Amos, 8

1. This is what Lord Yahweh showed me: A basket of ripe fruit.

1. Thus the Lord GOD showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit.

2. 'What do you see, Amos?' he asked. 'A basket of ripe fruit,' I said. Then Yahweh said, 'The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will not continue to overlook their offences.

2. And he said, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the LORD said to me, "The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass by them.

3. That day, the palace songs will turn to howls, -declares the Lord Yahweh- the corpses will be many that are thrown down everywhere. Keep silent!'

3. The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day," says the Lord GOD; "the dead bodies shall be many; in every place they shall be cast out in silence."

4. Listen to this, you who crush the needy and reduce the oppressed to nothing,

4. Hear this, you who trample upon the needy, and bring the poor of the land to an end,

5. you who say, 'When will New Moon be over so that we can sell our corn, and Sabbath, so that we can market our wheat? Then, we can make the bushel-measure smaller and the shekel-weight bigger, by fraudulently tampering with the scales.

5. saying, "When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great, and deal deceitfully with false balances,

6. We can buy up the weak for silver and the poor for a pair of sandals, and even get a price for the sweepings of the wheat.'

6. that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the refuse of the wheat?"

7. Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob, 'Never will I forget anything they have done.'

7. The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: "Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.

8. Will not the earth tremble for this and all who live on it lament, as it all rises together like the Nile in Egypt, it swells and then subsides like the Egyptian Nile?

8. Shall not the land tremble on this account, and every one mourn who dwells in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?"

9. 'On that Day- declares the Lord Yahweh- I shall make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.

9. "And 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 shall turn your festivals into mourning and all your singing into lamentation; I shall make you all wear sacking round your waists and have all your heads shaved. I shall make it like the mourning for an only child, and it will end like the bitterest of days.

10. I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day.

11. 'The days are coming- declares the Lord Yahweh- when I shall send a famine on the country, not hunger for food, not thirst for water, but famine for hearing Yahweh's word.

11. "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord GOD, "when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.

12. People will stagger from sea to sea, will wander from the north to the east, searching for Yahweh's word, but will not find it.

12. 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, but they shall not find it.

13. 'That Day, fine girls and stalwart youths will faint from thirst.

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

14. The people who swear by the Sin of Samaria, who say, "Long live your god, Dan!" and "Hurrah for the pilgrimage to Beersheba!" will all fall, never to rise again.'

14. Those who swear by Ash'imah of Sama'ria, and say, `As thy god lives, O Dan,' and, `As the way of Beer-sheba lives,' they shall fall, and never rise again."