The Bird-Catcher's Basket
Amos 8, verse 1. Thus the Lord showed me: Behold, a bird-catcher's basket. Amos 8, verse 2. And He said, “Amos, what do you see?” So I said, “A bird-catcher's basket.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end has come upon My people Israel. I shall not pass by them anymore. Amos 8, verse 3. And the recessed ceilings of the temple shall wail in that day,” says the Lord, “for many are fallen in every place; I will bring silence upon it.” Amos 8, verse 4. Therefore, hear this, you who oppress the poor in the morning and use tyranny to drive the needy from the land, Amos 8, verse 5. saying, “When does the month end so we can barter? and the Sabbath end so we can open the storehouses? So we can falsify the balancing scales to our favor, and thereby receive greater profits by deceit; Amos 8, verse 6. when the poor man can be acquired for silver and the downcast for sandals; when we can trade in any kind of product?” Amos 8, verse 7. The Lord swears against the arrogance of Jacob; He will not forget any of your works. Amos 8, verse 8. Will not the land be disturbed by these things, and will not everyone dwelling in it mourn? Even as a flooding river comes to an end, so too the flood waters of the river of Egypt return to their banks. Amos 8, verse 9. “And it will come to pass in that day,” says the Lord God, “the sun will set at noon, and the light of day will grow dark over the land. Amos 8, verse 10. And I shall turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. I shall place sackcloth on every waist and make every head bald. They shall be as one mourning a beloved one, and those with them as a day of grief.”
A Famine for Lack of the Word of the Lord
Amos 8, verse 11. “Behold, the days will come,” says the Lord, “that I shall send a famine across the land; not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but famine to hear the words of the Lord. Amos 8, verse 12. The waters will be unsettled as far as the sea. And from the north to the east men will scurry about seeking to find the word of the Lord, but they will not find it. Amos 8, verse 13. And in that day the fair virgins and the strong young men will faint from want of water. Amos 8, verse 14. Those who swear by the sin-offering of Samaria, and who say, ‘O Dan, your god lives; O Beersheba, your god lives!’ They shall fall and never rise again.”