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英文原文
Sinful times are here attended with sorrowful times, so necessary is the connexion between them; it is threatened here again and again that the laughter shall be turned into mourning. I. By the vision of "basket of summer-fruit" is signified the hastening on of the ruin threatened (Am 8:1-3) and that shall change their note. II. Oppressors are here called to an account for their abusing the poor; and their destruction is foretold, which will set them a mourning, Am 8:4-10. III. A famine of the word of God is here made the punishment of a people that go a whoring after other gods (Am 8:11-14); yet for this, which is the most mournful judgment of all, they are not here brought in mourning.
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The Vision of Summer Fruit (785 BC)
夏果的异象（公元前785年）
¹ 主耶和华又指示我一件事：看见一筐夏天果子。
² 祂说：阿摩司啊，你看见什么？我说：看见一筐夏天果子。耶和华对我说：我民以色列的结局到了；我必不再宽恕他们。
³ 主耶和华说：那日殿中的诗歌必变为哀号；必有许多尸首在各处抛弃，人静默无声地将他们抛弃。
罪人之所以一日一日地耽延他们的悔改，最大的原因乃是他们以为神也因此耽延祂的审判；最能催他们入睡的歌声，莫过于我的主人必迟来这一首；因此神借先知屡次向以色列描绘祂怒气的日子，不仅公义而确定，而且非常临近、急速而来；祂在此数节中正是这样行。
I. 所警告之毁灭的临近，借阿摩司在异象中所见的一筐夏天果子来表明；因为主把它指示他（摩8:1），并要他留意（摩8:2）：阿摩司啊，你看见什么？ 请注意：我们当查问自己是否真看见了神乐意向我们显明的事，是否听见了祂乐意对我们说的话；因为许多事神说了一次、两次，人却不留意。我们既处在全能者的异象之中，就当思想我们所看见的。他看见了一筐夏天果子，是已经收来、准备享用的，这表明：1. 他们已成熟可供毁灭，熟得发烂了，正是神该伸出祂审判的镰刀、将他们割除的时候；不但如此，这事实际上已成，他们躺卧在那里预备被吞吃。2. 神忍耐之年正趋于结束；对他们而言已是秋天，他们的年岁即将在一个凄惨的严冬中了结。3. 我们所称为夏天果子的，存不到冬天，必须立即使用，正是这百姓的写照——他们里面毫无坚实恒久之物。
II. 这异象的用意和含义不外乎：它表明我民以色列的结局到了。意为结局的词是 ketz，与意为夏天果子的 kitz 一词极为相近。神长久宽容他们、忍受他们，但如今祂的忍耐已经到了尽头；他们虽实在是祂民以色列，但他们的结局——那他们屡次被提醒却久已忘记的末后结局——如今到了。请注意：罪人若不结束罪，神就要结束他们，纵然他们是祂民以色列。摩7:8所说的话在此重复，作为神所定的旨意：我必不再宽恕他们；他们不再像从前那样被宽容，将临的审判也不再被挽回。
III. 这事的后果将是普遍的荒凉（摩8:3）：当结局来到时，悲哀与死亡要凯旋而行；这两者向来并行，至终在天上不再有死亡，也不再有悲哀（启21:4）之时，它们才一同退去。但在一个犯罪的世界、一个犯罪的国里：1. 悲哀掌权，且掌权到一个地步，殿中的诗歌必变为哀号——耶路撒冷神殿中的诗歌，或更准确地说，他们偶像庙宇中的诗歌，在那里他们每逢为金牛犊的缘故吃喝之后，便起来玩耍。那些也许是放纵亵渎的歌；而可以肯定的是，那些歌迟早要变为哀号。或者，它们虽有敬虔和宗教的外表，但因不是出于内心，也不是为神的荣耀而唱，神并不看重，反要公义地把它们变为哀号。请注意：罪的欢笑之后必有哀哭，甚至连宗教的欢笑也是如此，只要它不是真诚的。当神的审判盛行之时，它们很快就要把最大的喜乐变为最大的沉重，把殿中向来悦耳的歌声，不仅变为叹息呻吟，更变为凄厉的哀号，听来令人毛骨悚然。他们要来到殿中，看见殿已成废墟，在那里便要痛痛哀号。2. 死亡掌权，且掌权到一个地步，尸首——许多尸首在各处（诗110:6），被刀剑或瘟疫所杀，数目之多，使幸存者不能照通常的丧礼排场隆重埋葬他们；他们甚至不能为之敲丧钟，只能静默无声地将他们抛弃；要在夜深人静之时埋葬他们，并嘱咐四围的人静默、不可声张，或是因为他们无力承担丧葬的费用，或是因为那杀人的疾病传染剧烈，无人敢靠近，或是怕敌人知道了他们哀悼被杀之人而激怒。或者他们要彼此静默地嘱咐，在这些毁灭性的审判中默默顺服神的手，不发怨言，也不与祂争辩。又或者，这并非忍耐的静默，而是愠怒的静默；他们的心刚硬了，这一切审判也不能从他们口中逼出一句话来承认神的公义或他们自己的不义。
英文原文
The Vision of Summer Fruit (785 BC)
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 end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass 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.
The great reason why sinners defer their repentance de die in diem—from day to day, is because they think God thus defers his judgments, and there is no song wherewith they so effectually sing themselves asleep as that, My Lord delays his coming; and therefore God, by his prophets, frequently represents to Israel the day of his wrath not only as just and certain, but as very near and hastening on apace; so he does in these verses.
I. The approach of the threatened ruin is represented by a basket of summer-fruit which Amos saw in vision; for the Lord showed it to him (Am 8:1) and obliged him to take notice of it (Am 8:2): Amos, what seest thou? Note, It concerns us to enquire whether we do indeed see that which God has been pleased to show us, and hear what he has been pleased to say to us; for many a thing God speaks, God shows once, yea twice, and men perceive it not. Are we in the midst of the visions of the Almighty? Let us consider what we see. He saw a basket of summer-fruit gathered and ready to be eaten, which signified, 1. That they were ripe for destruction, rotten ripe, and it was time for God to put in the sickle of his judgments and to cut them off; nay, the thing was in effect done already, and they lay ready to be eaten up. 2. That the year of God's patience was drawing towards a conclusion; it was autumn with them, and their year would quickly have its period in a dismal winter. 3. Those we call summer-fruits that will not keep till winter, but must be used immediately, an emblem of this people, that had nothing solid or consistent in them.
II. The intent and meaning of this vision is no more than this: It signifies that the end has come upon my people Israel. The word that signifies the end is ketz, which is of near affinity with kitz, the word used for summer-fruit. God has long spared them, and borne with them, but now his patience is tired out; they are indeed his people Israel, but their end, that latter end they have been so often reminded of, but have so long forgotten, has now come. Note, If sinners do not make an end of sin, God will make an end of them, yea though they be his people Israel. What was said Am 7:8 is here repeated as God's determined resolution, I will not again pass by them any more; they shall not be connived at as they have been, nor the judgment coming turned away.
III. The consequence of this shall be a universal desolation (Am 8:3): When the end shall come sorrow and death shall ride in triumph; they are accustomed to go together, and shall at length go away together, when in heaven there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, Re 21:4. But here in a sinful world, in a sinful nation, 1. Sorrow reigns, reigns to such a degree that the songs of the temple shall be howlings—the songs of God's temple at Jerusalem, or rather of their idol-temples, where they used, when, in honour of the golden calves, they had eaten and drunk, to rise up to play. They were perhaps wanton profane songs; and it is certain that sooner or later those will be turned into howlings. Or, if they had a sound and show of piety and religion, yet, not coming from the heart, nor being sung to the glory of God, he valued them not, but would justly turn them into howlings. Note, Mourning will follow sinful mirth, yea, and sacred mirth too, it if be not sincere. And, when God's judgments are abroad, they will soon turn the greatest joy into the greatest heaviness, the temple-songs, which used to sound so pleasantly, not only into sighs and groans, but into loud howlings, which sound dismally. They shall come to the temple, and, finding that in ruins, there they shall howl most bitterly. 2. Death reigns, reigns to such a degree that there shall be dead bodies, many dead bodies in every place (Ps 110:6), slain by sword or pestilence, so many that the survivors shall not bury them with the usual pomp and solemnity of funerals; they shall not so much as have the bell tolled, but they shall cast them forth with silence, shall bury them in the dead of the night, and charge all about them to be silent and to take notice of it, either because they have not wherewithal to bear the charges of a funeral, or because, the killing disease being infectious, none will come near them, or for fear the enemy should be provoked, if they should be known to lament their slain. Or they shall charge themselves and one another silently to submit to the hand of God in these desolating judgments, and not to repine and quarrel with him. Or it may be taken not for a patient, but a sullen silence; their hearts shall be hardened, and all these judgments shall not extort from them one word of acknowledgment either of God's righteousness or their own unrighteousness.
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The Sin and Doom of Oppressors (785 BC)
欺压者的罪与灭亡（主前785年）\n\n> ⁴ 你们这些吞吃困苦人、使地上穷乏人灭绝的，当听这话。\n> ⁵ 你们说：月朔几时过去，我们好卖粮；安息日几时过去，我们好摆开麦子；卖出用小升斗，收银用大戥子，用诡诈的天平欺人。\n> ⁶ 好用银子买贫寒人，用一双鞋换穷乏人，也卖坏麦子。\n> ⁷ 耶和华指着雅各的荣耀起誓说：他们的一切行为，我必永远不忘。\n> ⁸ 地岂不因这事震动，其中的居民岂不悲哀吗？地必全然像尼罗河涨起，如同埃及的河涌上落下。\n> ⁹ 主耶和华说：到那日，我必使日头在午间落下，使地在白昼变为黑暗。\n> ¹⁰ 我必使你们的节期变为悲哀，歌曲变为哀歌；众人腰束麻布，头上光秃；我必使这悲哀如丧独生子，至如痛苦的日子一样。\n\n神在此与骄傲的欺压者争辩，并向他们显明——\n\nI. 他们所犯之罪的严重；简而言之，他们正有那不义之官的特征（路18:2）：既不 敬畏神，也不 尊重人。\n\n1. 观察他们的敬拜，你便会说：他们对神毫无敬畏。 他们虽然败坏，却仍维持着敬虔的外貌和形式；他们守 安息日 和 月朔；他们把那些日子与别的日子分别出来；但他们很快便厌倦了这些日子，对它们毫无情感，因为他们的心完全系于世界和世上的事。此处对他们的描述是何等可悲的画像——他们说：安息日几时过去，我们好卖粮？ 然而这仍是许多称为基督徒之人的画像。(1.) 他们厌倦了安息之日。它们几时过去呢？ 他们厌倦了安息日和月朔的约束，巴望它们快快过去，因为 在其中什么劳碌的工都不可作。 他们也厌倦了安息日和月朔的事奉或本分，对此嗤之以鼻（玛1:13），如 多益一般被拘留在耶和华面前（撒上21:7）；他们宁愿在别处，也不愿在神的祭坛旁。当知，安息之日和安息之工在属肉体的心中乃是重担，那些心总是怕为神和永恒做得太多。我们岂能把时间花得比与神相交更好吗？我们又把多少时间愉快地花在了世界上？安息之日岂不要在我们做完其工、得其益处之前已经过去了吗？那么我们为何如此急切要把它打发呢？(2.) 他们爱慕市集之日：他们渴望去 卖粮、摆开麦子。 当他们从事宗教事奉之时，心里所想的是他们的买卖；他们的心 随从他们的贪婪（结33:31），这样便把父的家变作了买卖之所，甚至成了贼窝。他们厌倦了圣洁的本分，因为他们在那段时间里世俗的生意必须停顿；他们在其中如鱼得水，在神的圣所中却如鱼离水。当知，那些爱市集之日胜过安息之日、宁愿卖粮也不愿敬拜神的人，乃是神的陌生人、自己的仇敌。\n\n2. 观察他们的日常交往，你便可见他们毫不尊重人；这通常是前者的后果——那些已失敬虔之味的人，也不会长久保持普通诚实的知觉。他们既不 行公义，也不 好怜悯。 (1.) 他们欺骗与他们交易的人。当他们 卖粮 之时，无论在交货或在收钱上都欺骗买主。他们用自己的量器量粮给他，假装给他所约定的，却 使升斗变小。量器短少，不合法定标准，这样便在那一方面欺哄了他。当他们收他的钱时，又必须按自己的秤、自己的砝码来称，而他们所 称的舍客勒 超过标准：他们使戥子变大，以致钱既被发现太轻，便必须再加；于是他们在那一方面也行欺骗，而且是在行事精确公义的幌子和借口之下。借着这样的恶行，人表现出对世界何等的贪婪、对自己的何等私爱、对人类整体及他们所交易的具体之人的何等藐视，以及对公义之圣律的何等轻视——这证明他们心中既无畏惧、也无爱慕那已经明明说过 诡诈的天平和法码为他所憎恶 的神。他们欺骗交易的另一实例是 卖坏的麦子——借着邻舍的无知或急需，使他们以 最上好的麦子 的同样价钱收下劣货。(2.) 他们对穷人残暴不怜悯：他们 吞吃困苦人，使地上穷乏人灭绝。 [1.] 他们因自己的财富如此自高，以致用想象得到的最高轻蔑看待一切穷人；他们恨恶他们，不能忍受他们，丢弃他们，因此尽力要使他们绝迹——不是借救济使他们不再为穷，而是借驱逐毁灭使他们不再存在，或至少不再存在于他们的地上。但那 这样藐视穷人的，便是藐视造他的主——在主手中 富户穷人彼此相遇。 [2.] 他们急于增加财富、使其更多，便抢夺穷人以富己；他们盯住穷人，要 把他们当作掠物，因为穷人无力申诉，也不能抵挡或报复欺压者的强暴。那借穷人之败落而得的财富，必使获得者败落。他们借与穷人作苛刻的交易，并在那些交易中欺骗他们，而吞吃穷人；因为他们 用诡诈欺骗天平，不但是为 使自己富足、为使自己有钱可用、于是（他们以为）万物皆可随心；也是为使周围的人贫穷，把他们压得如此之低，以致可以迫使他们作奴仆；这样，既已把他们别的一切榨干，便可以白白或几乎白白地得他们的劳力。这样他们便 用银子买穷人；他们使穷人和他们的 儿女陷入奴役，因他们无力付所买粮食的价（尼5:2-5）；而被逼到此绝境的人如此之多，以致身价极低；欺压者又把它压得如此之低，以致你可以 用一双鞋 买一个穷人作奴仆。财产既被侵犯，自由也随之被夺；这是欺压者的惯技——先使人成为乞丐，然后使他们成为附庸。人性的尊严在受践踏之人的苦境中丧失，而人性的温情在践踏他们之人的罪中也丧失了。\n\nII. 因这罪所加于他们的刑罚何等沉重。穷人受欺压之时必 向神呼求，他必听他们的呼声，并与那些亏负他们的人算账；因为他们是他的 收款人，他把向他们所行的恶视为向他行的（出22:23-24）。\n\n1. 神必记念他们的罪而追讨：他指着雅各的荣耀起誓（摩8:7）——指着自己起誓，因为他没有更大的可以指着起誓；除了他，谁是雅各的荣耀与威严呢？他指着那些他与他们同在、向他们施恩的凭据起誓——那些凭据他们曾亵渎妄用，并竭力使之成为他所憎恶的；因为他曾（摩6:8）厌恶雅各的荣华。他在怒中起誓，指着自己的名起誓——那名在以色列中如此为人所共知、如此伟大。他起誓说：他们的一切行为，我必永远不忘——反要在一切场合记念以追讨他们，因为这里所暗示的比明说的更多。我永不忘记 等于说 我永不饶恕；这样便宣告了这些不义不怜悯之人的景况实在是可悲——永远可悲；那人被神的誓言从赦罪之恩的一切益处上剪除了，他有祸了，千万次有祸了；那 不施怜悯 的人，理当 受无怜悯的审判。\n\n2. 他必使全然的毁灭与混乱临到他们。此处描述甚为详尽，并以许多有力的表达加以陈述，为要尽可能使他们惧而真心悔改归正。(1.) 必有普遍的恐惧与惊惶：地岂不因这事震动（摩8:8）——你们以为可以驱逐穷人出去的 这地？其中的居民岂不悲哀吗？必悲哀无疑。当知，那些不按所当行的为国家之罪颤抖悲哀的人，必被迫为国家之审判而颤抖悲哀；那些漠然看着欺压者之罪（本应使之战栗）和受欺压者之苦（本应使之哀恸）的人，神必找出方法使他们为欺压者的暴怒而战栗，并为自己因此所受的损失和苦难而哀恸。(2.) 必有普遍的洪水与荒凉。当神出来攻击他们之时，患难与灾祸的水必 全然如洪水涌起——那水被堵住之时上涨，很快便漫过两岸。万事都必与他们为敌。他们以为可以阻挡神审判前进的，反要使它涨得更高。审判必如 水之冲破 一般强行开路。全地必 被抛出，被淹没，被置于水底，如埃及地每年因尼罗河泛滥而被淹一样。或作：这些表达或许暗指神先前的某些审判。他们的毁灭必 如洪水全然涌起——如挪亚的洪水，那水淹没了整个世界，照样这水要淹没全地；地必 被抛出，被淹没，如埃及的河——如法老和他的埃及人被埋于红海之中，那对他们便是 埃及的河；这两次审判，正如此处所威吓的一样，都是强暴欺压之罪的刑罚——主是这一切事的报应者。\n\n3. 这审判必突然临到，在他们想不到之时临到他们（摩8:9）：我必使日头在午间落下——当它在其全盛光辉之中、在他们的午正之时、当他们自许一个漫长的午后、以为至少还有半天好日子之时。地在白昼变为黑暗——那时万象都显得悦目可期。我们一切受造之物带来的安慰和享受，甚至生命本身，都是如此无常；健康兴旺的最高度，往往就是病患逆境的次一步；约伯的日头 在午间落下；许多人在中年被取去，他们的日头在午间落下。我们在活人之中，便在死亡之中。这样，神的审判对于安逸沉睡的人是何等的 可畏——对他们而言，犹如 日头在午间落下；越是出乎意料，越是令人惊惶。当他们 喊着平安稳妥 之时，忽然的毁灭 就来到——如同网罗 一般来到（路21:35）。\n\n4. 这审判必改变他们的曲调，破坏他们一切的欢乐（摩8:10）：我必使你们的节期变为悲哀——如（摩8:3）殿中的歌曲变为哀号。 当知，罪人欢乐嬉笑的结局就是沉重。正如 正直人在黑暗中必有光兴起，使他们得 喜乐油代替悲哀；照样，恶人在光明中也有黑暗临到，使他们的 欢笑变为悲哀，喜乐变为沉重。 那毁灭将是如此之大、如此之广，以致 众人腰束麻布，头上光秃——代替他们素常所梳的 整齐头发 和华美衣裳。那日的悲哀将如 丧独生子之哀——表示最苦痛、最持久的哀哭。但事情到了最坏之时，难道没有指望可以好转，到了晚上仍然可以有光吗？没有，连 其终也必如痛苦之日——如苦痛哀悼之日；那不悔改之罪人的状态每况愈下，而最后将是最坏的。这便是你们从我手中所得的——你们必躺在悲忧之中。\n
英文原文
The Sin and Doom of Oppressors (785 BC)
⁴ Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,
⁵ 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?
⁶ That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?
⁷ The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.
⁸ Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
⁹ And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:
¹⁰ And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
God is here contending with proud oppressors, and showing them,
I. The heinousness of the sin they were guilty of; in short, they had the character of the unjust judge (Lu 18:2) that neither feared God nor regarded man.
1. Observe them in their devotions, and you will say, "They had no reverence for God." Bad as they are, they do indeed keep up a show and form of godliness; they observe the sabbath and the new moon; they put some difference between those days and other days, but they were soon weary of them, and had no affection at all to them, for their hearts were wholly set upon the world and the things of it. It is a sad character which this gives of them, that they said, When will the sabbath be gone, that we may sell corn? Yet is still the character of many that are called Christians. (1.) They were weary of sabbath days. "When will they be gone?" They were weary of the restraints of the sabbaths and the new-moons, and wished them over because they might do no servile work therein. They were weary of the work or business of the sabbaths and new-moons, snuffed at it (Mal 1:13), and were, as Doeg, detained before the Lord (1Sa 21:7); they would rather have been any where else than about God's altars. Note, Sabbath days and sabbath work are a burden to carnal hearts, that are always afraid of doing too much for God and eternity. Can we spend our time better than in communication with God? And how much time do we spend pleasantly with the world? Will not the sabbath be gone before we have done the work of it and reaped the gains of it? Why then should we be in such haste to part with it? (2.) They were fond of market-days: they longed to be selling corn and setting forth wheat. When they were employed in religious services they were thinking of their marketings; their hearts went after their covetousness (Eze 33:31), and thus made my Father's house a house of merchandise, nay, a den of thieves. They were weary of holy duties because their worldly business stood still the while; in this they were as in their element, but in God's sanctuary as a fish upon dry ground. Note, Those are strangers to God, and enemies to themselves, that love market days better than sabbath days, that would rather be selling corn than worshipping God.
2. Observe them in their conversations, and you will see they have no regard to man; and this commonly follows upon the former; those that have lost the savour of piety will not long retain the sense of common honesty. They neither do justly nor love mercy. (1.) They cheat those they deal with. When they sell their corn they impose upon the buyer, both in giving out the goods and in receiving the money for them. They measure him the corn by their own measure, and pretend to give him what he agreed for, but they make the ephah small. The measure is scanty, and not statute-measure, and so they wrong him that way. When they receive his money they must weigh fit in their own scales, by their own weights, and the shekel they weigh by is above standard: They make the shekel great, so that the money, being found too light, must have more added to it; and so they cheat that way too, and this under colour and pretence of exactness in doing justice. By such wicked practices as these men show such a greediness of the world, such a love of themselves, such a contempt of mankind in general, of the particular persons they deal with, and of the sacred laws of justice, as prove them to have in their hearts neither the fear nor the love of that God who has so plainly said that false weights and balances are an abomination to him. Another instance of their fraudulent dealing is that they sell the refuse of the wheat, and, taking advantage of their neighbour's ignorance or necessity, make them take it at the same price at which they sell the finest of the wheat. (2.) They are barbarous and unmerciful to the poor: They swallow up the needy, and make the poor of the land to fail. [1.] They valued themselves so much on their wealth that they looked upon all that were poor with the highest contempt imaginable; they hated them, could not endure them, but abandoned them, and therefore did what they could to make them cease, not by relieving them to make them cease to be poor, but by banishing and destroying them to make them cease to be, or at least to be in their land. But he who thus reproaches the poor despises his Maker, in whose hands rich and poor meet together. [2.] They were so eager to increase their wealth, and make it more, that they robbed the poor to enrich themselves; and they fastened upon the poor, to make a prey of them, because they were not able to obtain any redress nor to resist or revenge the violence of their oppressors. Those riches that are got by the ruin of the poor will bring ruin on those that get them. They swallowed up the poor by making them hard bargains, and cheating them in those bargains; for therefore they falsify the balances by deceit, not only that they may enrich themselves, may have money at command, and so may have every thing else (as they think) at command too, but that they may impoverish those about them, and bring them so low that they may force them to become slaves to them, and so, having drained them of every thing else, they may have their labour for nothing, or next to nothing. Thus they buy the poor for silver; they bring them and their children into bondage, because they have not wherewithal to pay for the corn they have bought; see Ne 5:2-5. And there were so many that they were reduced to this extremity that the price was very low; and the oppressors had beaten it down so that you might buy a poor man to be your slave for a pair of shoes. Property was first invaded and then liberty; it is the method of oppressors first to make men beggars and then to make them their vassals. Thus is the dignity of the human nature lost in the misery of those that are trampled on and the tenderness of it in the sin of those that trample on them.
II. The grievousness of the punishment that shall be inflicted on them for this sin. When the poor are injured they will cry unto God, and he will hear their cry, and reckon with those that are injurious to them, for, they being his receivers, he takes the wrongs done to them as done to himself, Ex 22:23,24.
1. God will remember their sin against them: He has sworn by the excellency of Jacob (Am 8:7), by himself, for he can swear by no greater; and who but he is the glory and magnificence of Jacob? He has sworn by those tokens of his presence with them, and his favour to them, which they had profaned and abused, and had done what they could to make them detestable to him; for he is said (Am 6:8) to abhor the excellency of Jacob. He swears in his wrath, swears by his own name, that name which was so well known and was so great in Israel. He swears, Surely I will never forget any of their works, but upon all occasions they shall be remembered against them, for more is implied than is expressed. I will never forget them is as much as to say, I will never forgive them; and then it proclaims the case of these unjust unmerciful men to be miserable indeed, eternally miserable; woe, and a thousand woes, to that man that is cut off by an oath of God from all benefit by pardoning mercy; and those have reason to fear judgment without mercy that have shown no mercy.
2. He will bring utter ruin and confusion upon them. It is here described largely, and in a great variety of emphatic expressions, that, if possible, they might be frightened into a sincere repentance and reformation. (1.) There shall be a universal terror and consternation: Shall not the land tremble for this (Am 8:8), this land, out of which you thought to drive the poor? Shall not every one mourn that dwells therein? Certainly he shall. Note, Those that will not tremble and mourn as they ought for national sins shall be made to tremble and mourn for national judgments; those that look without concern upon the sins of the oppressors, which should make them tremble, and upon the miseries of the oppressed, which should them mourn, God will find out a way to make them tremble at the fury of those that oppress them and mourn for their own losses and sufferings by it. (2.) There shall be a universal deluge and desolation. When God comes forth against them the waters of trouble and calamity shall rise up wholly as a flood, that swells, when it is dammed up, and soon overflows its banks. Every thing shall make against them. That with which they thought to check the progress of God's judgments shall but make them rise the higher. Judgments shall force their way as the breaking forth of waters. The whole land shall be cast out, and drowned, and laid under water, as the land of Egypt is every year by the overflowing of its river Nile. Or the expressions may allude to some former judgments of God. Their ruin shall rise up wholly as a flood, as Noah's flood, which overwhelmed the whole world, so shall this the whole land; and the land shall be cast out, and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt, as Pharaoh and his Egyptians were buried in the Red Sea, which was to them the flood of Egypt, both which judgments, as this which is here threatened, were the punishment of violence and oppression, which the Lord is the avenger of.
3. It shall surprise them, and come upon them when they little think of it (Am 8:9): "I will cause the sun to go down at noon, when it is in its full strength and lustre, at their noon, when they promise themselves a long afternoon, and think they have at least half a day good before them. The earth shall be darkened in the clear day, when every thing looks pleasant and hopeful." Thus uncertain are all our creature-comforts and enjoyments, even life itself; the highest degree of health and prosperity often proves the next degree to sickness and adversity; Job's sun went down at noon; many are taken away in the midst of their days, and their sun goes down at noon. In the midst of life we are in death. Thus terrible are the judgments of God to those that sleep in security; they are to them as the sun's going down at noon; the less they are expected the more confounding they are. When they cry Peace and safety then sudden destruction comes, comes as a snare, Lu 21:35.
4. It shall change their note, and mar all their mirth (Am 8:10): I will turn your feasts into mourning, as (Am 8:3) the songs of the temple into howlings. Note, The end of the sinner's mirth and jollity is heaviness. As to the upright there arises light in the darkness, which gives them the oil of joy for mourning, so on the wicked there falls darkness in the midst of light, which turns their laughter into mourning, their joy into heaviness. So great, so general, shall the desolation be, that sackcloth shall be brought upon all loins, and baldness upon every head, instead of the well-set hair and the rich garments they used to wear. The mourning at that day shall be as mourning for an only son, which denotes the most bitter and lasting lamentation. But are there then no hopes that when things are at the worst they will mend, and that at evening time it will yet be light? No, even the end thereof shall be as a bitter day, a day of bitter mourning; that state of impenitent sinners grows worse and worse, and the last of all will be the worst of all. This shall you have at my hand, you shall lie down in sorrow.
11-14
Spiritual Famine Threatened; Judgments Threatened (785 BC)
属灵饥荒的威吓；审判的威吓（主前785年）\n\n> ¹¹ 主耶和华说：日子将到，我必命饥荒降在地上；人饥饿非因无饼，干渴非因无水，乃因不听耶和华的话。\n> ¹² 他们必飘流，从这海到那海，从北边到东边，往来奔跑寻求耶和华的话，却寻不着。\n> ¹³ 当那日，美貌的处女和少年男子必因干渴发昏。\n> ¹⁴ 那指着撒玛利亚牛犊起誓的说：但啊，我们指着你那里的活神起誓；又说起誓说：别是巴的神啊，我们指着你的道起誓；这些人都必仆倒，永不再起来。\n\n这些经文所威吓的是——\n\nI. 一项普遍的属灵饥荒之审判，将临到全地——神之道的饥荒——神谕的止息和优良讲道的稀少。这话所说之事尚有距离：日子将到——日后必到，那时另一种黑暗将临到那光明之地。当阿摩司说预言之时，以及此后相当一段时间，他们曾有丰盛的先知，听神之道 的机会极其充足，无论得时不得时；他们曾有 命上加命、令上加令；预言原是他们的日常饮食；他们大概如以色列人之于吗哪一般因之过饱，所以神威吓日后必将这特权收回。可能在以色列地，当他们的毁灭临到之时，先知并不如犹大地之多；而当十支派被掳之时，他们 不见他们的兆头，先知也再没有了，无人知道这要到几时（诗74:9）。犹太教会在玛拉基之后，许多世纪没有先知；有人以为这威吓看得更远——指着弥赛亚之日临到以色列人的几分瞎眼，以及不信的犹太人心上的帕子。他们弃绝福音，并弃绝神差给他们的福音使者，却贪图得着自己父亲所有的那种先知；但他们必一无所得——因为 神的国 已 从他们夺去，赐给别的百姓。 在此请留意——\n\n1. 所威吓的审判本身是什么。那是一场饥荒——不是饼和水的缺乏（那是身体所必需的维持，缺乏乃是极苦之事），而是比那更重的审判——不听耶和华之道的饥荒。 必无会众可供传道人讲道，也无传道人可以讲道；那些擅自作传道人的，也得不着任何指引和才能以胜任其工。耶和华的话 必 稀少 珍贵；没有异象（撒上3:1）。他们必有写下来的道，有圣经可读，却没有传道人向他们讲解应用；井里有水，却无物可汲取。这是一项恩慈的应许（赛30:20）：他们虽缺饼，却必丰盛地得着恩典的途径；神虽 以艰难当饼、以困苦当水 给他们，他们的眼却必看见他们的教师；清教徒中有句俗语说：粗茶淡饭加上福音便是好饭食。然而此处所威吓的却正相反：他们饼水充足，教师却被挪去。如今，(1.) 这便是他们国中荣耀的一大半离去。使他们的国民伟大崇高的，乃是 神的圣言交托他们；但当这些被收回之时，他们的华美就被玷污，他们的尊荣就被践踏于尘土。(2.) 这是神对他们最不喜悦的记号。他不再如从前那样向他们说话，他确是向他们怒极了；他既不再赐下使他们悔改的途径，便是已经丢弃他们任其灭亡。(3.) 这使他们身上其余的灾祸真正可悲——因他们没有先知从神之道教导安慰他们，也不能给他们任何有盼望的前景。我们在任何时候都当说，在患难之时更要说，神的道之饥荒乃是最重的饥荒、最沉的审判。\n\n2. 这事的后果将是什么（摩8:12）：他们必飘流，从这海到那海——从他泊海到大海——从这国的一边到那一边，要看神是否借海路或陆路从别国差遣先知给他们；他们自己中间既无先知，便要从 北边到东边 去；在一处失望之后便试另一处，往来奔跑，如同迷失的人、如同急切追逐的人，去 寻求耶和华的话，去查问有无先知、有无预言、有无从神而来的信息；但他们 必寻不着。 (1.) 这对许多人来说根本不算苦，但有些人却深觉其为大患，乐意远行去听一篇好讲章；他们必深切感受那些怜悯之失丧——那些怜悯是别人愚昧地因罪失去的。(2.) 连那些从前有先知却轻忽的人，一旦失去先知，也必如扫罗思慕撒母耳一般盼望先知。许多人非到感受缺乏之时，不知怜悯之宝贵。或作此意：他们虽如此从海到海飘流寻求神之道，却必寻不着。当知，恩典的途径乃是可移之物；灯台当我们以为站得最稳之时，也可能从其处被挪去（启2:5）；那些现今轻忽 人子之日 的人，他日或徒然盼望得见。在这饥荒之 日，美貌的处女和少年男子必因干渴发昏（摩8:13）；那些人本以为足以担当劳苦的，却要在其下沉沦。有人将 处女 和 少年男子 解为指 犹太教会 与 会堂的主；这些必失去耶和华的话和神圣启示的益处，因缺乏而发昏，失去一切力量与华美。又有人将 美貌的处女 和 精选的少年男子 解为那些 倚靠自己的功劳和义行、以为自己无需基督的人；他们必 因干渴发昏，而那 饥渴慕义 基督之义的人却必大得饱足。\n\nII. 那些在拜偶像上居首之人的特别灭亡（摩8:14）。请留意：1. 他们所被控之罪：他们 指着撒玛利亚的罪 起誓——意即指着撒玛利亚的神起誓，指着距撒玛利亚不远的伯特利所敬拜的偶像起誓。他们如此以自己的羞辱为荣，指着那偶像——他们的罪孽——当作他们的神起誓，以为那能帮助他们的，反倒必定毁灭他们，又把至高的敬奉归给那本当以极度厌恶憎恶看待之物。他们说：但啊，你那里的神是活的； 那是另一只金牛犊——哑巴木头偶像——却被供奉奉承，仿佛它是又真又活的神。他们又说：别是巴的道是活的——他们指着别是巴的 宗教 起誓，指着那里所用的敬拜方式和礼仪起誓，他们视之为神圣，因此指着它起誓，并以之为争端的审判者。这样，天主教徒便指着弥撒起誓，如同 别是巴的道 一般。2. 他们所受的灭亡威吓。那些如此将唯独神当得的敬奉归给偶像的人，必发觉他们所触怒的神因此成了他们的仇敌，以致他们 必仆倒；他们所事奉的神不能保住他们，以致他们 永不再起来。 他们必发觉神是忌邪的，必记念向他所行的侮辱；他又必得胜，与他相争是徒然的。\n
英文原文
Spiritual Famine Threatened; Judgments Threatened (785 BC)
¹¹ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:
¹² And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.
¹³ In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
¹⁴ They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.
In these verses is threatened,
I. A general judgment of spiritual famine coming upon the whole land, a famine of the word of God, the failing of oracles and the scarcity of good preaching. This is spoken of as a thing at some distance: The days come, they will come hereafter, when another kind of darkness shall come upon that land of light. When Amos prophesied, and for a considerable time after, they had great plenty of prophets, abundant opportunities of hearing the word of God, in season and out of season; they had precept upon precept and line upon line; prophecy was their daily bread; and it is probable that they surfeited upon it, as Israel on the manna, and therefore God threatens that hereafter he will deprive them of this privilege. Probably in the land of Israel there were not so many prophets, about the time that their destruction came upon them, as there were in the land of Judah; and when the ten tribes went into captivity they saw not their signs, there were no more any prophets, none to show them how long, Ps 74:9. The Jewish church, after Malachi, had no prophets for many ages; and some think this threatening looks further yet, to the blindness which has in part happened to Israel in the days of the Messiah, and the veil that is on the heart of the unbelieving Jews. They reject the gospel, and the ministers of it that God sends to them, and covet to have prophets of their own, as their fathers had, but they shall have none, the kingdom of God being taken from them and given to another people. Observe here,
1. What the judgment itself is that is threatened. It is a famine, a scarcity, not of bread and water (which are the necessary support of the body, and the want of which is very grievous), but a much sorer judgment than that, even a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. There shall be no congregations for ministers to preach to, nor any ministers to preach, nor any instructions and abilities given to those that do set up for preachers, to fit them for their work. The word of the Lord shall be precious and scarce; there shall be no vision, 1Sa 3:1. They shall have the written word, Bibles to read, but no ministers to explain and apply it to them, the water in the well, but nothing to draw with. It is a gracious promise (Isa 30:20) that though they have a scarcity of bread they shall have plenty of the means of grace. God will give them the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but their eyes shall see their teachers; and it was a common saying among the Puritans that brown bread and the gospel are good fare. But it is here a threatening that on the contrary they should have plenty enough of bread and water, and yet their teachers should be removed. Now, (1.) This was the departure of a great part of their glory from their land. This made their nation great and high, that to them were committed the oracles of God; but, when these were taken from them, their beauty was stained and their honour laid in the dust. (2.) This was a token of God's highest displeasure against them. Surely he was angry indeed with them when he would no more speak to them as he had done, and had abandoned them to ruin when he would no more afford them the means of bringing them to repentance. (3.) This made all the other calamities that were upon them truly melancholy, that they had no prophets to instruct and comfort them from the word of God, nor to give them any hopeful prospect. We should say at any time, and shall say in a time of trouble, that a famine of the word of God is the sorest famine, the heaviest judgment.
2. What will be the effect of this (Am 8:12): They shall wander from sea to sea, from the sea of Tiberias to the Great Sea, from one border of the country to another, to see if God will send them prophets, either by sea or land, from other countries; since they have none among themselves, they shall go from the north to the east; when they are disappointed in one place they shall try another, and shall run to and fro, as men at a loss, and in a hot pursuit to seek the word of the Lord, to enquire if there be any prophets, any prophecy, any message from God, but they shall not find it. (1.) Though to many this is no affliction at all, yet some will be very sensible of it as a great grievance, and will gladly travel far to hear a good sermon; but they shall sensibly feel the loss of those mercies which others have foolishly sinned away. (2.) Even those that slighted prophets when they had them shall wish for them as Saul did for Samuel, when they are deprived of them. Many never know the worth of mercies till they feel the want of them. Or it may be meant thus, Though they should thus wander from sea to sea, in quest of the word of God, yet shall they not find it. Note, The means of grace are moveable things; and the candlestick, when we think it stands most firmly, may be removed out of its place (Re 2:5); and those that now slight the days of the son of man may wish in vain to see them. And in the day of this famine the fair virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst (Am 8:13); those who, one would think, could well enough have borne the toil, shall sink under it. The Jewish churches, and the masters of their synagogues, some take to be meant by the virgins and the young men; these shall lose the word of the Lord, and the benefit of divine revelation, and shall faint away for want of it, shall lose all their strength and beauty. Those that trust in their own merit and righteousness, and think they have no need of Christ, others take to be meant by the fair virgins and the choice young men; they shall faint for thirst, when those that hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Christ shall be abundantly satisfied and filled.
II. The particular destruction of those that were ringleaders in idolatry, Am 8:14. Observe, 1. The sin they are charged with: They swear by the sin of Samaria, that is, by the god of Samaria, the idol that was worshipped at Bethel, not far off from Samaria. Thus did they glory in their shame, and swear by them as their god which was their iniquity, thinking that could help them which would certainly ruin them, and giving the highest honour to that which they should have looked upon with the utmost abhorrence and detestation. They say, Thy god, O Dan! liveth; that was the other golden calf, a dumb deal idol, and yet caressed and complimented as if it had been the living and true God. They say, The manner, or way, of Beer-sheba liveth; they swore by the religion of Beer-sheba, the way and manner of worship used there, which they looked upon as sacred, and therefore swore by and appealed to as a judge of controversy. Thus the papists swear by the mass, as the manner of Beer-sheba. 2. The destruction they are threatened with. Those who thus give that honour to idols which is due to God alone will find that the God they affront is thereby made their enemy, so that they shall fall, and the gods they serve cannot stand their friends, so that they shall never rise again. They will find that God is jealous and will resent the indignity done him, and that he will be victorious and it is to no purpose to contend with him.
犯罪的世代在此伴随着悲哀的世代，二者之间的关联本是必然；经文在此反复宣告，欢笑必变为哀哭。I. 借着“一筐夏天果子”的异象，表明所警告的毁灭正在加速临近（摩8:1-3），那必改变他们的腔调。II. 欺压者因虐待穷人而被召来交账；他们的毁灭也被预言，那必叫他们哀哭，摩8:4-10。III. 神话语的饥荒被定为追讨那追随别神行淫之百姓的刑罚（摩8:11-14）；然而对于这最可悲的审判，他们在此却没有因此哀哭。