A Basket of Ripe Fruit

8 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me:a a basket of ripe fruit. 2 “What do you see,b Amos?c” he asked.

“A basketd 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

3 “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”

4 Hear this, you who trample the needy

and do away with the poorh of the land,i

5 saying,

“When will the New Moonj be over

that we may sell grain,

and the Sabbath be ended

that we may marketk wheat?”l—

skimping on the measure,

boosting the price

and cheatingm with dishonest scales,n

6 buying the pooro with silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals,

selling even the sweepings with the wheat.p

7 The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob:q “I will never forgetr anything they have done.s