The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Here is what Adonai ELOHIM showed me: there in front of me was a basket of summer fruit.
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This is what the Lord God let me see: and I saw a basket of summer fruit.
2 He asked, "'Amos, what do you see?" I answered, "A basket of summer [Hebrew: kayitz] fruit." Then ADONAI said to me, "The end [Hebrew: ketz] has come for my people, I will never again overlook their offenses.
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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 to my people Israel; never again will my eyes be shut to their sin.
3 When that time comes, the songs in the temple will be wailings," says Adonai ELOHIM. "There will be many dead bodies; everywhere silence will reign."
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And the songs of the king's house will be cries of pain in that day, says the Lord God: great will be the number of the dead bodies, and everywhere they will put them out without a word.
4 Listen, you who swallow the needy and destroy the poor of the land!
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Give ear to this, you who are crushing the poor, and whose purpose is to put an end to those who are in need in the land,
5 You say, "When will Rosh-Hodesh be over, so we can market our grain? and Shabbat, so we can sell wheat?" You measure the grain in a small eifah, but the silver in heavy shekels, fixing the scales, so that you can cheat,
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Saying, When will the new moon be gone, so that we may do trade in grain? and the Sabbath, so that we may put out in the market the produce of our fields? making the measure small and the price great, and trading falsely with scales of deceit;
6 buying the needy for money and the poor for a pair of shoes, and sweeping up the refuse of the wheat to sell!"
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Getting the poor for silver, and him who is in need for the price of two shoes, and taking a price for the waste parts of the grain.
7 ADONAI swears by Ya'akov's pride, "I will forget none of their deeds, ever.
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The Lord has taken an oath by the pride of Jacob, Truly I will ever keep in mind all their works.
8 Won't the land tremble for this, and everyone mourn, who lives in the land? It will all rise, just like the Nile, be in turmoil and subside, like the Nile in Egypt.
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Will not the land be shaking with fear because of this, and everyone in it have sorrow? and all of it will be overflowing like the River; and it will be troubled and go down again like the River of Egypt.
9 "When that time comes," says Adonai ELOHIM, "I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.
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And it will come about in that day, says the Lord God, that I will make the sun go down in the middle of the day, and I will make the earth dark in daylight:
10 I will turn your festivals into mourning and all your songs into wailing; I will make you all put sackcloth around your waists and shave your heads bald in grief. I will make it like mourning for an only son and its end like a bitter day.
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Your feasts will be turned into sorrow and all your melody into songs of grief; everyone will be clothed with haircloth, and the hair of every head will be cut; I will make the weeping like that for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day.
11 "The time is coming," says Adonai ELOHIM, "when I will send famine over the land, not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of ADONAI.
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See, the days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send times of great need on the land, not need of food or desire for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.
12 People will stagger from sea to sea and from north to east, running back and forth, seeking the word of ADONAI; but they will not find it.
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And they will go wandering from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, running here and there in search of the word of the Lord, and they will not get it.
13 When that time comes, young women and men will faint from thirst.
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In that day the fair virgins and the young men will be feeble from need of water.
14 Those who swear by the sin of Shomron, who say, 'As your god, Dan, lives,' and, 'As the way of Be'er-Sheva lives' - they will fall and never get up again."
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Those who make their oaths by the sin of Samaria and say, By the life of your God, O Dan; and, By the living way of Beer-sheba; even they will go down, never again to be lifted up.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.