Under the figure of a hook, which bringeth down the fruit, the
approaching desolation of Israel is foreshewed for their avarice and
injustices.
8:1. These things the Lord shewed to me: and behold a hook to draw down
the fruit.
8:2. And he said: What seest thou, Amos? And I said: A hook to draw down
fruit. And the Lord said to me: The end is come upon my people Israel: I
will not again pass by them any more.
8:3. And the hinges of the temple shall screak in that day, saith the
Lord God: many shall die: silence shall be cast in every place.
8:4. Hear this, you that crush the poor, and make the needy of the land
to fail,
8:5. Saying: When will the month be over, and we shall sell our wares:
and the sabbath, and we shall open the corn: that we may lessen the
measure, and increase the sicle, and may convey in deceitful balances,
8:6. That we may possess the needy for money, and the poor for a pair of
shoes, and may sell the refuse of the corn?
8:7. The Lord hath sworn against the pride of Jacob: surely I will never
forget all their works.
8:8. Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that
dwelleth therein: and rise up altogether as a river, and be cast out,
and run down as the river of Egypt?
8:9. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that the
sun shall go down at midday, and I will make the earth dark in the day
of light:
8:10. And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into
lamentation: and I will bring up sackcloth upon every back of yours, and
baldness upon every head: and I will make it as the mourning of an only
son, and the latter end thereof as a bitter day.
8:11. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send forth a
famine into the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but
of hearing the word of the Lord.
8:12. And they shall move from sea to sea, and from the north to the
east: they shall go about seeking the word of the Lord, and shall not
find it.
8:13. In that day the fair virgins, and the young men shall faint for
thirst.
8:14. They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say: Thy God, O Dan,
liveth: and the way of Bersabee liveth: and they shall fall, and shall
rise no more.