Amos 8:4-12

English Standard Version

⁴ Hear this, ^(A)you who trample on the needy
    and bring the poor of the land to an end,
⁵ saying, “When will ^(B)the new moon be over,
    that we may sell grain?
And ^(C)the Sabbath,
    that we may offer wheat for sale,
that we may make ^(D)the ephah small and the shekel^[a] great
    and deal deceitfully with false balances,
⁶ that we may buy the poor for ^(E)silver
    and the needy for a pair of sandals
    and sell the chaff of the wheat?”

⁷ The Lord has sworn by ^(F)the pride of Jacob:
“Surely ^(G)I will never forget any of their deeds.
^8 (H)Shall not the land tremble on this account,
    and everyone mourn who dwells in it,
^(I)and all of it rise like the Nile,
    and be tossed about ^(J)and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?”

⁹ “And on that day,” declares the Lord God,
    ^(K)“I will make the sun go down at noon
    and darken the earth in broad daylight.
^10 (L)I will turn your feasts into mourning
    and all your songs into lamentation;
^(M)I will bring sackcloth on every waist
    ^(N)and baldness on every head;
^(O)I will make it like the mourning for an only son
    and the end of it like a bitter day.

¹¹ “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God,
    “when ^(P)I will send a famine on the land—
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
    ^(Q)but of hearing the words of the Lord.
^12 (R)They shall wander from sea to sea,
    and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord,
    ^(S)but they shall not find it.