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Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
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Commentary & Explanation
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Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
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CHAPTER 8
Amos prophesies the downfall of Israel—There will be a famine of
hearing the word of the Lord.
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1 THUS hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.
2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I
said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The
aend is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again
bpass by them any more.
3 And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.
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4 ¶ Hear this, O ye that swallow up the
needy, even to make the poor of the land to
faila,
5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that
we may sell corn? and the asabbath, that we may set forth
wheat, making the bephah small, and the shekel great, and
falsifying the cbalances by deceit?
6 That we may abuy the poor
for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the
refuse of the wheat?
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4a O ye that swallow up the needy, even to
make the poor of the land to fail The way of the world is to take
gain at another's disadvantage. It is the getting rich upon the backs of
others, taking advantage of one's neighbor at their expense. This practice of
draining the needy in order to raise oneself up causes the poor to fail and
to be poor because they have been taken advantage of. This is not the way of
the Lord. The Lord's way is to benefit the needy and work that all may
prosper together and not one above another in that the needy and poor are
taken advantage of. We are to help each other and not to take advantage of
another.
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7 The LORD hath sworn by the
aexcellency of Jacob, Surely I will never
bforget any of their works.
8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and
every one amourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise
up wholly as a flood; and it shall bbe cast out and
drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
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9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith
the Lord GOD, that I will cause the asun to go down at
noon, and I will bdarken the cearth in
the clear day:
10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning,
and all your songs into alamentation; and I will bring up
sackcloth upon all loins, and bbaldness upon every head;
and I will make it as the mourning of an conly son,
and the end thereof as a bitter day.
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11 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord
GOD, that I will send a famine in the
landa, not a
afamine
of bread, nor a bthirst for water, but of hearing the
cwords of the LORD:
12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and
from the north even to the east, they shall arun to and
fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.
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11a I will send a famine in the
land This famine of hearing the 'word of the LORD' could arguably
be from the time of the destruction and scattering of Israel and Judah. But
Judah was restored and the temple rebuilt and these very minor prophets were
still speaking the word of the Lord then. Perhaps it could be thought of as
to be during the Hellenization and before the birth of Christ, when assuredly
the shepherds of Jews had in the most part fallen into states of apostasy.
But even then there was such as Zacariah serving in the temple. And though the
'Christian Church' was self represented during the dark ages, it is to this
time that the people were not allowed to read the scriptures as such in their
own language in order to partake of the word of God from them. And it is from
that time that the reformation began to restore the word of God to the people.
And when Jesus spoke to Joseph Smith, He stated that none of the churches had
retained the truth, having been given by the philosophies and precepts of men
and not by the word of God. It is this 'great apostasy' which Amos speaks.
And it is the true word of the LORD which was restored through the prophet
Joseph Smith.
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13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
14 They that aswear by the
sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O bDan, liveth; and, The
manner of Beer-sheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up
again.
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