TORAH
FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES
NEVI'IM
PROPHETS
KETUVIM
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Amos - Chapter 8
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1This is what my God showed me: There was a basket of figs.
KOH hir-A-nee a-do-NAI e-lo-HEEM v'-hi-NAY k'-LUV KA-yitz
אכֹּה הִרְאַנִי אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה וְהִנֵּה כְּלוּב קָיִץ׃
8:1 A basket of figs
Malbim (1809-1879)
Amos is shown a vision of a basket of figs, in Hebrew a k’luv ka-yitz (כלוב קיץ), which literally means ‘a basket of summer fruit.’ The fruits were harvested during the transition from summer to the rainy season, and brought to the Beit Hamikdash during the Sukkot holiday in the seventh month of the year. Hashem’s explanation of the vision: “The hour of doom has come for My people Yisrael; I will not pardon them again” (verse 2), is a play on words. In Hebrew, ‘summer’ is pronounced ka-yitz (קיץ), while ‘end’, or ‘hour of doom’ as it is translated here, is pronounced kaytz (קץ). The Malbim explains that the prophet is warning that just as the summer marks the end of the fruit harvest, so too the end of the kingdom of Israel is approaching.
2He said, “What do you see, Amos?” “A basket of figs,” I replied. And Hashem said to me: “The hour of doom has come for My people Yisrael; I will not pardon them again.
בוַיֹּאמֶר מָה־אַתָּה רֹאֶה עָמוֹס וָאֹמַר כְּלוּב קָיִץ וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֵלַי בָּא הַקֵּץ אֶל־עַמִּי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֹא־אוֹסִיף עוֹד עֲבוֹר לוֹ׃
3And the singing women of the palace shall howl on that day—declares my God: So many corpses Left lying everywhere! Hush!”
גוְהֵילִילוּ שִׁירוֹת הֵיכָל בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה רַב הַפֶּגֶר בְּכָל־מָקוֹם הִשְׁלִיךְ הָס׃
4Listen to this, you who devour the needy, annihilating the poor of the land,
דשִׁמְעוּ־זֹאת הַשֹּׁאֲפִים אֶבְיוֹן וְלַשְׁבִּית ענוי־[עֲנִיֵּי־] אָרֶץ׃
5saying, “If only the new moon were over, so that we could sell grain; the Shabbat, so that we could offer wheat for sale, using an efah that is too small, and a shekel that is too big, tilting a dishonest scale,
הלֵאמֹר מָתַי יַעֲבֹר הַחֹדֶשׁ וְנַשְׁבִּירָה שֶּׁבֶר וְהַשַּׁבָּת וְנִפְתְּחָה־בָּר לְהַקְטִין אֵיפָה וּלְהַגְדִּיל שֶׁקֶל וּלְעַוֵּת מֹאזְנֵי מִרְמָה׃
6and selling grain refuse as grain! We will buy the poor for silver, the needy for a pair of sandals.”
ולִקְנוֹת בַּכֶּסֶף דַּלִּים וְאֶבְיוֹן בַּעֲבוּר נַעֲלָיִם וּמַפַּל בַּר נַשְׁבִּיר׃
7Hashem swears by the Pride of Yaakov: “I will never forget any of their doings.”
זנִשְׁבַּע יְהֹוָה בִּגְאוֹן יַעֲקֹב אִם־אֶשְׁכַּח לָנֶצַח כָּל־מַעֲשֵׂיהֶם׃
8Shall not the earth shake for this And all that dwell on it mourn? Shall it not all rise like the Nile And surge and subside like the Nile of Egypt?
חהַעַל זֹאת לֹא־תִרְגַּז הָאָרֶץ וְאָבַל כָּל־יוֹשֵׁב בָּהּ וְעָלְתָה כָאֹר כֻּלָּהּ וְנִגְרְשָׁה ונשקה [וְנִשְׁקְעָה] כִּיאוֹר מִצְרָיִם׃
9And in that day —declares my God— I will make the sun set at noon, I will darken the earth on a sunny day.
טוְהָיָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה וְהֵבֵאתִי הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ בַּצָּהֳרָיִם וְהַחֲשַׁכְתִּי לָאָרֶץ בְּיוֹם אוֹר׃
10I will turn your festivals into mourning And all your songs into dirges; I will put sackcloth on all loins And tonsures on every head. I will make it mourn as for an only child, All of it as on a bitter day.
יוְהָפַכְתִּי חַגֵּיכֶם לְאֵבֶל וְכָל־שִׁירֵיכֶם לְקִינָה וְהַעֲלֵיתִי עַל־כָּל־מָתְנַיִם שָׂק וְעַל־כָּל־רֹאשׁ קָרְחָה וְשַׂמְתִּיהָ כְּאֵבֶל יָחִיד וְאַחֲרִיתָהּ כְּיוֹם מָר׃
11A time is coming—declares my God—when I will send a famine upon the land: not a hunger for bread or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of Hashem.
יאהִנֵּה יָמִים בָּאִים נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה וְהִשְׁלַחְתִּי רָעָב בָּאָרֶץ לֹא־רָעָב לַלֶּחֶם וְלֹא־צָמָא לַמַּיִם כִּי אִם־לִשְׁמֹעַ אֵת דִּבְרֵי יְהֹוָה׃
12Men shall wander from sea to sea and from north to east to seek the word of Hashem, but they shall not find it.
יבוְנָעוּ מִיָּם עַד־יָם וּמִצָּפוֹן וְעַד־מִזְרָח יְשׁוֹטְטוּ לְבַקֵּשׁ אֶת־דְּבַר־יְהֹוָה וְלֹא יִמְצָאוּ׃
13In that day, the beautiful maidens and the young men shall faint with thirst—
יגבַּיּוֹם הַהוּא תִּתְעַלַּפְנָה הַבְּתוּלֹת הַיָּפוֹת וְהַבַּחוּרִים בַּצָּמָא׃
14Those who swear by the guilt of Shomron, Saying, “As your god lives, Dan,” And “As the way to Be'erSheva lives”— They shall fall to rise no more.
ידהַנִּשְׁבָּעִים בְּאַשְׁמַת שֹׁמְרוֹן וְאָמְרוּ חֵי אֱלֹהֶיךָ דָּן וְחֵי דֶּרֶךְ בְּאֵר־שָׁבַע וְנָפְלוּ וְלֹא־יָקוּמוּ עוֹד׃
