Amos chapter 8
Amos is given a vision of ripe fruit. People will mourn their greed and dishonesty. The LORD God will be silent.
AMOS IS GIVEN A VISION OF RIPE FRUIT
VERSE 1. Thus the Lord GOD showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit.
the Lord GOD showed me. This is the fourth time the sovereign LORD God appears to Amos.
VERSE 2. He said, “Amos, what do you see?” I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the LORD said to me, “The end has come on my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more.
A basket of summer fruit. That is, “ripe” fruit.
The end has come.The time for “ripe” fruit has ended.
VERSE 3. The songs of the temple will be wailing in that day,” says the Lord GOD. “The dead bodies will be many. In every place they will throw them out with silence.
PEOPLE WILL MOURN THEIR GREED AND DISHONESTY
VERSE 4. Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,
NAB translation. Hear this, you who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land!
you who … destroy the poor of the land. If we mistreat poor people, we will face severe consequences.
VERSE 5. Saying, ‘When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat, making the efah small, and the shekel large, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit;
the efah. This was a unit of measure. It was equal to about one bushel.
VERSE 6. that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the sweepings with the wheat?’ ”
the needy for a pair of sandals. They valued the life of a poor person only as much as a pair of sandals.
VERSE 7. The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob, “Surely I will never forget any of their works.
VERSE 8. Won’t the land tremble for this, and everyone mourn who dwells in it? Yes, it will rise up wholly like the River; and it will be stirred up and sink again, like the River of Egypt.
VERSE 9. It will happen in that day,” says the Lord GOD, “that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.
in that day. The day of the LORD God will be dark. It will be without joy. Read more »
VERSE 10. I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies, and baldness on every head. I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and its end like a bitter day.
This verse is cited in the Book of Tobit:
Tobit 2:6. and remembered the prophecy of Amos, as he said, “Your feasts will be turned into mourning, and all your mirth into lamentation.
baldness on every head. We wonder if baldness is an implication of the human fall into sin.
THE LORD GOD WILL BE SILENT
VERSE 11. Behold, the days come,” says the Lord GOD, “that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the LORD’s words.
NAB translation. Days are coming, says the LORD GOD, when I will send famine upon the land; not a famine of bread, or thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the LORD.
famine … for hearing the word of the LORD. We believe we are in such a time right now
A lot of preaching is based on secular politics. Many preachers use biblical words to weaponize their congregation to adapt their own opinion about secular politics.
Now is the time for believers to rise up. Now is the time for every Christian believer to share the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ with other people.
People can come to faith after they hear the message of the Lord Jesus Christ being shared with them. Read more »
VERSE 12. They will wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they will run back and forth to seek the LORD’s word, and will not find it.
VERSE 13. In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint for thirst.
VERSE 14. Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, ‘As your god, Dan, lives;’ and, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives;’ they will fall, and never rise up again.”
AMOS
CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09
RESOURCES: Summary, Outline, Memorize
Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.