4 Hear this, you who trample upon the needyand destroy the poor of the land:
5 “When will the new moon be over,” you ask,“that we may sell our grain,And the sabbath,that we may open the grain-bins?We will diminish the ephah,add to the shekel,and fix our scales for cheating!
6 We will buy the destitute for silver,and the poor for a pair of sandals;even the worthless grain we will sell!”
7 The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:Never will I forget a thing they have done!
8 Shall not the land tremble because of this,and all who dwell in it mourn?It will all rise up and toss like the Nile,and subside like the river of Egypt.
9 On that day—oracle of the Lord God—I will make the sun set at middayand in broad daylight cover the land with darkness.
10 I will turn your feasts into mourningand all your songs into dirges.I will cover the loins of all with sackclothand make every head bald.I will make it like the time of mourning for an only child,and its outcome like a day of bitter weeping.