Amos 8:1-14

The Vision of the Ripe Fruit, followed by a Fifth Address

1-3. The vision.

4-14. The address, denouncing dishonest traders (Amos 8:4), threatening earthquakes, eclipse, mourning, a painful sense of abandonment by God, an utter destruction of the superstitious (Amos 8:7).

1-3. Notwithstanding the interference of Amaziah, the prophet finishes the recital of his visions.

1, 2. Another play on words—qayits is the word for ripe fruit, and qçts for end. We might represent it by, 'A basket of ripe fruit. My people are ripe for judgment.'

3. The literal translation of this picturesque v. is, 'And the songs of the Temple shall howl in that day—utterance of the Lord Jehovah! Many the corpses! In every place they cast forth! Hush!' Temple] RM 'palace.' The building is regarded as the palace of the Great King; the word came to the Hebrews from Babylonia, and literally signifies 'Great House.' The pestilence is so fatal that men have no time either to burn or bury the dead, and no inclination to talk.