The Bible — World English Bible
Amos 8
In brief
A basket of ripe summer fruit announces that the end has come for Israel. God denounces those who trample the poor, cheat with their scales and swear that he will never forget what they do. The judgment will be visible: the sun will go down at noon, and feasts will turn into mourning. Then comes the most striking announcement: a famine, not of bread, but of hearing the words of Yahweh, which people will seek without finding.
The chapter in 4 parts
1Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit.
2He said, “Amos, what do you see?” I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then Yahweh said to me, “The end has come on my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more.
3The songs of the temple will be wailing in that day,” says the Lord Yahweh. “The dead bodies will be many. In every place they will throw them out with silence.
4Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,
5Saying, ‘When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel large, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit;
6that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the sweepings with the wheat?’ ”
7Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob, “Surely I will never forget any of their works.
8Won’t the land tremble for this, and everyone mourn who dwells in it? Yes, it will rise up wholly like the River; and it will be stirred up and sink again, like the River of Egypt.
9It will happen in that day,” says the Lord Yahweh, “that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.
10I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies, and baldness on every head. I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and its end like a bitter day.
11Behold, the days come,” says the Lord Yahweh, “that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing Yahweh’s words.
12They will wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they will run back and forth to seek Yahweh’s word, and will not find it.
13In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint for thirst.
14Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, ‘As your god, Dan, lives;’ and, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives;’ they will fall, and never rise up again.”
Key verses
Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,
God speaks to those who swallow up the needy and ruin the poor. The oppression of the poor is something God does not let pass.
Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob, “Surely I will never forget any of their works.
Yahweh swears that he will never forget any of their deeds. The injustices that no one sees or punishes are known to him.
It will happen in that day,” says the Lord Yahweh, “that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.
God announces that he will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. Several preachers see in this an echo of the darkness of the cross.
Behold, the days come,” says the Lord Yahweh, “that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing Yahweh’s words.
The famine announced is not one of bread, but of the word of God. The text warns that we can lose access to the Word when we have neglected it for a long time.
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Frequently asked questions about Amos 8
What does the famine of hearing the word of God mean in Amos 8:11?
God announces not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of no longer being able to hear his word. Those who despised it will look for it in vain. The verse is read as a warning: we must not neglect the Word when it is available, and as a call to hunger for God.
What does the basket of fruit represent in Amos 8?
The basket of ripe fruit is an image of a time that has reached maturity: the end has come for Israel. A Hebrew wordplay links summer fruit and the end. The people have reached the limit of God's patience because of their injustice.
What sin does Amos denounce in chapter 8?
The exploitation of the poor: merchants impatient to get back to business after the Sabbath, who shrink the measure, raise the price, falsify the scales and buy the needy. Amos shows that worship without justice is empty before God.
Articles quoting Amos 8
World English Bible translation — public domain.