Amos 8

Fourth Vision: A Basket of Summer Fruit

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

I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” ^e

The Lord said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel; ^fI will no longer spare them. ^g3In that day the temple ^hsongs ⁱwill become wailing” ^j—this is the Lord God’s declaration. “Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere! ^kSilence!” ^l

⁴Hear this, you who trample on the needy ^m

and do away with the poor of the land, ⁿ

⁵asking, “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 price ^q

and cheat with dishonest scales. ^r

⁶We can buy the poor with silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals ^s

and even sell the chaff!”

⁷The Lord has sworn ^tby the Pride of Jacob: ^uv

I will never forget all their deeds. ^w

⁸Because of this, won’t the land quake ^x

and all who dwell in it mourn? ^y

All of it will rise like the Nile; ^z

it will surge and then subside

like the Nile in Egypt. ^a

⁹And in that day—

this is the declaration of the Lord God—

I will make the sun go down at noon; ^b

I will darken the land in the daytime. ^c

¹⁰I will turn your feasts into mourning ^d

and all your songs into lamentation; ^e

I will cause everyone ^fto wear sackcloth ^g

and every head to be shaved. ^h

I will make that grief

like mourning for an only son ⁱ

and its outcome like a bitter day.

¹¹Hear this! 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. ^j

¹²People will stagger from sea to sea

and roam from north to east,

seeking the word of the Lord, ^k

but they will not find it.

¹³In that day the beautiful young women, ^l

the young men also, will faint from thirst. ^m

¹⁴Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria ⁿ

and say, “As your god lives, Dan,” ^o

or “As the way ^pqof Beer-sheba lives” ^r—

they will fall, never to rise again. ^s