Amos 8:4-14

4Hear this, you who 12trample the needy, to put an end to the humble of the land, 5saying, “When will the 3new moon 4be over, So that we may sell grain; And the 5Sabbath, so that we may open the wheat market, To make the 6ephah smaller and the 7shekel bigger, And to 8cheat with dishonest scales,6So as to 9buy the helpless for 10money, And the needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?”

7The Lord has 11sworn by the 12pride of Jacob, “Indeed, I will 13never forget any of their deeds.8Because of this will the land not 14quake, And everyone who lives in it 15mourn? Indeed, all of it will 16rise up like the Nile, And it will be tossed about And subside like the Nile of Egypt.9And it will come about on that day,” declares the Lord God, “That I will make the 17sun go down at noon, And 18make the earth dark in 19broad daylight.10Then I will 20turn your festivals into mourning, And all your songs into songs of mourning; And I will put 21sackcloth around everyone’s waist, And 22baldness on every head. And I will make it 23like a time of mourning for an only son, And the end of it will be like a bitter day.

11“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, But rather 24for hearing the words of the Lord.12People will stagger from sea to sea And from the north even to the east; They will roam about to 25seek the word of the Lord, But they will not find it.13On that day the beautiful 26virgins And the young men will 27faint from thirst.14As for those who swear by the 2829guilt of Samaria, And say, ‘As your god lives, 30Dan,’ And, ‘As the way of 31Beersheba lives,’ They will fall and 32not rise again.”