Amos 8:4-14

4 Hear this, those who trample on [the] poor and who annihilate the afflicted of [the] land,

5 saying, "When will the new moon be over, so that we can sell grain? And the Sabbath, so that we can open the grain bins, that we can make [the] ephah small and make [the] shekel large, and can practice deceit [with] a set of scales of deceit?

6 {That we can} buy [the] powerless with silver and [the] poor for the sake of a pair of sandals, and we can sell the waste of the grain?"

7 Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob, "Surely I will never forget any of their deeds!

8 On account of this, will not the land tremble and will not every living [thing] in it mourn? And all of it will rise like the Nile and it will be tossed about and subside like the Nile of Egypt.

9 And then in that day," {declares} my Lord Yahweh, "I will make the sun go down at noon and I will darken the land on a day of light.

10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all of your songs into lament, and I will put sackcloth on all loins and baldness on every head. And I will make it like the mourning for an only child, and its end like a bitter day.

11 Look, the days are coming," {declares} my Lord Yahweh, "when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread and not a thirst for water, but {of hearing} the words of Yahweh!

12 And they will wander from sea to sea and from [the] north and to [the] east. They will roam about to seek the word of Yahweh, but they will not find [it]!

13 In that day the beautiful young women and the young men will faint because of thirst.

14 [These are] those who swear by the guilt of Samaria and say, 'By the life of your gods, O Dan,' and 'By the life of the way of Beersheba,' they will fall and they will not rise again."

Amos 8:4-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO AMOS 8

In this chapter a fourth vision is delivered, the vision of a "basket of summer fruit"; signifying the destruction of the ten tribes, for which they were ripe, and which would quickly come upon them, Am 8:1-3; the rich are reproved for their oppression of the poor, their covetousness and earthly mindedness, Am 8:4-6; for which they are threatened with entire ruin, sudden calamities, and very mournful times, instead of light, joy, and gladness, Am 8:7-10; and particularly with a famine of hearing the word of God, Am 8:11,12; the consequence of which would be, a fainting of the young men and virgins for thirst, and the utter and irrecoverable ruin of all idolaters, Am 8:13,14.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "to buy"
• [b] Literally "a declaration of"
• [c] Literally "and I"
• [d] Literally "a declaration of"
• [e] Literally "but if to hear"