Amos 8:1

1 I had another vision from the Sovereign Lord. In it I saw a basket of fruit.

Amos 8:1 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 8:1

Thus hath the Lord God showed unto me
Another vision, which is the fourth, and after the following manner: and, behold, a basket of summer fruit;
not of the first ripe fruit, but of such as were gathered at the close of the summer, when autumn began. So the Targum,

``the last of the summer fruit;''
such as were fully ripe, and would not keep till winter; or, if kept, would rot; but must be eaten directly, as some sort of apples, grapes, &c. denoting the people of Israel being ripe for destruction, and would be quickly devoured by their enemies; and that, as they had had a summer of prosperity, they would now have a sharp winter of adversity.

Amos 8:1 In-Context

1 I had another vision from the Sovereign Lord. In it I saw a basket of fruit.
2 The Lord asked, "Amos, what do you see?" "A basket of fruit," I answered. The Lord said to me, "The end has come for my people Israel. I will not change my mind again about punishing them.
3 On that day the songs in the palace will become cries of mourning. There will be dead bodies everywhere. They will be cast out in silence."
4 Listen to this, you that trample on the needy and try to destroy the poor of the country.
5 You say to yourselves, "We can hardly wait for the holy days to be over so that we can sell our grain. When will the Sabbath end, so that we can start selling again? Then we can overcharge, use false measures, and fix the scales to cheat our customers.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.