1 A Basket of Ripe Fruit
1 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: a basket of ripe fruit. 2 "What do you see, Amos?" he asked.
2 "A basket of ripe fruit," I answered.
2 Then the Lord said to me, "The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
3 "In that day," declares the Sovereign Lord, "the songs in the temple will turn to wailing.[a] Many, many bodies—flung everywhere! Silence!"
4 Hear this, you who trample the needy 4 and do away with the poor of the land,
5 saying, 5 "When will the New Moon be over 5 that we may sell grain, 5 and the Sabbath be ended 5 that we may market wheat?"— 5 skimping the measure, 5 boosting the price 5 and cheating with dishonest scales,
6 buying the poor with silver 6 and the needy for a pair of sandals, 6 selling even the sweepings with the wheat.
7 The Lord has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: "I will never forget anything they have done.
8 "Will not the land tremble for this, 8 and all who live in it mourn? 8 The whole land will rise like the Nile; 8 it will be stirred up and then sink 8 like the river of Egypt.
