SEV Biblia, Chapter 8:5
diciendo: Cuando pasare el mes, venderemos el trigo; y pasada la semana abriremos los alfolíes del pan, y achicaremos la medida, y engrandeceremos el precio, y falsearemos el peso engañoso;
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Amos 8:5
Verse 5. When will the new moon be gone] This was kept as a kind of holy day, not by Divine command, but by custom. The Sabbath was strictly holy; and yet so covetous were they that they grudged to give to God and their own souls this seventh portion of time! But bad and execrable as they were, they neither set forth their corn, nor their wheat, nor any other kind of merchandise, on the Sabbath. They were saints then, when compared to multitudes called Christians, who keep their shops either partially or entirely open on the Lord's day, and buy and sell without any scruples of conscience. Conscience! alas! they have none; it is seared as with a hot iron. The strong man armed, in them, is quiet, for all his goods are in peace. Making the ephah small, and the shekel great] Giving short measure, and taking full price; or, buying with a heavy weight, and selling with one that was light.
Falsifying the balances] Having one scale light, and the other weighty; one end of the beam long, and the other short. A few months ago I detected a knave with such balances; with a slip of his finger along the beam he altered the center, which made three ounces short weight tn every pound. He did it so dexterously, that though I knew he was cheating, or, as the prophet expresses it, was falsifying the balances by deceit, it was some time before I could detect the fraud, and not till I had been several times cheated by this accomplished knave. So we find that though the knaves of ancient Israel are dead, they have left their successors behind them.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 5. Saying, when will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn ? etc.] The first day of every month, on which it was forbid to sell any thing, or do any worldly business, being appointed and used for religious service; (see 2 Kings 4:23); and which these carnal earthly minded men were weary of, and wanted to have over, that they might be selling their grain, and getting money, which they preferred to the worship of God. Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it of the month of harvest, when the poor found what to eat in the fields; when they gleaned there, and got a sufficiency of bread, and so had no need to buy corn; and hence these rich misers, that hoarded up the grain, are represented as wishing the harvest month over, that they might sell their grain to the poor, having had, during that month, no demand for it; and so the Targum renders it the month of grain: or the month of intercalation, as Jarchi understands it; every three years a month was intercalated, to bring their feasts right to the season of the year; and that year was a month longer than the rest, and made provision dearer; and then the sense is, when will the year of intercalation come, that we may have a better price for our grain? but the first sense seems best; and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat ; in the shops or markets, for sale: or “open wheat” f218 ; the granaries and treasures of it, to be seen and sold. Now the sabbath, or seventh day of the week, as no servile work was to be done on it, so no trade or commerce was to be carried on on that day; which made it a long and wearisome one to worldly men, who wished it over, that they might be about their worldly business. Kimchi and Ben Melech, by “sabbath”, understand a “week”, which these men put off the poor unto, when the price of grain would rise; and so from week to week refused to sell, and longed till the week came when it would be dearer. The Targum and Jarchi interpret it of the seventh year Sabbath, when there was no ploughing, nor sowing, nor reaping, and so no selling of grain, but the people lived upon what the earth brought forth of itself. But the first sense here is also best; making the ephah small ; a dry measure, that held three scabs, or about a bushel of ours, with which they measured their grain and their wheat; so that, besides the exorbitant price they required, they did not give due measure: and the shekel great ; that is, the weight, or shekel stone, with which they weighed the money the poor gave for their grain and wheat; this was made heavier than it should be, and so of course the money weighed against it was too light, and the poor were obliged to make it up with more; and thus they cheated them, both in their measure, and in their money: and falsifying the balances by deceit ? contrary to the law in ( Deuteronomy 25:13-15 Ezekiel 45:10).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 4-10 - The rich and powerful of the land were the most guilty of oppression as well as the foremost in idolatry. They were weary of the restraint of the sabbaths and the new moons, and wished them over, because n common work might be done therein. This is the character of many wh are called Christians. The sabbath day and sabbath work are a burden to carnal hearts. It will either be profaned or be accounted a dull day But can we spend our time better than in communion with God? When employed in religious services, they were thinking of marketings. The were weary of holy duties, because their worldly business stood stil the while. Those are strangers to God, and enemies to themselves, wh love market days better than sabbath days, who would rather be sellin corn than worshipping God. They have no regard to man: those who have lost the savour of piety, will not long keep the sense of commo honesty. They cheat those they deal with. They take advantage of their neighbour's ignorance or necessity, in a traffic which nearly concern the labouring poor. Could we witness the fraud and covetousness, which in such numerous forms, render trading an abomination to the Lord, we should not wonder to see many dealers backward in the service of God But he who thus despises the poor, reproaches his Maker; as it regard Him, rich and poor meet together. Riches that are got by the ruin of the poor, will bring ruin on those that get them. God will remembe their sin against them. This speaks the case of such unjust, unmercifu men, to be miserable indeed, miserable for ever. There shall be terro and desolation every where. It shall come upon them when they littl think of it. Thus uncertain are all our creature-comforts an enjoyments, even life itself; in the midst of life we are in death What will be the wailing in the bitter day which follows sinful an sensual pleasures!
Original Hebrew
לאמר 559 מתי 4970 יעבר 5674 החדשׁ 2320 ונשׁבירה 7666 שׁבר 7668 והשׁבת 7676 ונפתחה 6605 בר 1250 להקטין 6994 איפה 374 ולהגדיל 1431 שׁקל 8255 ולעות 5791 מאזני 3976 מרמה׃ 4820
