Amos 8

The Coming Day of Bitter Mourning

1 a This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit.

2 And he said, b "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, c "A basket of summer fruit." Then the Lord said to me,
d "The end 1 has come upon my people Israel;
I will never again pass by them.
3 e The songs of the temple 2 f shall become wailings 3 in that day,"
declares the Lord God.
g "So many dead bodies!"
"They are thrown everywhere!"
h "Silence!"

4 Hear this, i you who trample on the needy
and bring the poor of the land to an end,
5 saying, "When will j the new moon be over,
that we may sell grain?
And k the Sabbath,
that we may offer wheat for sale,
that we may make l the ephah small and the shekel 4 great
and deal deceitfully with false balances,
6 that we may buy the poor for m silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals
and sell the chaff of the wheat?"

7 The Lord has sworn by n the pride of Jacob:
"Surely o I will never forget any of their deeds.
8 p Shall not the land tremble on this account,
and everyone mourn who dwells in it,
q and all of it rise like the Nile,
and be tossed about r and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?"

9 "And on that day," declares the Lord God,
s "I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 t I will turn your feasts into mourning
and all your songs into lamentation;
u I will bring sackcloth on every waist
u and baldness on every head;
v I will make it like the mourning for an only son
and the end of it like a bitter day.

11 "Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord God,
"when w I will send a famine on the land -
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
x but of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 x They shall wander from sea to sea,
and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord,
y but they shall not find it.

13 z "In that day the lovely virgins and the young men
shall a faint for thirst.
14 Those who swear by b the Guilt of Samaria,
and say, 'As your god lives, O Dan,'
and, 'As c the Way of d Beersheba lives,'
they shall fall, and never rise again."

  1. Cross References
    Amos 7:1
    This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings.
  2. Cross References
    Amos 7:8
    And the Lord said to me, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them.
  3. Cross References
    Jeremiah 24:1
    After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with the officials of Judah, the craftsmen, and the metal workers, and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me this vision: behold, two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord.
    Micah 7:1
    Woe is me! For I have become as when the summer fruit has been gathered, as when the grapes have been gleaned: there is no cluster to eat, no first-ripe fig that my soul desires.
  4. Cross References
    Lamentations 4:18
    They dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets; our end drew near; our days were numbered, for our end had come.
  5. Cross References
    Amos 5:23
    Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
  6. Cross References
    Jeremiah 47:2
    Thus says the Lord : Behold, waters are rising out of the north, and shall become an overflowing torrent; they shall overflow the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it. Men shall cry out, and every inhabitant of the land shall wail.
  7. Cross References
    Amos 6:9
    And if ten men remain in one house, they shall die.
  8. Cross References
    Amos 6:10
    And when one's relative, the one who anoints him for burial, shall take him up to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, "Is there still anyone with you?" he shall say, "No"; and he shall say, "Silence! We must not mention the name of the Lord.
    Jeremiah 16:4
    They shall die of deadly diseases. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. They shall perish by the sword and by famine, and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.
    Jeremiah 16:6
    Both great and small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or cut himself or make himself bald for them.
  9. Cross References
    Psalms 14:4
    Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon the Lord ?
  10. Cross References
    Numbers 28:11
    At the beginnings of your months, you shall offer a burnt offering to the Lord : two bulls from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish.
  11. Cross References
    Nehemiah 13:15 - 16
    In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them on the day when they sold food.
  12. Cross References
    Ezekiel 45:10
    You shall have just balances, a just ephah, and a just bath.
    Micah 6:10 - 11
    Can I forget any longer the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is accursed?
    Hosea 12:7
    A merchant, in whose hands are false balances, he loves to oppress.
  13. Cross References
    Amos 2:6
    Thus says the Lord : "For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals -
  14. Cross References
    Amos 6:8
    The Lord God has sworn by himself, declares the Lord, the God of hosts: "I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his strongholds, and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.
  15. Cross References
    Hosea 8:13
    As for my sacrificial offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it, but the Lord does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt.
    Hosea 9:9
    They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah: he will remember their iniquity; he will punish their sins.
  16. Cross References
    Hosea 4:3
    Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away.
  17. Cross References
    Amos 9:5
    The Lord God of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn, and all of it rises like the Nile, and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt.
  18. Cross References
    Zechariah 10:11
    He shall pass through the sea of troubles and strike down the waves of the sea, and all the depths of the Nile shall be dried up. The pride of Assyria shall be laid low, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart.
  19. Cross References
    Jeremiah 15:9
    She who bore seven has grown feeble; she has fainted away; her sun went down while it was yet day; she has been shamed and disgraced. And the rest of them I will give to the sword before their enemies, declares the Lord.
    Micah 3:6
    Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision, and darkness to you, without divination. The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be black over them.
    Matthew 24:29
    Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
    Amos 4:13
    For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth - the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!
    Amos 5:8
    He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the Lord is his name.
  20. Cross References
    Jeremiah 7:34
    And I will silence in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall become a waste.
    Jeremiah 16:9
    For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will silence in this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
    Hosea 2:11
    And I will put an end to all her mirth, her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts.
  21. Cross References
    Isaiah 3:24
    Instead of perfume there will be rottenness; and instead of a belt, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty.
  22. Cross References
    Isaiah 3:24
    Instead of perfume there will be rottenness; and instead of a belt, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty.
  23. Cross References
    Jeremiah 6:26
    O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
    Zechariah 12:10
    And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.
  24. Cross References
    Isaiah 8:20 - 21
    To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.
  25. Cross References
    Psalms 74:9
    We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long.
    Proverbs 29:18
    Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.
    Micah 3:7
    The seers shall be disgraced, and the diviners put to shame; they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God.
  26. Cross References
    Amos 8:11
    Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord God, "when I will send a famine on the land - not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.
  27. Cross References
    Amos 4:8
    So two or three cities would wander to another city to drink water, and would not be satisfied; yet you did not return to me," declares the Lord.
  28. Cross References
    Isaiah 51:20
    Your sons have fainted; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of the Lord, the rebuke of your God.
  29. Cross References
    Jonah 4:8
    When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, "It is better for me to die than to live.
  30. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 9:21
    Then I took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain.
    1 Kings 12:29 - 30
    And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
    Hosea 10:8
    The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. Thorn and thistle shall grow up on their altars, and they shall say to the mountains, "Cover us," and to the hills, "Fall on us.
  31. Cross References
    Acts 9:2
    And asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
  32. Cross References
    Amos 5:5
    But do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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