Amos 8:1

1 Thus the Lord GOD showed me: behold, a basket of summer 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 Thus the Lord GOD showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit.

2 He said, "`Amos, what do you see?" I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the LORD said to me, "The end has come on my people Yisra'el. I will not again pass by them any more.

3 The songs of the temple will be wailings in that day," says the Lord GOD. "The dead bodies will be many. In every place they will throw them out with silence.

4 Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, And cause the poor of the land to fail,

5 Saying, 'When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Shabbat, that we may market wheat, Making the efah small, and the shekel large, And dealing falsely with balances of deceit;