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A Famine for Hearing the Words of Yahweh

¹ Thus Lord Yahweh showed me, and behold, there was a basket of summer fruit.² And he said, "What do you see, Amos?" And ^(C1)I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then Yahweh said to me, "The ^(C2)end has come for My people Israel. I will ^(C3)pass over them no longer.³ "And they will ^(C1)wail with the ^(C2)songs of the palace in that day," declares Lord Yahweh. "Many will be the ^(C3)corpses; in every place ^(F1)they will cast them forth ^(F2)in silence."

⁴ Hear this, you who ^(F1)(C1)trample the needy, even to cause the humble of the land to cease,⁵ saying,

"When will the ^(C1)new moon pass over,
So that we may sell grain,
And the ^(C2)sabbath, that we may open the wheat market,
To make the ^(F1)bushel smaller and the ^(F2)shekel bigger,
And to ^(C3)cheat with a deceptive balance,

⁶ So as to ^(C1)buy the poor for ^(F1)money
And the needy for a pair of sandals,
And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?"

⁷ Yahweh has ^(C1)sworn by the ^(C2)lofty pride of Jacob,
"Indeed, I will ^(C3)never forget any of their works.

⁸ "Because of this will not the land ^(C1)tremble
And everyone who inhabits it ^(C2)mourn?
Indeed, all of it will ^(C3)rise up like the Nile,
And it will be tossed about
And subside like the Nile of Egypt.

⁹ "And it will be in that day," declares Lord Yahweh,
"That I will make the ^(C1)sun go down at noon
And ^(C2)make the earth dark in ^(F1)broad daylight.

¹⁰ "Then I will ^(C1)overturn your feasts into mourning
And all your songs into ^(F1)lamentation;
And I will bring up ^(C2)sackcloth on everyone's loins
And baldness on every head.
And I will make it ^(C3)like 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 Lord Yahweh,
"When I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water,
But rather ^(C1)for hearing the words of Yahweh.

¹² "People will wander from sea to sea
And from the north even to the east;
They will go to and fro to ^(C1)seek the word of Yahweh,
But they will not find it.

¹³ "In that day the beautiful ^(C1)virgins
And the choice men will ^(C2)faint from thirst.

¹⁴ "As for those who swear by the ^(F1)(C1)guilt of Samaria,
Who say, 'As your god lives, O ^(C2)Dan,'
And, 'As the way of ^(C3)Beersheba lives,'
They will fall and ^(C4)not rise again."