Amos 8:6

“That we may buy the poor for silver, etc.] Thus making them pay dear for their provisions, and using them in this fraudulent manner, by which they would not be able to support themselves and their families; they might purchase them and theirs for slaves, at so small a price as a piece of silver, or a single shekel, worth about half a crown; and this was their end and design in using them after this manner; (see <032539>Leviticus 25:39,40); and the needy for a pair of shoes; (see Gill on “<300206>Amos 2:6”); [yea], and sell the refuse of the wheat; not only did they sell the poor grain and wheat at a dear rate, and in scanty measure, but the worst of it, and such as was not fit to make bread…”

“buy . . . poor for silver . . . pair of shoes--that is, that we may compel the needy for money, or any other thing of however little worth, to sell themselves to us as bondmen, in defiance of Lev 25:39; the very thing which brings down God's judgment (Amo 2:6). sell the refuse of . . . wheat--which contains no nutriment, but which the poor eat at a low price, being unable to pay for flour.”

“That we may buy - Or, indignantly, “To buy the poor!” literally, “the afflicted,” those in “low” estate. First, by dishonesty and oppression they gained their lands and goods. Then the poor were obliged to sell themselves. The slight price, for which a man was sold, showed the more contempt for “the image of God.” Before, he said, “the needy” were “sold for a pair of sandals” Amos 2:6; here, that they were bought for them. It seems then the more likely that such was a real price for man. And sell the refuse - Literally, the “falling of wheat,” that is, what fell through the sieve, either the bran, or the thin, unfilled, grains which had no meal in them. This they mixed up largely with the…”

“That we may buy - They would have new moons and sabbaths over, that they might go to market to buy the poor. And when these poor owed but for a very little commodity, as suppose a pair of shoes, these merciless men would take the advantage against them, and make them sell themselves to pay the debt. The refuse - This was another kind of oppression, corrupted wares, sold to those that were necessitous. Amos 8:7”

“Amo 8:4, Amo 2:6; Lev 25:39-42; Neh 5:1-5, Neh 5:8; Joe 3:3, Joe 3:6 Amos 8:7”