Amos 8

1Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.

2And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.

3And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.footnote afootnote b

4Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,

5Saying, 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 by deceit?footnote cfootnote dfootnote e

6That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?

7The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.

8Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.

9And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:

10And 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 of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.

11Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

12And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.

13In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.

14They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.footnote f

The Basket of Summer Fruit

1This is what the Lord GOD showed me: I saw a basket of summer fruit.footnote a

2“Amos, what do you see?” He asked.
“A basket of summer fruit,” I replied.
So the LORD said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel; I will no longer spare them.”

3“In that day,” declares the Lord GOD, “the songsfootnote b of the templefootnote c will turn to wailing. Many will be the corpses, strewn in silence everywhere!”

4Hear this, you who trample the needy,who do away with the poor of the land, 5asking, “When will the New Moon be over,that we may sell grain?When will the Sabbath end,that we may market wheat?Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel;footnote dlet us cheat with dishonest scales. 6Let us buy the poor with silverand the needy for a pair of sandals,selling even the chaff with the wheat!” 7The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob:“I will never forget any of their deeds.

8Will not the land quake for this,and all its dwellers mourn?All of it will swell like the Nile;it will surge and then subsidelike the Nile in Egypt.

9And in that day,declares the Lord GOD,I will make the sun go down at noon,and I will darken the earth in the daytime. 10I will turn your feasts into mourningand all your songs into lamentation.I will cause everyone to wear sackclothand every head to be shaved.I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son,and its outcome like a bitter day.

11Behold, the days are coming,declares the Lord GOD,when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. 12People will stagger from sea to seaand roam from north to east,seeking the word of the LORD,but they will not find it. 13In that day the lovely young women—the young men as well—will faint from thirst. 14Those who swear by the guilt of Samariaand say, ‘As surely as your god lives, O Dan,’or, ‘As surely as the wayfootnote eof Beersheba lives’—they will fall, never to rise again.”