Study Desk

This is what the Lord ^(F1)GOD showed me, and behold, there was a basket of summer fruit.

And He said, "What do you see, Amos?" And ^(C1)I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the LORD said to me, "The ^(C2)end has come for My people Israel. I will not ^(F1)(C3)spare them any longer.

"^(F1)The ^(C1)songs of the palace will turn to ^(C2)wailing on that day," declares the Lord GOD. "The ^(C3)corpses will be many; in every place ^(F2)they will throw them out. ^(F3)Hush!"

Hear this, you who ^(F1)(C1)trample the needy, to put an end to the humble of the land,

saying, "When will the ^(C1)new moon ^(F1)be over, So that we may sell grain; And the ^(C2)Sabbath, so that we may open the wheat market, To make the ^(F2)ephah smaller and the ^(F3)shekel bigger, And to ^(C3)cheat with dishonest scales,

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

The LORD has ^(C1)sworn by the ^(C2)pride of Jacob, "Indeed, I will ^(C3)never forget any of their deeds.

-"Because of this will the land not ^(C1)quake, And everyone who lives in 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.

-"And it will come about on that day," declares the Lord GOD, "That I will make the ^(C1)sun go down at noon, And ^(C2)make the earth dark in ^(F1)broad daylight.

-"Then I will ^(C1)turn your festivals into mourning, And all your songs into songs of mourning; And I will put ^(C2)sackcloth around everyone's waist, And ^(F1)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.

"Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, But rather ^(C1)for hearing the words of the LORD.

-"People will stagger from sea to sea And from the north even to the east; They will roam about to ^(C1)seek the word of the LORD, But they will not find it.

-"On that day the beautiful ^(C1)virgins And the young men will ^(C2)faint from thirst.

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