Amos
Chapter 8
1
This is what the Lord GOD showed me: a basket of ripe fruit.
2
"What do you see, Amos?" he asked. I answered, "A basket of ripe fruit." Then the LORD said to me: The time is ripe to have done with my people Israel; I will forgive them no longer.
3
The temple songs shall become wailings on that day, says the Lord GOD. Many shall be the corpses, strewn everywhere.--Silence!
4
Hear this, you who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land!
5
1 "When will the new moon be over," you ask, "that we may sell our grain, and the sabbath, that we may display the wheat? We will diminish the ephah, add to the shekel, and fix our scales for cheating!
6
We will buy the lowly man for silver, and the poor man for a pair of sandals; even the refuse of the wheat we will sell!"
7
2 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Never will I forget a thing they have done!
8
3 Shall not the land tremble because of this, and all who dwell in it mourn, While it rises up and tosses like the Nile, and settles back like the river of Egypt?
9
On that day, says the Lord GOD, I will make the sun set at midday and cover the earth with darkness in broad daylight.
10
I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentations. I will cover the loins of all with sackcloth and make every head bald. I will make them mourn as for an only son, and bring their day to a bitter end.
11
Yes, days are coming, says the Lord GOD, when I will send famine upon the land: Not a famine of bread, or thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the LORD.
12
Then shall they wander from sea to sea and rove from the north to the east In search of the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it.
13
On that day, fair virgins and young men shall faint from thirst;
14
4 Those who swear by the shameful idol of Samaria, "By the life of your god, O Dan!" "By the life of your love, O Beersheba!" those shall fall, never to rise again.
Table of Contents Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Footnotes

1 [5] Ephah: a standard of measure; a little more than a bushel.

2 [7] The pride of Jacob: the sinful pride detested by God (Amos 6:8), in contrast to God himself, who is the true Pride of Jacob.

3 [8] The figure is based on the annual flooding of the river Nile.

4 [14] Dan and Beer-sheba: the extreme northern and southern limits of the country, where idolatrous worship was offered.


New American Bible Copyright © 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

USCCB Home Page New American Bible Home Page





__________________________________

New American Bible
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20017-1194 (202) 541-3000
December 09, 2002 Copyright © by United States Conference of Catholic Bishops