Amos 8:5
Saying, “When does the new moon pass, || And we sell ground grain? And the Sabbath, and we open out pure grain? To make little the ephah, || And to make great the shekel, || And to use balances of deceit perversely.
Literal Standard Version
In The King James Version
In Context
4Hear this, you who are swallowing up the needy, || To cause the poor of the land to cease,
Cross References
Leviticus 19:36you have righteous balances, righteous weights, a righteous ephah, and a righteous hin; I [am] your God YHWH, who has brought you out from the land of Egypt;
Numbers 28:11And in the beginnings of your months you bring a burnt-offering near to YHWH: two bullocks, sons of the herd, and one ram, seven lambs, sons of a year, perfect ones;
Deuteronomy 25:15You have a complete and just stone, [and] you have a complete and just ephah, so that they prolong your days on the ground which your God YHWH is giving to you;
Nehemiah 13:15In those days I have seen in Judah those treading wine-vats on Sabbath, and bringing in the sheaves, and loading on the donkeys, and also, wine, grapes, and figs, and every burden, indeed, they are bringing into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, and I testify in the day of their selling provision.
Psalms 81:3Blow a horn in the month, || In the new moon, at the day of our festival,
Proverbs 16:11A just beam and balances [are] YHWH’s, || All the stones of the bag [are] His work.
Matthew Henry on Amos 8:5-11
The Sin and Doom of Oppressors. ( b. c. 785.) 4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, 5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? 6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat? 7 The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget… Read the whole commentary →