Amos 8:5

8:5 You say,

“When will the new moon festival ¹  be over, ²  so we can sell grain?

When will the Sabbath end, ³  so we can open up the grain bins? ⁴ 

We’re eager ⁵  to sell less for a higher price, ⁶ 

and to cheat the buyer with rigged scales! ⁷ 

Amos 5:11

5:11 Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops ⁸ 

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 ⁹  vineyards you planted. ¹⁰ 

[8:5]  ¹ sn Apparently work was prohibited during the new moon festival, just as it was on the Sabbath.

[8:5]  ² tn Heb “pass by.”

[8:5]  ³ tn The verb, though omitted in the Hebrew text, is supplied in the translation from the parallel line.

[8:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “sell grain.” Here “grain” could stand by metonymy for the bins where it was stored.

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

[8:5]  ⁶ 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.

[8:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “and to cheat with deceptive scales”; NASB, NIV “dishonest scales”; NRSV “false balances.”

[5:11]  ⁸ 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).

[5:11]  ⁹ tn Or “lovely”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “pleasant”; NAB “choice”; NIV “lush.”

[5:11]  ¹⁰ 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.”