3 ‘In that day,’ declares the Sovereign Lord, ‘the songs in the temple will turn to wailing. Many, many bodies – flung everywhere! Silence!’
4 Hear this, you who trample the needyand do away with the poor of the land,
5 saying,‘When will the New Moon be overthat we may sell grain,and the Sabbath be endedthat we may market wheat?’ –skimping on the measure,boosting the priceand cheating with dishonest scales,
6 buying the poor with silverand the needy for a pair of sandals,selling even the sweepings with the wheat.
7 The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob: ‘I will never forget anything they have done.
8 ‘Will not the land tremble for this,and all who live in it mourn?The whole land will rise like the Nile;it will be stirred up and then sinklike the river of Egypt.
9 ‘In that day,’ declares the Sovereign Lord,‘I will make the sun go down at noonand darken the earth in broad daylight.