> [[amos-07|← Previous]] | [[amos-00|TOC]] | [[amos-09|Next →]] --- # Amos, Chapter 8 ## Chapter 8 ### Fourth Vision: The Summer Fruit 1 This is what the Lord G OD showed me: a basket of end-of-summer fruit. ^amos-08-1 2 He asked, “What do you see, Amos?” And I answered, “A basket of end-of-summer fruit.” And the LORD said to me: ^amos-08-2 The end has come for my people Israel; I will forgive them no longer. 3 The temple singers will wail on that day— ^amos-08-3 oracle of the Lord G OD. Many shall be the corpses, strewn everywhere—Silence! 4 Hear this, you who trample upon the needy ^amos-08-4 and destroy the poor of the land: 5 “When will the new moon be over,” you ask, ^amos-08-5 “that we may sell our grain, And the sabbath, that we may open the grain-bins? We will diminish the ephah, add to the shekel, and fix our scales for cheating! 6 We will buy the destitute for silver, ^amos-08-6 and the poor for a pair of sandals; even the worthless grain we will sell!” 7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: ^amos-08-7 Never will I forget a thing they have done! 8 Shall not the land tremble because of this, ^amos-08-8 and all who dwell in it mourn? It will all rise up and toss like the Nile, and subside like the river of Egypt. 9 On that day—oracle of the Lord G OD — ^amos-08-9 I will make the sun set at midday and in broad daylight cover the land with darkness. 10 I will turn your feasts into mourning ^amos-08-10 and all your songs into dirges. I will cover the loins of all with sackcloth and make every head bald. I will make it like the time of mourning for an only child, and its outcome like a day of bitter weeping. 11 See, days are coming—oracle of the Lord G OD — ^amos-08-11 when I will send a famine upon the land: Not a hunger for bread, or a thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the LORD. 12 They shall stagger from sea to sea ^amos-08-12 and wander from north to east In search of the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it. 13 On that day, beautiful young women and young men ^amos-08-13 shall faint from thirst, 14 Those who swear by Ashima of Samaria, ^amos-08-14 and who say, “By the life of your god, O Dan,” “By the life of the Power of Beer-sheba!” They shall fall, never to rise again. \* (8:1] – [2) End-of-summer fruit…the end has come: the English translation attempts to capture the wordplay of the Hebrew. The Hebrew word for “fruit picked late in the season” is *qayis*, while the word for “end” is *qes*. \* (8:5) Ephah: see note on [Is 5:10]. \* (8:14) Ashima of Samaria: a high-ranking goddess worshiped in Hamath, whose cult was transplanted by the people of that city when they were deported to Samaria by the Assyrians ([[2-kings-17|2 Kgs 17]]:30). The Power of Beer-sheba: possibly an epithet of a deity worshiped in Beer-sheba, either a syncretistic form of the worship of Israel’s God or of another god. Dan…Beer-sheba: the traditional designation for the northern and southern limits of Israel to which the Israelites made pilgrimages. a. (8:3) [Am 6:10]. b. (8:5) [Dt 25:13]; [[hosea-12|Hos 12]]:8. c. (8:6) [Am 2:6]. d. (8:8) [Am 1:1]; [9:1], [5]. e. (8:10) [Tb 2:6]; [Zec 12:10]. f. (8:12) [Hos 5:6]. g. (8:14) [[2-kings-17|2 Kgs 17]]:30. --- _New American Bible, revised edition_ (2010, 1991, 1986, 1970) Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. > [[amos-07|← Previous]] | [[amos-00|TOC]] | [[amos-09|Next →]]