Amos 8:4-6
“Hear this, you who trample on the needy, and do away with the poor of the land, saying, ‘When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale? Making the ephah small, and the shekel large, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit; that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the refuse of the wheat.’”
The prophet Amos, speaking in the 8th century BCE to the northern kingdom of Israel, delivers a powerful indictment against their social and religious corruption. He portrays a society where the wealthy and powerful exploit the vulnerable, even manipulating religious observances for economic gain.
What systems or practices in our communities today might be inadvertently (or intentionally) contributing to the suffering of the most vulnerable?