Nile; and it shall surge and sink down, as the river of Egypt. 9  And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the land in the clear day. 10  And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning for an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.

11  Behold, days come, saith the Lord Jehovah, when I will send a famine in the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah. 12  And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah, and shall not find it. 13  In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst; 14  they that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, As thy god, O Dan, liveth! and, As the way of Beer-sheba liveth! even they shall fall, and never rise up again.

Chapter 9

1  I saw the Lord standing upon the altar; and he said, Smite the chapiter that the thresholds may shake; and break all of them in pieces, in the head; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not get away by flight, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. 2  Though they dig into Sheol, thence shall my hand take them; and though they climb up to the heavens, thence will I bring them down; 3  and though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there will I command the serpent, and it shall bite them; 4  and though they go into captivity before their enemies, there will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.