Amos 8

 

Reminder:  The peculiar quotation marks in this chapter indicate that Amos did not inscribe this book.  The inscriber, unknown to us, is quoting Amos.

כֹּה הִרְאַנִי אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה וְהִנֵּה כְּלוּב קָיִץ׃   8:1

Amos 8:1   “Thus the Master, the Lord, showed me and behold:  A basket of summer fruit.”

וַיֹּאמֶר מָה־אַתָּה רֹאֶה עָמוֹס וָאֹמַר כְּלוּב קָיִץ וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֵלַי בָּא הַקֵּץ אֶל־עַמִּי יִשְׂרָאֵל   8:2

  לֹא־אֹוסִיף עֹוד עֲבֹור לֹו׃

Amos 8:2   “And He said, ‘What are you seeing, Amos?’  And I said, ‘A basket of summer fruit.’  And the Lord said to me,

                      ‘The end comes concerning My people, Israel;

                               I will again no longer be passing over him.’”

The significance of the image of summer fruit would seem to be that it signifies the coming of the fall season.  Thus the winter would be approaching -- the end of Israel.  It also seems to be a play on words, the word translated as summer fruit (the eighth word in the Hebrew) being a yad away from the word translated as end (the 13th word in the Hebrew -- without the heh).

וְהֵילִילוּ שִׁירוֹת הֵיכָל בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה רַב הַפֶּגֶר בְּכָל־מָקוֹם הִשְׁלִיךְ הָס׃   8:3

Amos 8:3   “’And the songs of the palace shall be wailings on that day,’

                              declares the Master, the Lord,

                     ‘Many the corpse;

                              on every place a hush is cast.’”

שִׁמְעוּ־זֹאת הַשֹּׁאֲפִים אֶבְיֹון וְלַשְׁבִּית (עַנְוֵי) [עֲנִיֵּי]־אָרֶץ׃   8:4

Amos 8:4   “Listen to this, those trampling the needy

                              and destroying the poor of the land,

The word in the parentheses is missing a second yad.  The correction is in the brackets.

לֵאמֹר מָתַי יַעֲבֹר הַחֹדֶשׁ וְנַשְׁבִּירָה שֶּׁבֶר וְהַשַּׁבָּת וְנִפְתְּחָה־בָּר לְהַקְטִין אֵיפָה וּלְהַגְדִּיל שֶׁקֶל   8:5           וּלְעַוֵּת מֹאזְנֵי מִרְמָה׃

Amos 8:5   saying, ‘When will the new moon pass,

                              that we may sell grain,

                     and the Sabbath,

                              that we may free the corn?’

                     ‘Shrinking the ephah

                              and expanding the shekel

                     and falsifying the scales of deceit,

לִקְנֹות בַּכֶּסֶף דַּלִּים וְאֶבְיֹון בַּעֲבוּר נַעֲלָיִם וּמַפַּל בַּר נַשְׁבִּיר׃   8:6

Amos 8:6   to possess the poor with silver,

                              and the needy for shoes,

                      and the refuse of corn we may sell.’”

נִשְׁבַּע יְהוָה בִּגְאֹון יַעֲקֹב אִם־אֶשְׁכַּח לָנֶצַח כָּל־מַעֲשֵׂיהֶם׃   8:7

Amos 8:7   “The Lord swears on the pride of Jacob,

                               ‘Would I forget any of their deeds to the end?’”

הַעַל זֹאת לֹא־תִרְגַּז הָאָרֶץ וְאָבַל כָּל־יֹושֵׁב בָּהּ וְעָלְתָה כָאֹר כֻּלָּהּ וְנִגְרְשָׁה (וְנִשְׁקָה) [וְנִשְׁקְעָה]      8:8

כִּיאֹור מִצְרָיִם׃

Amos 8:8   “Shall the land not tremble

                               and every inhabitant lament in it because of this?

                     And all of it shall rise up like a river and be tossed,

                               then it shall subside, like the Egyptian river.”

The word in the parentheses is missing an ayin.  The correction is in the brackets.  However, there appears to be another, unacknowledged, error in this verse.  The fifth word from the end of the first line, translated as like a river, is missing a yad and perhaps a heh.  Compare it to the first word in the second line.  It is presumed to be the same word, and is spelled correctly there.  See Amos 9:5 for the same two words but with the right spelling there too.

וְהָיָה בַּיֹּום הַהוּא נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה וְהֵבֵאתִי הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ בַּצָּהֳרָיִם וְהַחֲשַׁכְתִּי לָאָרֶץ בְּיֹום אֹור׃   8:9

Amos 8:9   “’And it shall be in that day,’

                               declares the Master, the Lord,

                     ‘that I shall make the sun go at noon

                               and cause darkness for the earth on a bright day.’

וְהָפַכְתִּי חַגֵּיכֶם לְאֵבֶל וְכָל־שִׁירֵיכֶם לְקִינָה וְהַעֲלֵיתִי עַל־כָּל־מָתְנַיִם שָׂק וְעַל־כָּל־רֹאשׁ קָרְחָה   8:10        וְשַׂמְתִּיהָ כְּאֵבֶל יָחִיד וְאַחֲרִיתָהּ כְּיֹום מָר׃

Amos 8:10   ‘And I shall turn your festivals to mourning

                                and all your songs to lamentation,

                       and bring up sackcloth on all loins

                                and baldness on every head,

                       and I shall make it like a unique mourning,

                                and at the end of it, as a bitter day.’”

הִנֵּה יָמִים בָּאִים נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה וְהִשְׁלַחְתִּי רָעָב בָּאָרֶץ לֹא־רָעָב לַלֶּחֶם וְלֹא־צָמָא לַמַּיִם כִּי   8:11            אִם־לִשְׁמֹעַ אֵת דִּבְרֵי יְהוָה׃

Amos 8:11   “’Behold, days are coming,’

                                declares the Master, the Lord,

                       ‘when I will send a hunger in the land,

                                not a hunger for bread or a thirst for water,

                       but rather to hear the words of the Lord.’

וְנָעוּ מִיָּם עַד־יָם וּמִצָּפֹון וְעַד־מִזְרָח יְשֹׁוטְטוּ לְבַקֵּשׁ אֶת־דְּבַר־יְהוָה וְלֹא יִמְצָאוּ׃   8:12

Amos 8:12   ‘And they shall wander from sea to sea

                                 and from north and as far as east

                        -- they shall go to and fro to seek the word of the Lord

                                  -- and not find.’”

בַּיֹּום הַהוּא תִּתְעַלַּפְנָה הַבְּתוּלֹת הַיָּפֹות וְהַבַּחוּרִים בַּצָּמָא׃   8:13

Amos 8:13   “In that day the beautiful virgins shall faint,

                                 with the young men, because of the thirst.”

הַנִּשְׁבָּעִים בְּאַשְׁמַת שֹׁמְרֹון וְאָמְרוּ חֵי אֱלֹהֶיךָ דָּן וְחֵי דֶּרֶךְ בְּאֵר־שָׁבַע וְנָפְלוּ וְלֹא־יָקוּמוּ עֹוד׃   8:14

Amos 8:14   “Those swearing by the sin of Samaria,

                                  that would say, ‘As your God lives, Dan,

                        and as the way of Beer-sheba survives,’

                                  even they shall fall and not rise again.”

 

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