1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible
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| Amos 8:1 | These things the Lord shewed to me: and behold a hook to draw down the fruit. | Hook. Hebrew, "basket of summer fruit." Septuagint, "bird-cage or net." (Haydock) --- Israel was ripe for destruction, ver. 2., and Amos 7:8. (Calmet) --- Not only those who were near, (4 Kings 15:29.) but the rest also were taken, (4 Kings 17:6.) as we pull with a hook the fruit which we cannot reach otherwise. (Worthington) |
| Amos 8:2 | And he said: What seest thou, Amos? And I said: A hook to draw down fruit. And the Lord said to me: The end is come upon my people, Israel: I will not again pass by them any more. | |
| Amos 8:3 | And the hinges of the temple shall screek in that day, saith the Lord God: many shall die: silence shall be cast in every place. | Temple, when God comes like a mighty warrior; or when the profane temples shall be pillaged, Amos 9:1. Hebrew also, "the canticles of the temple or palace shall be changed into lamentations." --- Place. Hebrew, "a multitude of dead bodies shall be cast in every place. Keep silence." (Calmet) |
| Amos 8:4 | Hear this, you that crush the poor, and make the needy of the land to fail, | |
| Amos 8:5 | Saying: When will the month be over, and we shall sell our wares: and the sabbath, and we shall open the corn: that we may lessen the measure, and increase the sicle, and may convey in deceitful balances. | Month: the first day was observed as a festival, Numbers 10:10. (Haydock) --- At the expiration of the month usurers demanded their money. (Horace, 1:sat. 3.; Aristophanes, Nub. 2:1.) --- Corn, to sell after the sabbatical year, when it was dearest. Sabbath also denotes all "festivals." These misers think that there are too many. --- Sicle. Having a large measure to buy, and a small one to sell again, Deuteronomy 25:13., and Proverbs 20:10. |
| Amos 8:6 | That we may possess the needy for money, and the poor for a pair of shoes, and may sell the refuse of the corn. | Shoes, for almost nothing. Thus they forced the poor to serve, or to sell their effects. |
| Amos 8:7 | The Lord hath sworn against the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget all their works. | Jacob, because the rich despise the poor. It may also mean, that he swore by heaven, or the temple, (Leviticus 26:19.) or that he would destroy the high places. (Calmet) |
| Amos 8:8 | Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein: and rise up altogether as a river, and be cast out, and run down as the river of Egypt? | Altogether. Septuagint, "its total ruin shall rise as a river." --- Egypt. The whole land shall be visited with misery, as Egypt is by the Nile. (Haydock) --- The enemy shall retire with the booty. The Nile overflows in summer, and covers Egypt for six weeks, carrying much earth with its impetuous waves, Isaias 18:2. |
| Amos 8:9 | And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that the sun shall go down at mid-day, and I will make the earth dark in the day of light: | Light. Usher (the year of the world 3213.) explains this of an eclipse, at Pentecost. The Fathers generally understand that which accompanied the death of Christ; but it only implies great desolation and terror, Jeremias 15:9., and Joel 3:11. (St. Jerome, etc.) (Calmet) --- In their greatest prosperity, calamities shall unexpectedly fall upon them. (Worthington) |
| Amos 8:10 | *And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation: and I will bring up sackcloth upon every back of yours, and baldness upon every head: and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the latter end thereof as a bitter day. Tobias 2:6.; 1 Machabees 1:41. | Baldness, the hair being cut in mourning, Job 1:20. --- Son, most afflicted, Zacharias 12:10., and Jeremias 6:26. (Calmet) |
| Amos 8:11 | Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send forth a famine into the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord. | Lord. During the siege provisions were wanting, but instruction still more so. (Worthington) --- Israel had banished Amos. They would be left destitute. We find no prophet among them during the captivity, except Tobias, Tobias 13:3. We may apply this to the state of the Jews since the death of Christ. They have no guides. (Calmet) --- They read incessantly, and do not understand (St. Jerome; Mercer.) the Bible, which none will ever penetrate who refuse to receive the key from the Church. (Haydock) |
| Amos 8:12 | And they shall move from sea to sea, and from the north to the east: they shall go about seeking the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. | Sea to sea: from west to south, or to the ocean; in whatever part of the world they may be. (Calmet) |
| Amos 8:13 | In that day the fair virgins, and the young men shall faint for thirst. | |
| Amos 8:14 | They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say: Thy God, O Dan, liveth: and the way of Bersabee liveth: and they shall fall, and shall rise no more. | Sin. Septuagint, "propitiation," which the pagans deemed requisite; (Horace, 1:ode 2.) or worship (Haydock) of Baal, (4 Kings 17:16.; Calmet) and all the other superstitions. (Haydock) --- Way. Septuagint, "thy God," or religion, (Acts 9:2.) or pilgrimage to Bersabee, Amos 5:5. Perhaps the true God was here adored; but it was in a manner which he condemned. (Calmet) --- In vain do those pretend to honour Him, who follow the traditions of unbelieving men. (Haydock) |