Amos 8:2

2 He asked me, "What do you see, Amos?" I replied, "A basket of summer fruit." The Lord said to me, "The end has come for My people Israel; I will no longer spare them.[a]

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 The Lord God showed me this: A basket of summer fruit.
2 He asked me, "What do you see, Amos?" I replied, "A basket of summer fruit." The Lord said to me, "The end has come for My people Israel; I will no longer spare them.
3 In that day the temple songs will become wailing"-the Lord God 's declaration. "Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere! Silence!"
4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy and do away with the poor of the land,
5 asking, "When will the New Moon be over so we may sell grain, and the Sabbath, so we may market wheat? We can reduce the measure while increasing the price and cheat with dishonest scales.

Footnotes 1

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