Amos 8:1

1 The Lord God showed to me these things; and lo! an hook of apples. (The Lord God showed me these things; and lo! 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 The Lord God showed to me these things; and lo! an hook of apples. (The Lord God showed me these things; and lo! a basket of summer fruit.)

2 And the Lord said, What seest thou, Amos? And I said, An hook of apples. And the Lord said to me, The end is come on my people Israel; I shall no more put to, that I pass by him. (And the Lord said, What seest thou, Amos? And I said, A basket of summer fruit . And the Lord said to me, The end is come for my people Israel; no more shall I pass them by.)

3 And the hinges, either twists, of the temple shall greatly sound in that day, saith the Lord God. Many men shall die, silence shall be cast forth in each place. (And on that day, wailings shall be heard in the palace, saith the Lord God. Many shall die everywhere; they shall be thrown out in silence./Many shall die; they shall be thrown out everywhere! Silence!)

4 Hear ye this thing, which all-break a poor man, and make needy men of the land for to fail; (Hear ye this, which shall altogether break the poor, and shall make the needy of the land to fail;)

5 and ye say, When shall harvest pass, and we shall sell merchandises? and the sabbath, and we shall open (our) wheat (again)? that we make less the measure, and increase the shekel, and that we set privily guileful balances; (and ye say, When shall the new moon pass, and then we can sell our corn again? and the sabbath end, and we can sell our wheat again? and we can make the measure less, and increase the shekel, and we can secretly, or privately, set deceptive balances, or scales, again;)