| Amos 8 A Basket of Ripe Fruit 1 This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me : a basket of ripe fruit . 2 “ What do you see , Amos ? ” he asked . “ A basket of ripe fruit , ” I answered . Then the LORD said to me , “ The time is ripe for my people Israel ; I will spare them no longer . 3 “ In that day , ” declares the Sovereign LORD , “ the songs in the temple will turn to wailing . [ a ] Many , many bodies—flung everywhere ! Silence ! ” 4 Hear this , you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land , 5 saying , “ When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain , and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat ? ” — skimping the measure , boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales , 6 buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals , selling even the sweepings with the wheat . 7 The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob : “ I will never forget anything they have done . 8 “ Will not the land tremble for this , and all who live in it mourn ? The whole land will rise like the Nile ; it will be stirred up and then sink like the river of Egypt . 9 “ In that day , ” declares the Sovereign LORD , “ I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight . 10 I will turn your religious feasts into mourning and all your singing into weeping . I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads . I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day . 11 “ The days are coming , ” declares the Sovereign LORD , “ when I will send a famine through the land — not a famine of food or a thirst for water , but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD . 12 Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east , searching for the word of the LORD , but they will not find it . 13 “ In that day “ the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of thirst . 14 They who swear by the shame[b ] of Samaria , or say , ‘ As surely as your god lives , O Dan , ' or , ‘ As surely as the god[c ] of Beersheba lives ' — they will fall , never to rise again . ” Amos 9 Israel to Be Destroyed 1 I saw the Lord standing by the altar , and he said : “ Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake . Bring them down on the heads of all the people ; those who are left I will kill with the sword . Not one will get away , none will escape . 2 Though they dig down to the depths of the grave , [ a ] from there my hand will take them . Though they climb up to the heavens , from there I will bring them down . 3 Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel , there I will hunt them down and seize them . Though they hide from me at the bottom of the sea , there I will command the serpent to bite them . 4 Though they are driven into exile by their enemies , there I will command the sword to slay them . I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good . ” 5 The Lord , the LORD Almighty , he who touches the earth and it melts , and all who live in it mourn — the whole land rises like the Nile , then sinks like the river of Egypt — 6 he who builds his lofty palace[b ] in the heavens and sets its foundation[c ] on the earth , who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land — the LORD is his name . 7 “ Are not you Israelites the same to me as the Cushites[d ] ? ” declares the LORD . “ Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt , the Philistines from Caphtor[e ] and the Arameans from Kir ? 8 “ Surely the eyes of the Sovereign LORD are on the sinful kingdom . I will destroy it from the face of the earth — yet I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob , ” declares the LORD . 9 “ For I will give the command , and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations as grain is shaken in a sieve , and not a pebble will reach the ground . 10 All the sinners among my people will die by the sword , all those who say , ‘ Disaster will not overtake or meet us . ' Israel 's Restoration 11 “ In that day I will restore David 's fallen tent . I will repair its broken places , restore its ruins , and build it as it used to be , 12 so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name , [ f ] ” declares the LORD , who will do these things . 13 “ The days are coming , ” declares the LORD , “ when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes . New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills . 14 I will bring back my exiled[g ] people Israel ; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them . They will plant vineyards and drink their wine ; they will make gardens and eat their fruit . 15 I will plant Israel in their own land , never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them , ” says the LORD your God . |