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Basket of Fruit and Israel's Captivity

¹ Thus the Lord GOD showed me a vision, and behold, there was a basket of overripe summer fruit.² And He said, "Amos, what do you see?" And ^(C1)I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the LORD said to me, "The ^(C2)end has come for My people Israel. I will ^(C3)spare them no longer for the nation is ripe for judgment.³ "In that day, the ^(C1)songs of the palace shall turn to ^(C2)wailing," says the Lord GOD. "There will be many ^(C3)dead bodies; in sacred silence they will throw them everywhere."

⁴ Hear this, you who ^(C1)trample down the needy, and do away with the poor of the land,⁵ saying,

"When will the ^(C1)New Moon festival be over
So that we may sell grain,
And the ^(C2)Sabbath ended so that we may open the wheat market,
Making the ephah measure smaller and the shekel bigger that is, selling less for a higher price
And to ^(C3)cheat by falsifying the scales,

⁶ So that we may ^(C1)buy the poor as slaves for silver since they are unable to support themselves
And the ^(F1)needy for a pair of sandals,
And that we may sell the leftovers of the wheat as if it were a good grade of grain?"

⁷ The LORD has ^(C1)sworn an oath by the ^(C2)pride of Jacob,
"Surely I shall ^(C3)never forget nor leave unpunished any of their rebellious acts.

⁸ "Because of this coming judgment will the land not ^(C1)quake
And everyone ^(C2)mourn who dwells in it?
Indeed, all of it shall ^(C3)rise up like the Nile,
And it will be tossed around from the impact of judgment
And afterward subside again like the Nile of Egypt.

⁹ "It shall come about in that day," says the Lord GOD,
"That I shall cause the ^(C1)sun to go down at noon,
And I shall ^(C2)darken the earth in broad daylight. ^(VR1)

¹⁰ "And I shall ^(C1)turn your festivals and feasts into mourning
And all your songs into dirges (funeral poems to be sung);
And I shall cause ^(C2)sackcloth to be put on everyone's ^(F1)loins
And baldness on every head shaved for mourning.
And I shall make that time ^(C3)like a time of mourning for an only son who has died,
And the end of it shall be like a bitter day.

¹¹ "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord GOD,
"When I will send hunger over the land,
Not hunger for bread or a thirst for water,
But rather a hunger ^(C1)for hearing the words of the LORD.

¹² "People shall stagger from sea to sea to the very ends of the earth
And from the north even to the east;
They will roam here and there to ^(C1)seek the word of the LORD longing for it as essential for life,
But they will not find it.

¹³ "In that day the beautiful ^(C1)virgins
And even the vigorous young men shall ^(C2)faint from thirst.

¹⁴ "Those who swear their oaths by the ^(C1)sin (guilt) of Samaria or Ashimah (a pagan goddess),
Who say, 'By the life of your god the golden calf, O ^(C2)Dan!'
And swear, 'By the life of the way of idolatrous ^(C3)Beersheba,'
They shall fall and ^(C4)not rise again."