Amos 8:4-8, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Amos 8:4-8
Merchants Trample the Needy and Manipulate the Market
When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn?
Hear this, they that swallow up the needy and make the poor of the land to fail. They ask when the new moon and sabbath will end so they may market grain. Sacred rest is an obstacle to trade. The passage does not condemn Jewish new moons or sabbaths, and it does not condemn all merchants, profit, prices, lending, or trade as such.
They make the ephah small, the shekel great, and falsify the balances by deceit. Less product, higher price, rigged scales. Then they buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the refuse of the wheat. Inferior sweepings become food for people who cannot refuse. Debt turns persons into purchases. Poverty is not consent.
The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob
The LORD swears he will not forget any of their works. Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? It shall rise up wholly as a flood and be cast out and drowned as by the flood of Egypt. Economic injustice is a land-shaking matter, not a private sharp practice.
The sale-for-sandals charge returns from 2:6. Honest weights, sabbath rest, and protection against predatory debt are Torah obligations Amos joins. The oath does not authorize customers to threaten or publicly shame accused businesses without evidence.
How this should shape us
Audit quantity, price, scales, fees, financing, product quality, labor, and rest, especially where buyers and debtors cannot absorb loss. Refuse to treat worship calendars as interruptions of exploitation. Do not turn this indictment into contempt for Jewish holy days or for commerce itself.
Teach it back
Explain Amos 8:4-8 in your own words. Include its place in Amos's judgment-restoration movement, one material uncertainty, and one use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: The exact market mechanisms, debt sale, refuse grain, oath formula, and Nile-earthquake imagery have alternatives; coordinated commercial exploitation is unmistakable.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Amos 8:4-8, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, wordplays, names, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Amos.xml, 8:4-8
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
NET Bible Amos PDF, printed pp. 1719-1720, translation and notes on 8:4-8
Supports: Whole-book movement, eighth-century horizon, literary boundaries, composition, and verse-level alternatives.
Dines, 'Amos,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 588, discussion of 8:4-8
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Amos 8:4-8, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Amos
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, wordplays, names, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Amos.xml, 8:4-8
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Amos with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Amos PDF, printed pp. 1719-1720, translation and notes on 8:4-8
Open source ↗modern critical commentary
Amos
Jennifer M. Dines
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001
Supports: Whole-book movement, eighth-century horizon, literary boundaries, composition, and verse-level alternatives.
Exact location: Dines, 'Amos,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 588, discussion of 8:4-8
Open source ↗