Amos 8:6

6 That we may buy the poor for silver, And the needy for a pair of shoes, And sell the sweepings with the wheat?'"

Amos 8:6 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 8:6

That we may buy the poor for silver
Thus making them pay dear for their provisions, and using them in this fraudulent manner, by which they would not be able to support themselves and their families; they might purchase them and theirs for slaves, at so small a price as a piece of silver, or a single shekel, worth about half a crown; and this was their end and design in using them after this manner; see ( Leviticus 25:39 Leviticus 25:40 ) ; and the needy for a pair of shoes; (See Gill on Amos 2:6); [yea], and sell the refuse of the wheat;
not only did they sell the poor grain and wheat at a dear rate, and in scanty measure, but the worst of it, and such as was not fit to make bread of, only to be given to the cattle; and, by reducing the poor to extreme poverty, they obliged them to take that of them at their own price. It may be rendered, "the fall of wheat" ^F3; that which fell under the sieve, when the wheat was sifted, as Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, observe.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 (rb lpm) "labile frumenti", Montanus; "decidum frumenti", Cocceius; "deciduum triciti", Drusius, Mercerus, Stockius, p. 690.

Amos 8:6 In-Context

4 Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, And cause the poor of the land to fail,

5 Saying, 'When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Shabbat, that we may market wheat, Making the efah small, and the shekel large, And dealing falsely with balances of deceit;

6 That we may buy the poor for silver, And the needy for a pair of shoes, And sell the sweepings with the wheat?'"

7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Ya`akov, "Surely I will never forget any of their works.

8 Won't the land tremble for this, And everyone mourn who dwells in it? Yes, it will rise up wholly like the River; And it will be stirred up and sink again, like the River of Mitzrayim.