Amos 8:1-9

1 This is what the Almighty LORD showed me: a basket of ripe summer fruit.

2 He asked, "What do you see, Amos?" "A basket of ripe summer fruit," I answered. Then the LORD said to me, "My people Israel are now ripe. I will no longer overlook what they have done.

3 On that day the songs of the temple will become loud cries," declares the Almighty LORD. "There will be dead bodies scattered everywhere. Hush!"

4 Listen to this, those who trample on the needy and ruin those who are oppressed in the world.

5 You say to yourselves, "When will the New Moon Festival be over so that we can sell more grain? When will the day of worship be over so that we can sell more wheat? We can shrink the size of the bushel baskets, increase the cost, and cheat with dishonest scales.

6 We can buy the poor with money and the needy for a pair of sandals. We can sell the husks mixed in with the wheat."

7 The LORD has sworn an oath by Jacob's pride: "I will never forget anything that they have done."

8 The land will tremble because of this. Everyone who lives in it will mourn. The entire land will rise like the Nile, be tossed about, and then sink like Egypt's river.

9 On that day, declares the Almighty LORD, I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.

Amos 8:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO AMOS 8

In this chapter a fourth vision is delivered, the vision of a "basket of summer fruit"; signifying the destruction of the ten tribes, for which they were ripe, and which would quickly come upon them, Am 8:1-3; the rich are reproved for their oppression of the poor, their covetousness and earthly mindedness, Am 8:4-6; for which they are threatened with entire ruin, sudden calamities, and very mournful times, instead of light, joy, and gladness, Am 8:7-10; and particularly with a famine of hearing the word of God, Am 8:11,12; the consequence of which would be, a fainting of the young men and virgins for thirst, and the utter and irrecoverable ruin of all idolaters, Am 8:13,14.