Amos 8:1-7

Context

More Visions and Messages of Judgment

8:1 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw¹ a basket of summer fruit.²

8:2 He said, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end³ has come for my people Israel! I will no longer overlook their sins.⁴

8:3 The women singing in the temple⁵ will wail in that day.”

The sovereign Lord is speaking.

“There will be many corpses littered everywhere!⁶ Be quiet!”

8:4 Listen to this, you who trample⁷ the needy,

and do away with⁸ the destitute in the land.

8:5 You say,

“When will the new moon festival⁹ be over,¹⁰ so we can sell grain?

When will the Sabbath end,¹¹ so we can open up the grain bins?¹²

We’re eager¹³ to sell less for a higher price,¹⁴

and to cheat the buyer with rigged scales!¹⁵

8:6 We’re eager to trade silver for the poor,¹⁶

a pair of sandals¹⁷ for the needy!

We want to mix in some chaff with the grain!”¹⁸

8:7 The Lord confirms this oath¹⁹ by the arrogance of Jacob:²⁰

“I swear²¹ I will never forget all you have done!²²

[8:1] ¹tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[8:1] ²sn The basket of summer fruit (also in the following verse) probably refers to figs from the summer crop, which ripens in August-September. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 115.

[8:2] ³tn There is a wordplay here. The Hebrew word קֵץ (qets, “end”) sounds like קָיִץ (qayits, “summer fruit”). The summer fruit arrived toward the end of Israel’s agricultural year; Israel’s national existence was similarly at an end.

[8:2] ⁴tn Heb “I will no longer pass over him.”

[8:3] ⁵tn Or “palace” (NASB, NCV, TEV).

[8:3] ⁶tn Heb “Many corpses in every place he will throw out.” The subject of the verb is probably impersonal, though many emend the active (Hiphil) form to a passive (Hophal): “Many corpses in every place will be thrown out.”

[8:4] ⁷tn See the note on the word “trample” in 2:7.

[8:4] ⁸tn Or “put an end to”; or “exterminate.”

[8:5] ⁹sn Apparently work was prohibited during the new moon festival, just as it was on the Sabbath.

[8:5] ¹⁰tn Heb “pass by.”

[8:5] ¹¹tn The verb, though omitted in the Hebrew text, is supplied in the translation from the parallel line.

[8:5] ¹²tn Heb “sell grain.” Here “grain” could stand by metonymy for the bins where it was stored.

[8:5] ¹³tn Here and in v. 6 the words “we’re eager” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[8:5] ¹⁴tn 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.

[8:5] ¹⁵tn Heb “and to cheat with deceptive scales”; NASB, NIV “dishonest scales”; NRSV “false balances.”

[8:6] ¹¹tn Heb “to buy the poor for silver.”

[8:6] ¹²tn See the note on the word “sandals” in 2:6.

[8:6] ¹³tn Heb “The chaff of the grain we will sell.”

[8:7] ¹³tn Or “swears.”

[8:7] ¹⁴sn In an oath one appeals to something permanent to emphasize one’s commitment to the promise. Here the Lord sarcastically swears by the arrogance of Jacob, which he earlier had condemned (6:8), something just as enduring as the Lord’s own life (see 6:8) or unchanging character (see 4:2). Other suggestions include that the Lord is swearing by the land, his most valuable possession (cf. Isa 4:2; Ps 47:4 [47:5 HT]); that this is a divine epithet analogous to “the Glory of Israel” (1 Sam 15:29); or that an ellipsis should be understood here, in which case the meaning is the same as that of 6:8 (“The Lord has sworn [by himself] against the arrogance of Jacob”).

[8:7] ¹⁵tn The words “I swear” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation because a self-imprecation is assumed in oaths of this type.

[8:7] ¹⁶tn Or “I will never forget all your deeds.”