Amos 8

v.1

This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: a basket of ripe fruit.

v.5

saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat? - skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales,

There were religious festivals in surrounding cultures (see comment on Ex 20:8-11), but only Israel was commanded to obey the sabbath law and cease all work (see comment on Ex 31:12-17). This restriction on trade caused friction and apparently contributed to corrupt business practices as a way of “making up” the losses.

JohnWalton

v.9-10

“In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. ¹⁰I will turn your religious festivals into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.

v.11

“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land - not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.

At any time, and most in a time of trouble, a famine of the word of God is the heaviest judgment. To many this is no affliction, yet some will feel it very much, and will travel far to hear a good sermon; they feel the loss of the mercies others foolishly sin away.

MatthewHenry

The condition described is that of being deaf to the words of Jehovah, not able to hear them. It is not a case of God withholding His revelation; but of people being in such a state that they do not see it, do not hear the words

morgan

v.12

Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.