8:6 We’re eager to trade silver for the poor, 1
a pair of sandals 2 for the needy!
We want to mix in some chaff with the grain!” 3
8:5 You say,
“When will the new moon festival 4 be over, 5 so we can sell grain?
When will the Sabbath end, 6 so we can open up the grain bins? 7
We’re eager 8 to sell less for a higher price, 9
and to cheat the buyer with rigged scales! 10
5:11 Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops 11
and exact a grain tax from them,
you will not live in the houses you built with chiseled stone,
nor will you drink the wine from the fine 12 vineyards you planted. 13
1 tn Heb “to buy the poor for silver.”
2 tn See the note on the word “sandals” in 2:6.
3 tn Heb “The chaff of the grain we will sell.”
4 sn Apparently work was prohibited during the new moon festival, just as it was on the Sabbath.
5 tn Heb “pass by.”
6 tn The verb, though omitted in the Hebrew text, is supplied in the translation from the parallel line.
7 tn Heb “sell grain.” Here “grain” could stand by metonymy for the bins where it was stored.
8 tn Here and in v. 6 the words “we’re eager” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
9 tn Heb “to make small the ephah and to make great the shekel.” The “ephah” was a unit of dry measure used to determine the quantity purchased, while the “shekel” was a standard weight used to determine the purchase price. By using a smaller than standard ephah and a heavier than standard shekel, these merchants were able to increase their profit (“sell less for a higher price”) by cheating the buyer.
10 tn Heb “and to cheat with deceptive scales”; NASB, NIV “dishonest scales”; NRSV “false balances.”
7 tn Traditionally, “because you trample on the poor” (cf. KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). The traditional view derives the verb from בּוּס (bus, “to trample”; cf. Isa. 14:25), but more likely it is cognate to an Akkadian verb meaning “to exact an agricultural tax” (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 49; S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 172-73).
8 tn Or “lovely”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “pleasant”; NAB “choice”; NIV “lush.”
9 tn Heb “Houses of chiseled stone you built, but you will not live in them. Fine vineyards you planted, but you will not drink their wine.”