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8 [1] **So the Lord God has shown me: Behold, **there was **a** large** basket of figs.**
[2] **He said: What do you see, Amos? I said: A basket of figs [*****kayitz*****]. The Lord said to me: **This vision signifies that **the end [*****ketz*****] has come upon My people Israel; I will not continue to tolerate them any longer. **
[3] **The **royal hymns and** songs of the palace** **will be **transformed into** wails on that day – the utterance of the Lord God – many are the corpses, in every place **a deathly **silence is cast. **
[4] **Hear this, those who tread on **or swallow up **the indigent**** and destroy the poor of the land, **
[5] **saying: When will the New Moon pass and we will sell grain **and engage in business dealings? It was customary not to engage in commerce on the New Moon.** **When will** the Sabbath**** **pass,** and we will open the **storehouses of **grain? **They were keen to exploit the poor through corrupt business tactics. Examples of such deceitful practices were** to reduce the ephah, **the measure used to weigh the produce they sold, **to increase **the weight of** the shekel, **by which they were paid,** and to distort the deceitful scales; **
[6] **to buy the poor for silver,**** **as slaves,** and the impoverished for shoes, **a measly sum,** and sell **off** the refuse of the grain.**
[7] **The Lord took an oath by the pride [*****ge’on*****] of Jacob: I will never forget all their actions. **The word *ge’on* can mean the greatness of Jacob, or it might be referring to the Temple. Although the people apparently observed the commandments and refrained from commercial dealings on the holy days, all the while their minds were occupied with schemes for exploiting the poor.
[8] **Will the land not quake for this **conduct,** and all who dwell in it mourn; and all of **the water in** it rise like the Nile **so that it be flooded,** and be displaced and submerged **in water,** like the Nile of Egypt? **The land will be entirely destroyed, although this verse does not necessarily mean that it will be destroyed by water.
[9] **It shall be on that day – the utterance of the Lord God – that I will cause the sun to set **early **at noon, and I will darken the earth on a day of light. **
[10] **I will transform your festivals into mourning, and all your songs into lament; I will put sackcloth, **the customary garb for those in mourning, **on all waists, and baldness on every head, **as detaching hairs from one’s head was also an act of mourning;** I will make it, **the experience of the people of Israel,** like **that of** mourning for an only son, and its end like a bitter day, **the day of death itself.
[11] After the previous harsh prophecy, the prophet offers some words of consolation: **Behold, days are coming – the utterance of the Lord God – and I will send famine in the land; **but it will **not **be** a famine for bread, and not a thirst for water, but **a thirst **to hear the words of the Lord. **A time will yet arrive when people will yearn to hear the word of God.
[12] **They will wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they will roam to seek the word of the Lord, and they will not find it. **
[13] **On that day, the fair virgins and the young men will faint from thirst. **In a period of water shortage, delicate young women are generally given to drink first, but the prophet is speaking of a time when there will be no water available at all. Moreover, although young men can sometimes endure without much water, on that day they will lose consciousness. There will be an intense yearning for the word of God, but not all will be able to withstand the extreme drought.
[14] **Those who take an oath by the sin of Samaria, **its idols,** and say: As your god lives, Dan, and: As the way of Beersheba lives; they, **these sinners,** will fall, and they will not rise again. **Dan and Beersheba are singled out for the idolatry worshipped in those places, such as the golden calf in Samaria, dating back to the days of Yorovam son of Nevat.
Version: The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
Source: https://korenpub.com/collections/the-steinsaltz-tanakh/products/steinsaltz-tanakh
License: Copyright: Steinsaltz Center