Loading…
The Lord Gives Amos Another Vision
8 The Lord and King gave me a vision. He showed me a basket of ripe fruit. 2“What do you see, Amos?” he asked.
“A basket of ripe fruit,” I replied.
Then the Lord said to me, “The time is ripe for my people Israel. I will no longer spare them.
3“The time is coming when the songs in the temple will turn to crying,” announces the Lord and King. “Many, many bodies will be thrown everywhere! So be quiet!”
4 Listen to me, you who walk all over needy people.
You crush those who are poor in the land.
“When will the New Moon Feast be over?
Then we can sell our grain.
When will the Sabbath day come to an end?
Then people can buy our wheat.”
But you don’t measure out the right amount.
You raise your prices.
You cheat others by using dishonest scales.
6 You buy poor people to make slaves out of them.
You buy those who are in need for a mere pair of sandals.
You even sell the worthless parts of your wheat.
7People of Jacob, you are proud that the Lord is your God. But he has taken an oath in his own name. He says, “I will never forget anything Israel has done.
8 “The land will tremble because of what will happen.
Everyone who lives in it will sob.
So the whole land will rise like the Nile River.
It will be stirred up.
Then it will settle back down again
like that river in Egypt.”
“At that time I will make the sun go down at noon.
The earth will become dark in the middle of the day.
10 I will turn your holy feasts into times for sobbing.
I will turn all of your songs into crying.
You will have to wear black clothes.
You will shave your heads.
I will make you sob as if your only son had died.
The end of that time will be like a bitter day.”
11The Lord and King announces,
“The days are coming
when I will send hunger through the land.
But people will not be hungry for food.
They will not be thirsty for water.
Instead, they will be hungry
to hear a message from me.
12 People will wander from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean.
They will travel from north to east.
They will look for a message from me.
But they will not find it.
“the lovely young women and strong young men
will faint because they are so thirsty.
14 Some people take oaths in the name
of Samaria’s shameful god.
Others say, ‘People of Dan, you can be sure
that your god is alive.’
Still others say, ‘You can be sure
that Beersheba’s god is alive.’
But all of those people will fall dead.
They will never get up again.”
|
About New International Reader’s Version (1998)The New International Reader’s Version (NIrV) was developed to help early readers understand the Bible. Begun in 1992, the NIrV is a simplification of the New International Version (NIV). The NIrV uses shorter words and sentences so that those with a typical fourth grade reading level can comprehend what they are reading. The chapters have been separated into shorter sections and most have titles that clearly indicate what the section is all about. The NIrV will be a valuable translation to those for whom English is a second language. The NIrV still relies on the best and oldest copies of the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts for its translation, guaranteeing that those who read it are getting the actual Word of God. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved. The NIrV text may be quoted for non-commercial usage in any form (written, visual, electronic or audio) up to and inclusive of five hundred (500) verses without the express written permission of the publisher, providing the verses quoted do not amount to a complete book of the Bible nor do the verses quoted account for twenty-five percent (25%) or more of the total text of the work in which they are quoted. Notice of copyright must appear on the title or copyright page of the work as follows: Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL READER’S VERSION™. Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. When quotations from the NIrV text are used in non-saleable media, such as church bulletins, orders of service, posters, transparencies or similar media, a complete copyright notice is not required, but the initials (NIrV) must appear at the end of each quotation. Any commentary or other Biblical reference work produced for commercial sale that uses the New International Reader’s Version must obtain written permission for use of the NIrV text. Permission requests for commercial use within the U.S. and Canada that exceed the above guidelines must be directed to, and approved in writing by, Zondervan, 5300 Patterson Ave. S.E., Grand Rapids, MI 49530. Permission requests for commercial use within the U.K., EEC, and EFTA countries that exceed the above guidelines must be directed to, and approved in writing by, Hodder Headline Plc., 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH, England. Permission requests for non-commercial usage that exceed the above guidelines must be directed to, and approved in writing by, International Bible Society, 1820 Jet Stream Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80921. |
| Support Info | nirv |