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Chapter 8

Fourth Vision: The Summer Fruit

This is what the Lord God showed me: a basket of end-of-summer fruit.[a] He asked, “What do you see, Amos?” And I answered, “A basket of end-of-summer fruit.” And the Lord said to me:

The end has come for my people Israel;
    I will forgive them no longer.
The temple singers will wail on that day—
    oracle of the Lord God.
Many shall be the corpses,
    strewn everywhere—Silence!(A)

Hear this, you who trample upon the needy
    and destroy the poor of the land:
“When will the new moon be over,” you ask,
    “that we may sell our grain,
And the sabbath,
    that we may open the grain-bins?
We will diminish the ephah,[b]
    add to the shekel,
    and fix our scales for cheating!(B)
We will buy the destitute for silver,
    and the poor for a pair of sandals;(C)
    even the worthless grain we will sell!”
The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
    Never will I forget a thing they have done!
Shall not the land tremble because of this,
    and all who dwell in it mourn?
It will all rise up and toss like the Nile,
    and subside like the river of Egypt.(D)
On that day—oracle of the Lord God
    I will make the sun set at midday
    and in broad daylight cover the land with darkness.
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning
    and all your songs into dirges.
I will cover the loins of all with sackcloth
    and make every head bald.
I will make it like the time of mourning for an only child,
    and its outcome like a day of bitter weeping.(E)

11 See, days are coming—oracle of the Lord God
    when I will send a famine upon the land:
Not a hunger for bread, or a thirst for water,
    but for hearing the word of the Lord.
12 They shall stagger from sea to sea
    and wander from north to east
In search of the word of the Lord,
    but they shall not find it.(F)

13 On that day, beautiful young women and young men
    shall faint from thirst,
14 Those who swear by Ashima of Samaria,[c](G)
    and who say, “By the life of your god, O Dan,”
“By the life of the Power of Beer-sheba!”
    They shall fall, never to rise again.

Footnotes

  1. 8:1–2 End-of-summer fruit…the end has come: the English translation attempts to capture the wordplay of the Hebrew. The Hebrew word for “fruit picked late in the season” is qayis, while the word for “end” is qes.
  2. 8:5 Ephah: see note on Is 5:10.
  3. 8:14 Ashima of Samaria: a high-ranking goddess worshiped in Hamath, whose cult was transplanted by the people of that city when they were deported to Samaria by the Assyrians (2 Kgs 17:30). The Power of Beer-sheba: possibly an epithet of a deity worshiped in Beer-sheba, either a syncretistic form of the worship of Israel’s God or of another god. Dan…Beer-sheba: the traditional designation for the northern and southern limits of Israel to which the Israelites made pilgrimages.

A Basket of Ripe Fruit

This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me:(A) a basket of ripe fruit. “What do you see,(B) Amos?(C)” he asked.

“A basket(D) 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)

“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)

Hear this, you who trample the needy
    and do away with the poor(H) of the land,(I)

saying,

“When will the New Moon(J) be over
    that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath be ended
    that we may market(K) wheat?”(L)
skimping on the measure,
    boosting the price
    and cheating(M) with dishonest scales,(N)
buying the poor(O) with silver
    and the needy for a pair of sandals,
    selling even the sweepings with the wheat.(P)

The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob:(Q) “I will never forget(R) anything they have done.(S)

“Will not the land tremble(T) for this,
    and all who live in it mourn?
The whole land will rise like the Nile;
    it will be stirred up and then sink
    like the river of Egypt.(U)

“In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord,

“I will make the sun go down at noon
    and darken the earth in broad daylight.(V)
10 I will turn your religious festivals(W) into mourning
    and all your singing into weeping.(X)
I will make all of you wear sackcloth(Y)
    and shave(Z) your heads.
I will make that time like mourning for an only son(AA)
    and the end of it like a bitter day.(AB)

11 “The days are coming,”(AC) declares the Sovereign Lord,
    “when I will send a famine through the land—
not a famine of food or a thirst for water,
    but a famine(AD) of hearing the words of the Lord.(AE)
12 People will stagger from sea to sea
    and wander from north to east,
searching for the word of the Lord,
    but they will not find it.(AF)

13 “In that day

“the lovely young women and strong young men(AG)
    will faint because of thirst.(AH)
14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria(AI)
    who say, ‘As surely as your god lives, Dan,’(AJ)
    or, ‘As surely as the god[b] of Beersheba(AK) lives’—
    they will fall,(AL) never to rise again.(AM)

Footnotes

  1. Amos 8:3 Or “the temple singers will wail
  2. Amos 8:14 Hebrew the way