A Riff on Amos 8:4-12

 

Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land

Hear this, you multinational corporations, 

Hear this, you Western governments, 

Hear this, you Chinese elite, 

Hear this, you World Bank, 

Hear this, you IMF, 

Hear this, you consumers of fossil fuels and precious metals and precious stones,

 

Saying, “When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale?

Saying, “When will the nationalization of your industries be over so that we may flood your markets with subsidized corn?

Saying, “When will the leftist rule of your country be over so that we may take control of your copper mines?

Saying, “When will your prosperity be over so that we may saddle you with debt?

Saying, “When will the blood moon arrive so that we may sell stories of the end times and turn your focus to heaven?

Saying, “When will your lamentations be over so that we may forget stealing your ancestors, dealing in your flesh, and killing millions of possible futures?

 

We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances,

We will make the kwacha small and the dollar great, and practice deceit with false balances,

We will make the kwacha small and the pound great, and practice deceit with false balances,

We will make the kwacha small and the Euro great, and practice deceit with false balances,

We will make the loan small and the debt great, and practice deceit with false balances,

We will make the export small and the import great, and practice deceit with false balances,

 

Buying the poor for silver

Buying the poor for empty promises 

Buying the poor for mealie meal and cooking oil

Buying the poor for circuses of prayer and fasting

Buying the poor for gospels of prosperity

 

 

And the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat.

And the needy for sandals donated in mass quantities, and putting the cobblers out of business

And the needy for t-shirts donated in mass quantities, and putting the tailors out of business

And the needy for cheap phones, and raping their land to get the coltan therein

And the needy for generic ARVs, and selling the newer better medicines at prohibitive prices.”

 

 

The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: surely I will never forget any of their deeds.  Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who lives in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?  On that day, says the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight.  I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day.  The time is surely coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the LORD.  They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it.”