Amos 8:2

2 He said to me, "Amos, what do you see?" I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the Lord said to me, "An endn has come for my people Israel, because I will not overlook their sins anymore.

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

2 He said to me, "Amos, what do you see?" I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the Lord said to me, "An endn has come for my people Israel, because I will not overlook their sins anymore.

3 "On that day the palace songs will become funeral songs," says the Lord God. "There will be dead bodies thrown everywhere! Silence!"

4 Listen to me, you who walk on helpless people, you who are trying to destroy the poor people of this country, saying,

5 "When will the New Moon festival be over so we can sell grain? so we can bring out wheat to sell? We can charge them more and give them less, and we can change the scales to cheat the people.