Amos 8:6

Easy-to-Read Version

The poor cannot pay their loans, so we will buy them as slaves. We will buy those helpless people for the price of a pair of sandals. Oh, and we can sell the wheat that was spilled on the floor."

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
We can buy the poor with silverand the needy for a pair of sandalsand even sell the chaff!”

Hebrew Names Version
That we may buy the poor for silver, And the needy for a pair of shoes, And sell the sweepings with the wheat?'"

King James Version (1611)
That wee may buy the poore for siluer, & the needie for a paire of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheate?

King James Version
That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?

English Standard Version
that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and sell the chaff of the wheat?"

New American Standard Bible
So as to buy the helpless for money, And the needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?"

New Century Version
We will buy poor people for silver, and needy people for the price of a pair of sandals. We will even sell the wheat that was swept up from the floor."

Amplified Bible
So that we may buy the poor [as slaves] for silver [since they are unable to support themselves] And the 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]?"

Geneva Bible (1587)
That we may buy the poore for siluer, and the needie for shooes: yea, and sell the refuse of the wheate.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
So as to buy the helpless for money And the needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?"

Legacy Standard Bible
So as to buy the poor for moneyAnd the needy for a pair of sandals,And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?"

Berean Standard Bible
Let us buy the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the chaff with the wheat!"

Contemporary English Version
and mix dust in the grain. Those who are needy and poor don't have any money. We will make them our slaves for the price of a pair of sandals."

Complete Jewish Bible
buying the needy for money and the poor for a pair of shoes, and sweeping up the refuse of the wheat to sell!"

Darby Translation
that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; and that we may sell the refuse of the wheat.

George Lamsa Translation
That we may sell to the poor for silver, and pay the needy with the refuse of the wheat, and sell the refuse which is left on the floor of the storehouses.

Good News Translation
We can sell worthless wheat at a high price. We'll find someone poor who can't pay his debts, not even the price of a pair of sandals, and we'll buy him as a slave."

Lexham English Bible
That we can buy the powerless with silver and the poor for the sake of a pair of sandals, and we can sell the waste of the grain?"

Literal Translation
in order to buy the helpless with silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals, and sell the chaff of the wheat?

American Standard Version
that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the refuse of the wheat?

Bible in Basic English
Getting the poor for silver, and him who is in need for the price of two shoes, and taking a price for the waste parts of the grain.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the refuse of the corn?'

Bishop's Bible (1568)
That we may bie the poore for siluer, and the needy for shoes, yea and sell the refuse of the wheate?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for shoes; and we will trade in every kind of fruit.

English Revised Version
that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the refuse of the wheat.

World English Bible
That we may buy the poor for silver, And the needy for a pair of shoes, And sell the sweepings with the wheat?'"

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
that we welde bi siluer nedi men and pore men for schoon, and we sille outcastyngis of wheete?

Update Bible Version
that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the refuse of the wheat?

Webster's Bible Translation
That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; and even sell the refuse of the wheat?

New English Translation
We're eager to trade silver for the poor, a pair of sandals for the needy! We want to mix in some chaff with the grain!"

New King James Version
That we may buy the poor for silver, And the needy for a pair of sandals-- Even sell the bad wheat?"

New Living Translation
And you mix the grain you sell with chaff swept from the floor. Then you enslave poor people for one piece of silver or a pair of sandals.

New Life Bible
We will buy the poor for money, and those in need for shoes. And we will sell the part of the grain that is of no worth."

New Revised Standard
buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Who buy - for silver - the poor, and the needy for a pair of shoes, - and that the refuse of the grain we may sell.

Douay-Rheims Bible
That we may possess the needy for money, and the poor for a pair of shoes, and may sell the refuse of the corn?

Revised Standard Version
that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the refuse of the wheat?"

Young's Literal Translation
To purchase with money the poor, And the needy for a pair of sandals, Yea, the refuse of the pure corn we sell.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
We shall set vp false waightes, yt we maye get the poore vnder vs with their money, and the nedy also for shues: yee let vs sell the chaffe for corne.

Contextual Overview

⁴ Listen to me, you who trample on helpless people. You are trying to destroy the poor of this country. ⁵ You merchants say, "When will the New Moon be over so that we can sell grain? When will the Sabbath be over so that we can bring out more wheat to sell? We can raise the price and make the measure smaller. We can fix the scales and cheat the people. ⁶ The poor cannot pay their loans, so we will buy them as slaves. We will buy those helpless people for the price of a pair of sandals. Oh, and we can sell the wheat that was spilled on the floor." ⁷ The Lord made a promise. He used his name, "Pride of Jacob," and made this promise: "I will never forget what those people did. ⁸ There will be an earthquake that will shake the whole land because of what they did. Everyone living there will cry for those who died. The land will be tossed around. The whole land will rise and fall like the Nile River in Egypt." ⁹ The Lord God also said, "At that time I will make the sun set at noon and make the land dark on a clear day. ¹⁰ I will change your festivals into days of crying for the dead. All your songs will be songs of sadness for those who are dead. I will put mourning clothes on every body and baldness on every head. I will cause mourning everywhere, like that for an only son who has died. It will be a very bitter end."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Amos 8:4, Amos 2:6, Leviticus 25:39-42, Nehemiah 5:1-5, Nehemiah 5:8, Joel 3:3, Joel 3:6

Reciprocal: Leviticus 19:35 - in meteyard Proverbs 11:1 - A false balance is Proverbs 22:7 - rich Isaiah 32:6 - empty Jeremiah 34:14 - At the Hosea 12:7 - the balances Amos 3:9 - oppressed Micah 6:10 - and 1 Thessalonians 4:6 - go Revelation 18:13 - slaves

Cross-References

Genesis 6:16
Make a window for the boat about 1 cubit below the roof. Put a door in the side of the boat. Make three floors in the boat: a top deck, a middle deck, and a lower deck.

Daniel 6:10
Daniel always prayed to God three times every day. Three times every day, he bowed down on his knees to pray and praise God. Even though Daniel heard about the new law, he still went to his house to pray. He went up to the upper room of his house and opened the windows that faced toward Jerusalem. Then Daniel bowed down on his knees and prayed just as he always had done.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

That we may buy the poor for silver,.... Thus making them pay dear for their provisions, and using them in this fraudulent manner, by which they would not be able to support themselves and their families; they might purchase them and theirs for slaves, at so small a price as a piece of silver, or a single shekel, worth about half a crown; and this was their end and design in using them after this manner; see

Leviticus 25:39;

and the needy for a pair of shoes; Leviticus 25:39- :;

[yea], and sell the refuse of the wheat; not only did they sell the poor grain and wheat at a dear rate, and in scanty measure, but the worst of it, and such as was not fit to make bread of, only to be given to the cattle; and, by reducing the poor to extreme poverty, they obliged them to take that of them at their own price. It may be rendered, "the fall of wheat" c; that which fell under the sieve, when the wheat was sifted, as Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, observe.

c מפל בר "labile frumenti", Montanus; "decidum frumenti", Cocceius; "deciduum triciti", Drusius, Mercerus, Stockius, p. 690.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

That we may buy - Or, indignantly, “To buy the poor!” literally, “the afflicted,” those in “low” estate. First, by dishonesty and oppression they gained their lands and goods. Then the poor were obliged to sell themselves. The slight price, for which a man was sold, showed the more contempt for “the image of God.” Before, he said, “the needy” were “sold for a pair of sandals” Amos 2:6; here, that they were bought for them. It seems then the more likely that such was a real price for man.

And sell the refuse - Literally, the “falling of wheat,” that is, what fell through the sieve, either the bran, or the thin, unfilled, grains which had no meal in them. This they mixed up largely with the meal, making a gain of that which they had once sifted out as worthless; or else, in a time of dearth, they sold to people what was the food of animals, and made a profit on it. Infancy and inexperience of cupidity, which adulterated its bread only with bran, or sold to the poor only what, although unnourishing, was wholesome! But then, with the multiplied hard-dealing, what manifoldness of the woe!

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Amos 8:6. That we may buy the poor for silver — Buying their services for such a time, with just money enough to clear them from other creditors.

And the needy for a pair of shoes — See Amos 2:6.

And sell the refuse of the wheat! — Selling bad wheat and damaged flour to poor people as good, knowing that such cannot afford to prosecute them.