Amos 8

1 This is what the Lord [Adonay, the revered Master] GOD [Yehovah] showed me: I saw a basket [container, cage] of summer [harvest season, fruit-bearing time] fruit [ripe produce, abundant harvest]. word study 2 “Amos [the prophet, a shepherd], what do you see [perceive, discern]?” He asked [said, spoke]. “A basket [container, vessel] of summer fruit [ripe, mature produce],” I replied [answered, said]. So the LORD [Yehovah, the self-existent God] said to me, “The end [conclusion, finality] has come [arrived, reached] for My people [nation, community] Israel [God’s chosen, descendants of Jacob]; I will no longer [not again, never] spare [pardon, show mercy to] them [My people, Israel].” word study 3 “In that day [of reckoning, before all time],” declares the Lord [Adonay, the supreme Ruler] GOD [Yehovah], “the songs [musical expressions of praise] of the temple [the sacred dwelling place] will turn to wailing [hilil, a loud, mournful cry]. Many [a multitude] will be the corpses [lifeless bodies], strewn in silence [has, stillness and quiet] everywhere [in every place, without exception]!” word study 4 Hear [listen attentively, obey] this, you who trample [crush, swallow up] the needy [poor, oppressed], who do away with [cause to cease, destroy] the poor [humble, afflicted] of the land [earth, territory], word study 5 asking, “When [how long, at what time] will the New Moon [lunar cycle, month] be over, that we may sell [trade, exchange] grain [corn, wheat, barley]? When will the Sabbath [day of rest, worship] end, that we may market [sell, trade] wheat? Let us reduce [make small, diminish] the ephah [unit of measurement, about 9 gallons] and increase [magnify, grow] the shekel [unit of weight, money]; let us cheat [pervert, twist] with dishonest [deceitful, false] scales [balances, weights]. word study 6 Let us buy [acquire, purchase] the poor [needy, weak] with silver [money, payment] and the needy [oppressed, in need of help] for a pair of sandals [shoes], selling even the chaff [refuse, waste] with the wheat [grain, pure corn]!” word study 7 The LORD [Yehovah, The covenant Name of God] has sworn [taken an oath, made a vow] by the Pride [excellency, majesty] of Jacob [the son of Isaac and Rebekah]: “I will never [for all eternity, perpetually] forget [be oblivious to, mislay] any [all, everything] of their deeds [works, actions, whether good or bad]. word study 8 Will not the land [tremble with fear] quake for this [these circumstances], and all [everyone, every inhabitant] its dwellers mourn [lament, experience sorrow]? All [the whole, entirety] of it will swell [rise up, overflow] like the Nile; it will surge [overflow, flood] and then subside [sink, settle] like the Nile in Egypt [the land of the Egyptians, a place of refuge]. word study 9 And in that day [of reckoning, judgment], declares the Lord [Adonay, God of authority] GOD [Yehovah], I will make the sun [celestial body] go down at noon [in the middle of the day, at midday], and I will darken [to hide or conceal] the earth [land, ground] in the daytime [in a day of light, during the clear day]. word study 10 I will turn your feasts [festivals, times of celebration] into mourning [sorrow, lamentation] and all your songs [melodies, hymns] into lamentation [dirges, expressions of grief]. I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth [coarse cloth] and every head to be shaved [to have baldness, a sign of sorrow]. I will make it like a time of mourning [a period of grief] for an only son [a beloved, unique child], and its outcome [end, result] like a bitter [painful, unpleasant] day. word study 11 Behold [look, take notice], the days [a period of time, an era] are coming, declares the Lord [Adonay, the sovereign God] GOD [Yehovah, the covenant name], when I will send [dispatch, bring forth] a famine [a time of scarcity, hunger] on the land [the earth, the territory]— not a famine [a lack, a dearth] of bread [food, sustenance] or a thirst [a longing, a craving] for water [the liquid, spiritual refreshment], but a famine [a scarcity, a drought] of hearing [listening, obeying] the words [the message, the teachings] of the LORD [Yehovah]. word study 12 People will stagger [wander, roam] from sea [a large body of water] to sea [the Dead Sea, the western sea] and roam [run to and fro, travel] from north [Zaphon, the direction of the sunrise’s origin] to east [the direction of the sunrise], seeking [searching, looking for] the word [message, command] of the LORD [Yehovah, the supreme God], but they will not find [attain, discover] it. word study 13 In that day [before all time, from the very first] the lovely [beautiful, fair] young women [virgins, brides]— the young men [youth, chosen ones] as well— will faint [perish, be feeble] from thirst [need of water, spiritual dryness]. word study 14 Those who swear [make oaths, vow solemnly] by the guilt [sin, wrongdoing] of Samaria and say, ‘As surely as your god [divine being, idol] lives, O Dan,’ or, ‘As surely as the way [path, manner of life] of Beersheba [well of the sevenfold oath, sacred city] lives’— they will fall [be defeated, fail], never [not at all] to rise [stand up, be restored] again.” word study