Amos 8:6

"That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the refuse of the wheat?"

This reference to buying the poor for silver, etc., is probably a reference to forcing the poor into slavery, through their unjust laws, due to their having defaulted upon some minor and trifling debt.

"Sell the refuse of the wheat ..." This is a third device pointed out in this passage, used for swindling and defrauding the customer. They were: (1) false measurements; (2) false scales; and (3) delivery of inferior merchandise. The refuse of the wheat was hardly fit for animals, as it was derived from the sweepings of the threshing floors; but these unscrupulous rascals were delivering it to the poor instead of the good merchandise which they were paying for. The corruption of the judicial system left them no recourse, and no respite, from such crooked dealers.