4  Hear this, ⁱyou who trample on the needy

and bring the poor of the land to an end,

5  saying, “When will ^jthe new moon be over,

that we may sell grain?

And ^kthe Sabbath,

that we may offer wheat for sale,

that we may make ^lthe ephah small and the shekel¹ great

and deal deceitfully with false balances,

6  that we may buy the poor for ^msilver

and the needy for a pair of sandals

and sell the chaff of the wheat?”

7  The Lord has sworn by ⁿthe pride of Jacob:

“Surely ^oI will never forget any of their deeds.

8  ^pShall not the land tremble on this account,

and everyone mourn who dwells in it,

^qand all of it rise like the Nile,

and be tossed about ^rand sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?”

9  “And on that day,” declares the Lord God,

^s“I will make the sun go down at noon

and darken the earth in broad daylight.

10  ^tI will turn your feasts into mourning

and all your songs into lamentation;

^uI will bring sackcloth on every waist

^uand baldness on every head;

^vI will make it like the mourning for an only son

and the end of it like a bitter day.

11  “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God,

“when ^wI will send a famine on the land—

not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,

^xbut of hearing the words of the Lord.

12  ^xThey shall wander from sea to sea,

and from north to east;

they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord,

^ybut they shall not find it.