# Amos 08 đ: A Famine of God's Word
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[[-Amos Overview]] | [[Amos 07]] | [[Amos 09]]
> [!info] Table of Contents
> [[#đ Scripture Text (NET)]]
> [[#đ Verse-by-Verse Commentary]]
> [[#đ¤ Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]]
> [[#đ§ Chapter Summary]]
> [[#âď¸ Christ in This Chapter]]
> [[#đ Key Principles / đ Life Application]]
> [[#đŹ Discussion Questions]]
> [[#âď¸ Key Verses to Remember]]
> [[#đ Related Passages/Cross Reference]]
> [[#đ Devotional Reflection]]
> [[#đ Internal Notes]]
## đ Scripture Text (NET)
(The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005)
### More Visions and Messages of Judgment
[[#Verse 01.]] The Sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw a basket of summer fruit.Â
[[#Verse 02.]] He said, âWhat do you see, Amos?â I replied, âA basket of summer fruit.â Then the Lord said to me, âThe end has come for my people Israel! I will no longer overlook their sins.
[[#Verse 03.]] The women singing in the temple will wail in that day.â The Sovereign Lord is speaking. âThere will be many corpses littered everywhere! Be quiet!â
[[#Verse 04.]] Listen to this, you who trample the needy and do away with the destitute in the land.
[[#Verse 05.]] You say, âWhen will the new moon festival be over, so we can sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, so we can open up the grain bins? Weâre eager to sell less for a higher price, and to cheat the buyer with rigged scales!
[[#Verse 06.]] Weâre eager to trade silver for the poor, a pair of sandals for the needy. We want to mix in some chaff with the grain!â
[[#Verse 07.]] The Lord confirms this oath by the arrogance of Jacob: âI swear I will never forget all you have done!
[[#Verse 08.]] Because of this the earth will quake, and all who live in it will mourn. The whole earth will rise like the Nile River, it will surge upward and then grow calm, like the Nile in Egypt.
[[#Verse 09.]] In that day,â says the Sovereign Lord, âI will make the sun set at noon
and make the earth dark in the middle of the day.
[[#Verse 10.]]Â I will turn your festivals into funerals
and all your songs into funeral dirges.
I will make everyone wear funeral clothes
and cause every head to be shaved bald.
I will make you mourn as if you had lost your only son;
when it ends it will indeed have been a bitter day.
[[#Verse 11.]] Be certain of this, the time is coming,â says the Sovereign Lord, âwhen I will send a famine through the landâ not a shortage of food or water but an end to divine revelation.
[[#Verse 12.]] People will stagger from sea to sea, and from the north around to the east.
They will wander about looking for a message from the Lord, but they will not find any.
[[#Verse 13.]] In that day your beautiful young women and your young men will faint from thirst.
[[#Verse 14.]] These are the ones who now take oaths in the name of the sinful idol goddess of Samaria. They vow, âAs surely as your god lives, O Dan,â or, âAs surely as your beloved one lives, O Beer Sheba!â But they will fall down and not get up again.â
## đ Verse-by-Verse Commentary
###### Overall.
###### Verse 01.
###### Verse 02.
###### Verse 03.
###### Verse 04.
###### Verse 05.
###### Verse 06.
###### Verse 07.
###### Verse 08.
###### Verse 09.
###### Verse 10.
###### Verse 11.
###### Verse 12.
###### Verse 13.
###### Verse 14.
## đ¤ Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights
1. 8:2 is a Hebrew wordplay: "summer fruit" (*qayits*) sounds like "end" (*qets*).
2. The New Moon and Sabbath (8:5) were holy days when buying and selling stopped.
3. Merchants made the ephah small and the shekel large (8:5), giving less grain for more money.
4. An ephah was a dry measure for grain, and the shekel was a weight used to measure silver.
5. Dishonest scales are condemned in Leviticus 19:35-36 and Proverbs 11:1.
6. They sold even the "sweepings of the wheat" (8:6), the refuse left on the floor.
7. The rising and falling land (8:8) is compared to the Nile River's yearly flood.
8. Many scholars connect the sun going down at noon (8:9) with the solar eclipse of 763 BC recorded in Assyrian records.
9. "From Dan to Beersheba" (8:14) was a phrase for the whole land, north to south.
10. God's silence came true in the four centuries between Malachi and John the Baptist, often called the "silent years."
## đ§ Chapter Summary
> [!note] đą Still growing. This section is on its way.
## âď¸ Christ in This Chapter
Christ is the Word of God who ends the famine of hearing the Lord's words (8:11). Jesus is the bread of life (John 6:35), and the darkness at noon (8:9) is echoed at His cross (Matthew 27:45).
## đ Key Principles / đ Life Application
> [!note] đą Still growing. This section is on its way.
## đŹ Discussion Questions
1. The merchants could not wait for the Sabbath to end so they could cheat again (8:5). How can greed shape our attitude toward worship?
2. God says the poor were bought for silver and the needy for sandals (8:6). Why does God care so deeply about honest business?
3. God warns of a famine of hearing His words (8:11-12). How should this make us value the Bible we have?
## âď¸ Key Verses to Remember
- đ verse 2: The end has come for My people Israel.
- đ verse 5: Merchants long for the Sabbath to end so they can cheat with dishonest scales.
- đ verse 11: A famine is coming, not of bread or water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.
## đ Related Passages/Cross Reference
- đ [[John 06#Verse 35.|John 6:35]] - Jesus is the bread of life.
- đ [[Matthew 27#Verse 45.|Matthew 27:45]] - Darkness at noon during the crucifixion.
- đ [[Deuteronomy 08#Verse 03.|Deuteronomy 8:3]] - People live by every word from God's mouth.
- đ [[Proverbs 11#Verse 01.|Proverbs 11:1]] - God hates dishonest scales.
- đ [[1 Samuel 03#Verse 01.|1 Samuel 3:1]] - The word of the Lord was rare.
## đ Devotional Reflection
đ SOAP: [[Amos 08 - SOAP|Treasure Godâs Word]]
## đ Internal Notes