saying, “When will the new moon be over, So that we may sell grain; And the Sabbath, so that we may open the wheat market, To make the ephah smaller and the shekel bigger, And to cheat with dishonest scales,
Parallel translations
- WEB Saying, ‘When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel large, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit;
- 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?
- BSB asking, “When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat? Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel; let us cheat with dishonest scales.
- 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,
- 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.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The merchants resent holy days that interrupt business and cheat customers with false measures and weights. Their religion is a mask over their love of dishonest gain.
Overview
They observe new moon and Sabbath outwardly while inwardly chafing to resume defrauding the poor with skewed scales. Their hearts despise God's rest and worship, valuing profit above all. This hypocrisy exposes the hollowness of religion without integrity, the very thing Christ condemns and his gospel transforms from within.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Neh 13:15–21In those days saw I in Judah some men treading wine presses on the Sabbath, bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys; also with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; and I testified against them in the day in which they sold food.
- Hos 12:7A merchant has dishonest scales in his hand. He loves to defraud.
- Mic 6:10–11Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a short ephah that is accursed?
- Deut 25:13–16You shall not have in your bag diverse weights, one heavy and one light.
- Lev 19:36You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin. I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
- Prov 16:11Honest balances and scales are Yahweh’s; all the weights in the bag are his work.
- Prov 20:23Yahweh detests differing weights, and dishonest scales are not pleasing.
- Exod 20:8–10“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
- Isa 1:13Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me; new moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can’t bear with evil assemblies.
- Prov 11:1A false balance is an abomination to Yahweh, but accurate weights are his delight.
- Num 10:10“Also in the day of your gladness, and in your set feasts, and in the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be to you for a memorial before your God. I am Yahweh your God.”
- 2 Kgs 4:23He said, “Why would you want go to him today? It is not a new moon or a Sabbath.” She said, “It’s alright.”
- Ezek 45:10–12You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath.
- Ps 81:3–4Blow the trumpet at the New Moon, at the full moon, on our feast day.
- Num 28:11–15“‘In the beginnings of your months, you shall offer a burnt offering to Yahweh: two young bulls, and one ram, seven male lambs a year old without defect;
- Isa 58:13“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy of Yahweh honorable; and shall honor it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words:
- Mal 1:13You say also, ‘Behold, what a weariness it is!’ and you have sniffed at it”, says Yahweh of Armies; “and you have brought that which was taken by violence, the lame, and the sick; thus you bring the offering. Should I accept this at your hand?” says Yahweh.
- Col 2:16Let no one therefore judge you in eating, or in drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day,
- Rom 8:6–7For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;
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Christ at the center
Amid judgment on injustice, Amos promises the raising up of David's fallen tent — read by James in Acts 15 as the ingathering of the nations into the kingdom of the risen Christ.
How Amos 8:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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