Font Size
Amos 8
New Catholic Bible
Amos 8
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 8
The Vision of the Fruit Basket.[a] 1 This is what the Lord God showed me: a basket of ripe fruit. 2 He asked, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A basket of ripe fruit.” Then the Lord said to me:
The time is ripe for my people Israel;
I will never again pardon their offenses.
3 The songs of the temple shall become wailings on that day;
there will be corpses strewn everywhere.
Be silent! Thus says the Lord God.
Listen, You Who Crush the Poor
4 Hear this, you who crush the needy
and trample upon the poor of the land.
5 “When will the new moon be over,” you ask,
“so that we may sell our grain,
and the Sabbath,
so that we may market our wheat?
Then we can make the bushel measure smaller
and increase the shekel-weight
by adjusting the scales fraudulently.
6 We can buy the poor man for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals;
we can even sell the refuse of the wheat.”
7 The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Never will I forget any of their deeds.
8 Will not the land tremble because of this?
Will not everyone mourn who dwells in it?
The whole earth will rise like the Nile,
swelling and then subsiding
like the River of Egypt.
I Will Turn Your Feasts into Mourning
9 On that day, says the Lord God,
I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning,
and all your songs into lamentation.
I will make you cover your loins with sackcloth
and shave your heads.
I will make it like mourning for an only son
and the end of it like a bitter day.[b]
11 The days are surely coming, says 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 People will stagger from sea to sea
and wander from north to east,
in search of the word of the Lord,
but they will not find it.
13 On that day, fair maidens and young men
will faint from thirst.
14 Those who swear by the shameful idol of Samaria
and say, “As your god lives, O Dan,”
and, “By the sacred path to Beer-sheba,”
will all fall and never rise again.[c]
Footnotes
- Amos 8:1 In Hebrew there is a play on words between ripe fruit and “ripe time.”
- Amos 8:10 The wearing of sackcloth and the shaving of the head were rites of mourning; mourning was especially solemn at the death of an only son, since this meant the end of the family line.
- Amos 8:14 A reference to illegitimate or pagan practices, an oath, being also a profession of religious faith.
Amos 8
New International Version
Amos 8
New International Version
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 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)
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)”
5 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)
6 buying the poor(O) 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 forget(R) anything they have done.(S)
8 “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)
9 “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
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.