Amos 8

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

1The Lord GOD showed me something. I saw a basket of ripe summer fruit.

2And 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.

2God asked, "Amos, what do you see?" I said, "A basket of ripe summer fruit." Then the LORD said to me, "The end has come for my people Israel. I will not let this pass by again."

3And 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.

3The Lord GOD says, "On that day the temple songs will turn into loud crying. Dead bodies will be everywhere. People will throw them out without saying a word."

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

4Listen to this, you who step on people in need. You push the poor people of the land out of the way.

5Saying, 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?

5You say, "When will the New Moon day be over? Then we can sell our grain. When will the day of rest be done? Then we can sell wheat." You make the baskets smaller and the prices bigger. You use crooked scales to cheat people.

NoteThe New Moon day and the day of rest were days when no one was allowed to buy or sell. An "ephah" was a basket used to measure grain, and a "shekel" was a weight used to measure silver. Making the basket small and the weight big meant giving less grain and taking more money.

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

6You say, "We can buy poor people with silver. We can buy a needy person for a pair of sandals. We can even sell the leftover bits of wheat."

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

7The LORD made a promise, and he swore by the Pride of Jacob. He said, "I will never forget one thing these people have done."

8Shall 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.

8Will the land not shake because of this? Everyone who lives there will cry. The whole land will rise up like the Nile River. It will swell up and then sink back down, like that river in Egypt.

9And 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:

9The Lord GOD says, "On that day I will make the sun go down at noon. I will make the earth dark in the middle of the day."

10And 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.

10"I will turn your happy feasts into sad crying. All your songs will become songs of grief. I will make everyone wear rough cloth to show their sadness. Every head will be shaved. It will be like crying for an only child. The end of it will be a bitter day."

NoteWearing rough, scratchy cloth and shaving your head were ways people showed everyone that they were very sad.

11Behold, 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:

11The Lord GOD says, "Listen. Days are coming when I will send hunger on the land. It will not be hunger for bread or thirst for water. People will be hungry to hear the words of the LORD."

12And 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.

12People will stumble from one sea to the other sea. They will roam from the north to the east. They will look for the word of the LORD. But they will not find it.

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

13On that day the lovely young women will grow weak from thirst. The young men will grow weak too.

14They 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.

14Some people make promises using the sin of Samaria. They say, "As surely as your god lives, O Dan." They say, "As surely as the way of Beersheba lives." These people will fall down and never get up again.

NoteDan and Beersheba were towns where people went to worship gods that were not the LORD.