Amos 8:1–9:15

Vision of the Summer Fruit

8 Thus the Lord God showed me: Behold, a basket of summer fruit. 2 And He said, “Amos, what do you see?”

So I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”

Then the Lord said to me:

a“The end has come upon My people Israel;

bI will not pass by them anymore.

3 And cthe songs of the temple

Shall be wailing in that day,”

Says the Lord God—

“Many dead bodies everywhere,

dThey shall be thrown out in silence.”

4 Hear this, you who 1swallow up the needy,

And make the poor of the land fail,

5 Saying:

“When will the New Moon be past,

That we may sell grain?

And ethe Sabbath,

That we may 2trade wheat?

fMaking the ephah small and the shekel large,

Falsifying the scales by gdeceit,

6 That we may buy the poor for hsilver,

And the needy for a pair of sandals—

Even sell the bad wheat?”

7 The Lord has sworn by ithe pride of Jacob:

“Surely jI will never forget any of their works.

8 kShall the land not tremble for this,

And everyone mourn who dwells in it?

All of it shall swell like 3the River,

Heave and subside

lLike the River of Egypt.

9 “And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord God,

m“That I will make the sun go down at noon,

And I will darken the earth in 4broad daylight;

10 I will turn your feasts into nmourning,

oAnd all your songs into lamentation;

pI will bring sackcloth on every waist,

And baldness on every head;

I will make it like mourning for an only son,

And its end like a bitter day.

11 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God,

“That I will send a famine on the land,

Not a famine of bread,

Nor a thirst for water,

But qof hearing the words of the Lord.

12 They shall wander from sea to sea,

And from north to east;

They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,

But shall rnot find it.

13 “In that day the fair virgins

And strong young men

Shall faint from thirst.

14 Those who sswear by tthe 5sin of Samaria,

Who say,

‘As your god lives, O Dan!’

And, ‘As the way of uBeersheba lives!’

They shall fall and never rise again.”

The Destruction of Israel

9 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and He said:

“Strike the 1doorposts, that the thresholds may shake,

And abreak them on the heads of them all.

I will slay the last of them with the sword.

bHe who flees from them shall not get away,

And he who escapes from them shall not be delivered.

2 “Though cthey dig into 2hell,

From there My hand shall take them;

dThough they climb up to heaven,

From there I will bring them down;

3 And though they ehide themselves on top of Carmel,

From there I will search and take them;

Though they hide from My sight at the bottom of the sea,

From there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them;

4 Though they go into captivity before their enemies,

From there fI will command the sword,

And it shall slay them.

gI will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good.”

5 The Lord God of hosts,

He who touches the earth and it hmelts,

iAnd all who dwell there mourn;

All of it shall swell like 3the River,

And subside like the River of Egypt.

6 He who builds His jlayers 4in the sky,

And has founded His strata in the earth;

Who kcalls for the waters of the sea,

And pours them out on the face of the earth—

lThe Lord is His name.

7 “Are you not like the 5people of Ethiopia to Me,

O children of Israel?” says the Lord.

“Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,

The mPhilistines from nCaphtor, 6

And the Syrians from oKir?

8 “Behold, pthe eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom,

And I qwill destroy it from the face of the earth;

Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”

Says the Lord.

9 “For surely I will command,

And will 7sift the house of Israel among all nations,

As grain is sifted in a sieve;

rYet not the smallest 8grain shall fall to the ground.

10 All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword,

sWho say, ‘The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’

Israel Will Be Restored

11 “On tthat day I will raise up

The 9tabernacle of David, which has fallen down,

And 1repair its damages;

I will raise up its ruins,

And rebuild it as in the days of old;

12 uThat they may possess the remnant of vEdom, 2

And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,”

Says the Lord who does this thing.

13 “Behold, wthe days are coming,” says the Lord,

“When the plowman shall overtake the reaper,

And the treader of grapes him who sows seed;

xThe mountains shall drip with sweet wine,

And all the hills shall flow with it.

14 yI will bring back the captives of My people Israel;

zThey shall build the waste cities and inhabit them;

They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them;

They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them.

15 I will plant them in their land,

aAnd no longer shall they be pulled up

From the land I have given them,”

Says the Lord your God.