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Fruit that is ready to eat

8 Then the Lord God showed another vision to me. I saw a basket with summer fruit in it. ² He asked me, ‘Amos, what do you see?’ I answered him, ‘I see a basket of summer fruit.’ Then the Lord said to me, ‘The time has now come to punish my people. I will not forgive them any longer.

³ On the day that I come to punish them, people will not sing in the temple. Instead they will weep loudly. There will be dead bodies everywhere. Be quiet now!’ That is what the Lord God says.

Trouble will come to Israel's people

⁴ So listen to me, you who are cruel to helpless people. You try to destroy people who are poor and weak. ⁵ You say to yourselves, ‘We want the new moon festival to finish so that we can sell food again. We want our Sabbath day of rest to finish so that we can sell grain.’ But when you sell things, you cheat the people who buy from you. You deceive them with false weights, and you make the price too high. ⁶ When poor people cannot pay their debts, you buy them as your slaves. You pay a silver coin to buy them, which would not even buy a pair of shoes. You also mix dust with the grain that you sell.

⁷ The Lord has promised this: ‘You proud descendants of Jacob, I will never forget the wrong things that you have done. ⁸ The whole country will shake because of your sins. Everyone who lives there will weep. The ground will rise up, like the floods of the Nile river in Egypt. Then it will go down again, like the water of the Nile.’

⁹ The Lord God says, ‘At that time, I will make the sun go down at noon. I will make the earth become dark in the daytime. ¹⁰ Your parties will become funerals. You will not sing happy songs but you will weep. You will wear rough clothes and you will cut off all your hair. You will be as sad as if your only son had died. That will be a very bad day for you.’

¹¹ The Lord God says, ‘Listen to me! At that time, I will cause you to be very hungry. It will not be because you need food and water. Instead, everyone in the land will want to hear a message from me. ¹² People will travel everywhere in the country, north and south, east and west. They will want to hear a message from the Lord , but there will be nothing for them to hear.

¹³ At that time, your beautiful young women and your young men will become very thirsty. They will be weak and tired. ¹⁴ They worship Samaria's idols. They use the names of those false gods to make promises. They say, “In the name of the god of Dan,” or “In the name of the god of Beersheba.” Those people will fall down and they will never get up again.’

The Vision of the Ripe Fruit

8 This is what the Lord God showed me: I saw a basket of summer fruit. ² He said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”

I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”

Then the Lord said to me, “The end ^{[ a ]} has come to my people Israel. I will not ignore their sins anymore. ³ Their temple songs will become funeral songs.” This is what the Lord God said. “There will be dead bodies everywhere. In silence, people will take out the dead bodies and throw them onto the pile. ^{[ b ]} ”

Merchants Only Want to Make Money

⁴ Listen to me, you who trample on helpless people.
You are trying to destroy the poor of this country.
⁵ You merchants say,
“When will the New Moon be over so that we can sell grain?
When will the Sabbath be over
so that we can bring out more wheat to sell?
We can raise the price
and make the measure smaller. ^{[ c ]}
We can fix the scales
and cheat the people. ^{[ d ]}
⁶ The poor cannot pay their loans,
so we will buy them as slaves.
We will buy those helpless people
for the price of a pair of sandals.
Oh, and we can sell the wheat
that was spilled on the floor.”

⁷ The Lord made a promise. He used his name, “Pride of Jacob,” and made this promise:

“I will never forget what those people did.
⁸ There will be an earthquake
that will shake the whole land because of what they did.
Everyone living there will cry for those who died.
The land will be tossed around.
The whole land will rise and fall like the Nile River in Egypt.”

⁹ The Lord God also said,
“At that time I will make the sun set at noon
and make the land dark on a clear day.
¹⁰ I will change your festivals into days of crying for the dead.
All your songs will be songs of sadness for those who are dead.
I will put mourning clothes on every body
and baldness on every head. ^{[ e ]}
I will cause mourning everywhere,
like that for an only son who has died.
It will be a very bitter end.”

A Famine of God’s Word

¹¹ The Lord God says,

“Look, the days are coming
when I will cause a famine in the land.
The people will not be hungry for bread.
They will not be thirsty for water.
No, they will be hungry for words from the Lord .
¹² The people will wander around the country,
from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea,
and from the north part of the country to the east.
They will go back and forth looking for a message from the Lord ,
but they will not find it.
¹³ At that time the beautiful young men and women
will become weak from thirst.
¹⁴ They made promises by the sin of Samaria, ^{[ f ]}
They said, ‘Dan, ^{[ g ]} as surely as your god lives, we promise ….’
And they said, ‘As surely as the god of Beersheba ^{[ h ]} lives, we promise ….’
But they will fall
and never get up again.”

Footnotes

Amos 8:2 end This Hebrew word sounds like the word for “summer fruit.”
Amos 8:3 In silence … the pile Or “People will be saying, ‘Hush!’” See Amos 6:10.
Amos 8:5 We … smaller Literally, “We will make the ephah small and the shekel large.”
Amos 8:5 We … people Literally, “Cheat with lying balances.”
Amos 8:10 baldness … head People shaved their heads to show that they were very sad or upset.
Amos 8:14 sin of Samaria The calf god in Samaria.
Amos 8:14 Dan One of Israel’s holy places was in this city.
Amos 8:14 Beersheba A town in Judah. This name means “well of the oath.”

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

² And 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.

³ And 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.

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

⁵ Saying, 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?

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

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

⁸ Shall 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.

⁹ And 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:

¹⁰ And 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.

¹¹ Behold, 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 :

¹² And 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.

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

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

Basket of Fruit and Israel’s Captivity

8 This is what the Lord ^{[ a ]} God showed me, and behold, there was a basket of summer fruit. ² And He said, “What do you see, Amos?” And ^{( A )} I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The ^{( B )} end has come for My people Israel. I will not ^{[ b ]} ^{( C )} spare them any longer. ³ ^{[ c ]} The ^{( D )} songs of the palace will turn to ^{( E )} wailing on that day,” declares the Lord God . “The ^{( F )} corpses will be many; in every place ^{[ d ]} they will throw them out. ^{[ e ]} Hush!”

⁴ Hear this, you who ^{[ f ]} ^{( G )} trample the needy, to put an end to the humble of the land, ⁵ saying,

“When will the ^{( H )} new moon ^{[ g ]} be over,
So that we may sell grain;
And the ^{( I )} Sabbath, so that we may open the wheat market ,
To make the ^{[ h ]} ephah smaller and the ^{[ i ]} shekel bigger,
And to ^{( J )} cheat with dishonest scales,
⁶ So as to ^{( K )} buy the helpless for ^{[ j ]} money,
And the needy for a pair of sandals,
And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?”

⁷ The Lord has ^{( L )} sworn by the ^{( M )} pride of Jacob,
“Indeed, I will ^{( N )} never forget any of their deeds.
⁸ Because of this will the land not ^{( O )} quake,
And everyone who lives in it ^{( P )} mourn?
Indeed, all of it will ^{( Q )} rise up like the Nile,
And it will be tossed about
And subside like the Nile of Egypt.
⁹ And it will come about on that day,” declares the Lord God ,
“That I will make the ^{( R )} sun go down at noon,
And ^{( S )} make the earth dark in ^{[ k ]} broad daylight.
¹⁰ Then I will ^{( T )} turn your festivals into mourning,
And all your songs into songs of mourning;
And I will put ^{( U )} sackcloth around everyone’s waist,
And ^{[ l ]} baldness on every head.
And I will make it ^{( V )} like a time of mourning for an only son,
And the end of it will be like a bitter day.

¹¹ “Behold, 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 rather ^{( W )} for hearing the words of the Lord .
¹² People will stagger from sea to sea
And from the north even to the east;
They will roam about to ^{( X )} seek the word of the Lord ,
But they will not find it .
¹³ On that day the beautiful ^{( Y )} virgins
And the young men will ^{( Z )} faint from thirst.
¹⁴ As for those who swear by the ^{[ m ]} ^{( AA )} guilt of Samaria,
And say, ‘As your god lives, ^{( AB )} Dan,’
And, ‘As the way of ^{( AC )} Beersheba lives,’
They will fall and ^{( AD )} not rise again.”

Footnotes

Amos 8:1 Heb YHWH , usually rendered Lord , and so throughout the ch
Amos 8:2 Lit pass him by
Amos 8:3 Lit They will howl the palace songs
Amos 8:3 Lit he has thrown
Amos 8:3 An order for sacred silence
Amos 8:4 Or snap at
Amos 8:5 Lit pass by
Amos 8:5 About 1 cubic foot or 0.03 cubic meters
Amos 8:5 About 0.5 oz. or 14 gm
Amos 8:6 Lit silver
Amos 8:9 Lit a day of light
Amos 8:10 I.e., shaved as a sign of mourning
Amos 8:14 Or Ashimah

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Table of Contents

Fruit that is ready to eat

Trouble will come to Israel's people

The Vision of the Ripe Fruit

Merchants Only Want to Make Money

A Famine of God’s Word

Footnotes

Basket of Fruit and Israel’s Captivity

Footnotes

Cross references

A Basket of Ripe Fruit

Footnotes

Cross references

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BibleStudyIt Amos 8

Amos 8's Chapter Tabs Scroll past these tabs to continue or click on one of them to navigate out of this webpage.

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Read Chapter

Your Private Notes

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Fruit that is ready to eat

Trouble will come to Israel's people

The Vision of the Ripe Fruit

Merchants Only Want to Make Money

A Famine of God’s Word

Footnotes

Basket of Fruit and Israel’s Captivity

Footnotes

Cross references

A Basket of Ripe Fruit

Footnotes

Cross references

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