Amos 8:2

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.)

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).

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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 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;)