Amos 8

1Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me: and, behold, a basket of summer fruit.

1This is what the Lord GOD showed me: 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 Jehovah unto me, The end is come upon my people Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.

2He asked, 'Amos, what do you see?' I answered, 'A basket of summer fruit.' Then the LORD said to me, 'The end has come for my people Israel; I will no longer spare them.'

3And the songs of the temple shall be wailings in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah: the dead bodies shall be many; in every place shall they cast them forth with silence.

3'The songs in the temple will turn into crying on that day,' says the Lord GOD. 'Dead bodies will be everywhere, thrown out in silence.'

4Hear this, O ye that would swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,

4Listen to this, you who stomp on the needy and try to get rid of the poor of the land.

5saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit;

5You say, 'When will the New Moon festival be over so we can sell our grain? When will the Sabbath end so we can put our wheat out for sale? We can make the measuring bucket smaller and the weight for the silver heavier, and we can cheat with dishonest scales.'

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

6You say that so you can buy the poor with silver and the needy for the price of a pair of sandals, and even sell the waste that falls from the wheat.

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

7The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: 'I will never forget anything they have done.'

8Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? yea, it shall rise up wholly like the River; and it shall be troubled and sink again, like the River of Egypt.

8Won't the land tremble because of this? Won't everyone living in it mourn? The whole land will rise up like the Nile River; it will be tossed around and then sink down again like the river of Egypt.

9And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.

9'On that day,' says the Lord GOD, 'I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.'

10And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning for an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.

10'I will turn your celebrations into funerals and all your happy songs into weeping. I will make you all wear scratchy sackcloth and shave your heads in grief. I will make that time like the mourning for an only son, and its end will be a very bitter day.'

11Behold, the days come, saith the Lord Jehovah, 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 Jehovah.

11'The days are coming,' says the Lord GOD, 'when I will send a famine to the land—not a hunger for food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing 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 Jehovah, and shall not find it.

12People will stumble from sea to sea and wander from the north to the east. They will run back and forth looking for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.

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

13On that day, beautiful young women and strong young men will faint from thirst.

14They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, As thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, As the way of Beer-sheba liveth; they shall fall, and never rise up again.

14Those who swear by the shameful idol of Samaria, and say, "As surely as your god lives, O Dan," or "As surely as the way of Beer-sheba lives"—they will all fall down and never get up again.