Amos 8:1

1 This is what the Lord God showed me—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 This is what the Lord God showed me—a basket of summer fruit.

2 He said, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the Lord said to me, "The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass them by.

3 The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day," says the Lord God; "the dead bodies shall be many, cast out in every place. Be silent!"

4 Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land,

5 saying, "When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances,

Footnotes

• [a]. Heb [qayits]