Amos 8:4
2 “Amos, what do you see?” He asked. “A basket of summer fruit,” I replied. So the LORD said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel; I will no longer spare them.”
3 “In that day,” declares the Lord GOD, “the songs of the temple will turn to wailing. Many will be the corpses, strewn in silence everywhere!”
Hear this, you who trample the needy, who do away with the poor of the land,
5 asking, “When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat? Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel; let us cheat with dishonest scales.
6 Let us buy the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the chaff with the wheat!”
This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- Hear this, you who trample the needy, who do away with the poor of the land,
- KJV
- Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,
- WEB
- Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,
- ASV
- Hear this, O ye that would swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,
- DARBY
- Hear this, ye that pant after the needy, even to cause to fail the poor of the land,
- BLB
- Hear this, those swallowing up the needy and causing to cease the poor of the land,
- ÅB
- Hør dette, dere som higer etter å oppsluke den fattige og gjøre ende på de saktmodige i landet,
- OTB
- Hør dette, dere som tramper på de trengende og eliminerer de ydmyke i landet,
- B1930
- Hør dette, I som higer efter å opsluke den fattige og gjøre ende på de saktmodige i landet,
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Proverbs 30:14
there is a generation whose teeth are swords and whose jaws are knives, devouring the oppressed from the earth and the needy from among men.
Read in contextAmos 5:11
Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted.
Read in contextPsalms 14:4
Will the workers of iniquity never learn? They devour my people like bread; they refuse to call upon the LORD.
Read in contextIsaiah 32:6–7
For a fool speaks foolishness; his mind plots iniquity. He practices ungodliness and speaks falsely about the LORD; he leaves the hungry empty and deprives the thirsty of drink.
Read in contextPsalms 12:5
“For the cause of the oppressed and for the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will bring safety to him who yearns.”
Read in contextPsalms 140:12
I know that the LORD upholds justice for the poor and defends the cause of the needy.
Read in contextAmos 2:6–7
This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Israel, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.
Read in contextMatthew 23:13
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.
Read in context