Amos 8:2

2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass over them any more.

Amos 8:2 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 8:2

And he said, Amos, what seest thou?
&c.] To quicken his attention, who might disregard it as a common thing; and in order to lead him into the design of it, and show him what it was an emblem of: and I said, a basket of summer fruit;
some render it "a hook" ^F23, such as they pull down branches with to gather the fruit; and the word so signifies in the Arabic language ^F24; but the other is the more received sense of the word: then said the Lord unto me;
by way of explanation of the vision: the end is come upon my people Israel: the end of the kingdom of Israel; of their commonwealth and church state; of all their outward happiness and glory; their "summer [was] ended", and they "not saved", ( Jeremiah 8:20 ) ; all their prosperity was over; and, as the Targum, their

``final punishment was come,''

the last destruction threatened them ^F25: I will not again pass by them any more;
pass by their offences, and forgive their sins; or pass by their persons, without taking notice of them, so as to afflict and punish them for their iniquities: or, "pass through them and more" ^F26 now making an utter end of them; (See Gill on Amos 7:8).

---

FOOTNOTES:

F23 (bwlk) "unicuus", V. L.
F24 <arabic> "ferramentum incurvum, seu uncus ex quo de sella commeatum suspendit viator", Giggeius apud Golium, col. 2055.
F25 There is an elegant play on words in the words (Uyq) , "summer", and (Uq) , "the end".
F26 So Mercerus, Grotius.

Amos 8:2 In-Context

1 Thus hath the Lord GOD showed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.

2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass over them any more.

3 And the cantors of the temple shall howl in that day, said the Lord GOD; there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.

4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, and cut off the poor of the land,

5 saying, When the month is over, we will sell the wheat; and after the sabbath day we will open the storehouse of bread, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit;