Amos 8 5

Amos 8:5 kjv

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?

Amos 8:5 nkjv

Saying: "When will the New Moon be past, That we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, That we may trade wheat? Making the ephah small and the shekel large, Falsifying the scales by deceit,

Amos 8:5 niv

saying, "When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?"? skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales,

Amos 8:5 esv

saying, "When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances,

Amos 8:5 nlt

You can't wait for the Sabbath day to be over
and the religious festivals to end
so you can get back to cheating the helpless.
You measure out grain with dishonest measures
and cheat the buyer with dishonest scales.

Amos 8 verses

Amos 8 5 meaning

Amos 8:5 describes the intense greed and spiritual corruption of the merchants in Northern Israel during the time of the prophet Amos. They viewed God-ordited periods of rest and worship, specifically the New Moon festival and the weekly Sabbath, not as sacred opportunities but as irksome interruptions to their illicit commercial activities. Driven by a covetous spirit, they eagerly awaited the end of these holy days so they could resume their fraudulent business practices, which involved using deceitful measures to cheat their customers and increase their profits. This included making the dry measure (ephah) for selling goods smaller than it should be and making the unit of weight for money (shekel) larger to demand more payment, all by perverting their scales with deliberate fraud.

Amos 8 5 Context

Amos 8:5 is situated within Amos's series of five visions concerning the judgment on Israel, specifically addressing the deeply entrenched moral decay in the Northern Kingdom. Chapter 8 opens with the vision of a basket of summer fruit, a grim symbol signifying that Israel is "ripe" for judgment. This is not a partial judgment, but an end (Amos 8:2), indicating irreversible catastrophe. The specific details in verse 5 directly illustrate the pervasive social injustice that characterizes this moral rottenness. The very fabric of their daily life, even during sacred times, was saturated with fraud and a profound disregard for God's laws and the welfare of their neighbors. It vividly portrays the internal spiritual state that precipitates the spiritual famine and loss of God's word promised later in the chapter (Amos 8:11-12).

Historically, Amos ministered during the prosperous reign of Jeroboam II in the 8th century BCE. This was a period of significant economic prosperity, yet this wealth was concentrated among a privileged few. Beneath this facade of prosperity lay widespread social inequality, exploitation, and moral compromise. Israel maintained outward religious observance, including the New Moon and Sabbath, which were essential components of their covenant relationship with God. The New Moon (ḥodesh) marked the beginning of each lunar month and involved special sacrifices and the cessation of regular labor, functioning as a monthly mini-festival. The Sabbath (shabbat) was a weekly day of rest and worship mandated by the Mosaic Law. For the greedy merchants of Amos 8:5, these divinely instituted pauses in economic activity were not times for devotion or reflection, but resented hindrances to their pursuit of ill-gotten gains. Their impatient question, "When will... be over?", underscores a fundamental disregard for God's holiness and an outright preference for commercial deceit.

Amos 8 5 Word analysis

• "saying": Introduces the internal thoughts and conspiratorial desires of the merchants, revealing their true motivations and the state of their hearts.
• "When will the new moon be over" (Hebrew: אֵימָתַי יַעֲבֹר חֹדֶשׁ, eimatay ya'avor ḥodesh): eimatay expresses an impatient, eager question "When?". ḥodesh refers to the monthly observance of the New Moon, a day of special worship and rest (Num 28:11-15, 1 Sam 20:5). This phrase signifies the merchants' deep resentment for holy days that interrupted their business, betraying a complete prioritization of profit over piety.
• "That we may sell grain" (Hebrew: וְנִשְׁבְּרָה שֶּׁבֶר, v'nishbera shever): shever denotes grain or corn, a basic foodstuff. This highlights their desire to return to commerce immediately after religious observances. Selling staple foods meant their dishonest practices directly impacted the subsistence of the general population, especially the poor.
• "and the Sabbath" (Hebrew: וְשַׁבָּת, v'shabbat): Refers to the weekly day of rest commanded by God (Exod 20:8-11). Including both New Moon and Sabbath demonstrates a pervasive contempt for all sacred time and religious obligations that hindered their pursuit of wealth.
• "That we may offer wheat for sale" (Hebrew: וְנִפְתְּחָה בַּר, v'niftaḥah bar): bar specifically refers to wheat, another fundamental food item. "Offer for sale" here means to make available in the market. This repeats the focus on vital commodities being manipulated for profit.
• "Measuring out less" (Hebrew: לְהַקְטִין אֵיפָה, l'haqtin eifah): l'haqtin means "to make small" or "to diminish." An eifah was a standard dry measure (approximately 22 liters or two-thirds of a bushel). This describes the act of physically tampering with the measuring container (e.g., using a false bottom or an over-thick rim) so that less grain was given to the customer than they paid for, directly defrauding buyers.
• "and making the shekel larger" (Hebrew: וּלְהַגְדִּיל שֶׁקֶל, ul'hagdil shekel): l'hagdil means "to make large" or "to enlarge." A shekel was a unit of weight (typically silver, around 11.4 grams), used as currency. To "make the shekel larger" meant they either weighed payment from buyers on a scale rigged to make the customer's coin appear lighter (thus requiring more silver for a transaction) or manipulated their scales to charge an inflated price by effectively claiming more "shekel weight" for a product of lesser true value. Both methods meant overcharging customers.
• "And falsifying the balances" (Hebrew: וּלְעַוֵּת מֹאזְנֵי, ul'avet moznai): ul'avet means "to pervert," "to corrupt," or "to distort." moznai refers to balances or scales, crucial instruments for ensuring fair trade in the ancient world. This highlights direct, deliberate manipulation of the tools of justice.
• "by deceit" (Hebrew: מִרְמָה, mirmah): This term signifies fraud, cunning, and treachery. It emphasizes the intentional, premeditated nature of their dishonest actions, underscoring their moral corruption.

Words-Group Analysis

• "When will the new moon be over... and the Sabbath": This grouping lays bare the severe spiritual crisis. The yearning for these sacred times to end exposes a heart that views divine commands and worship as mere obstacles to personal gain. It starkly contrasts outward religious performance with internal covetousness.
• "That we may sell grain... offer wheat for sale": These phrases collectively emphasize that the focus of their impatience and fraudulent intent was on essential foodstuffs. This demonstrates that their deceit directly harmed the most vulnerable members of society, those who relied on honest market prices for their daily sustenance.
• "Measuring out less... making the shekel larger, And falsifying the balances by deceit": This group vividly outlines the comprehensive and systemic nature of their commercial fraud. They weren't making isolated mistakes but employing multiple, deliberate methods—tampering with volume, manipulating payment, and distorting justice itself—to ensure maximum personal profit at the expense of honesty and the poor. The mention of "deceit" confirms the malicious intent behind these calculated schemes.

Amos 8 5 Bonus section

The detailed description of fraudulent practices in Amos 8:5 — manipulation of the ephah (volume measure), the shekel (weight/currency), and balances (scales) — reflects the highly developed commercial life in ancient Israel and throughout the Near East. Such sophisticated forms of cheating were commonplace and highlighted how a society's ethical fabric could unravel, despite apparent prosperity. The prophets consistently linked internal spiritual condition to external ethical behavior; thus, the eagerness to dismiss religious duties to perpetrate fraud revealed a core spiritual ailment. This verse also strongly anticipates Jesus's condemnation of hypocrisy (Matt 6:2) and the warnings in the New Testament against the love of money (1 Tim 6:10), emphasizing that true worship involves both adoration and practical righteousness.

Amos 8 5 Commentary

Amos 8:5 acts as a powerful indictment of religious hypocrisy and social injustice. It reveals a spiritual state where the worship of God has been superseded by the worship of wealth. The merchants' eager anticipation for the end of the New Moon and Sabbath illustrates their contempt for God's ordinances and the sacredness of time dedicated to Him. This attitude immediately translated into flagrant economic exploitation: shrinking the ephah to sell less while charging more, inflating the shekel to exact greater payment, and perverting the very instruments of justice – the scales – through systematic deceit. Amos makes it clear that such actions were not merely bad business practices, but a profound violation of the covenant, reflecting an underlying rebellion against God's character and His command for justice (Lev 19:35-36). This verse serves as a timeless reminder that genuine faith demands integrity in all aspects of life, and outward religious observance is meaningless if divorced from ethical conduct and compassion for the vulnerable. The societal rot begins when economic gain is pursued at any cost, transforming holy days into inconvenient interruptions and neighbors into targets for exploitation.

• Example 1: A modern company prioritizing quarterly earnings over ethical treatment of workers or environmental responsibilities, resenting any regulations that impact their bottom line.
• Example 2: An individual who grudgingly participates in church activities while inwardly scheming about how to gain an unfair advantage in a business deal later that week.
• Example 3: Any situation where sacred values or times are considered less important than the pursuit of personal profit or comfort.