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He said, “Amos, what do you see?” I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then Yahweh said to me, “The end has come on my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more.
Amos 8:2 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.
  • BSB “Amos, what do you see?” He asked. “A basket of summer fruit,” I replied. So the LORD said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel; I will no longer spare them.”
  • NKJV And He said, “Amos, what do you see?” So I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me: “The end has come upon My people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore.
  • NASB And He said, “What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel. I will not spare them any longer.
  • NLT “What do you see, Amos?” he asked. I replied, “A basket full of ripe fruit.” Then the Lord said, “Like this fruit, Israel is ripe for punishment! I will not delay their punishment again.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

God asks what Amos sees, then declares the end has come on Israel and he will spare them no longer. The ripe fruit means Israel's judgment is now certain.

Overview

The Hebrew pun linking 'summer fruit' (qayitz) and 'end' (qetz) drives the message that Israel's time is up. As in the plumb-line vision, there is no more relenting; the patience that spared them before has run out. This finality warns that God's longsuffering has limits, making the present offer of mercy in Christ all the more urgent.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 22

  • Amos 7:8Yahweh said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I will set a plumb line in the middle of my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more.
  • Lam 4:18They hunt our steps, so that we can’t go in our streets: Our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end has come.
  • Jer 1:11–14Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”
  • Mic 7:1Misery is mine! Indeed, I am like one who gathers the summer fruits, as gleanings of the vineyard: There is no cluster of grapes to eat. My soul desires to eat the early fig.
  • Deut 26:1–4It shall be, when you have come in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, possess it, and dwell in it,
  • Zech 1:18–21I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, four horns.
  • Ezek 8:17Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence, and have turned again to provoke me to anger. Behold, they put the branch to their nose.
  • Ezek 8:6He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they do? Even the great abominations that the house of Israel commit here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But you will again see yet other great abominations.”
  • Zech 5:5–6Then the angel who talked with me came forward, and said to me, “Lift up now your eyes, and see what is this that is appearing.”
  • Zech 5:2He said to me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits.”
  • Jer 40:10As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah, to stand before the Chaldeans who will come to us; but you, gather wine and summer fruits and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken.”
  • Jer 5:31The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?
  • Jer 24:1–3Yahweh showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs set before Yahweh’s temple, after that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
  • Ezek 8:12Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his rooms of imagery? For they say, ‘Yahweh doesn’t see us. Yahweh has forsaken the land.’”
  • Ezek 3:10Moreover he said to me, “Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears.
  • Isa 28:4The fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley, shall be like the first-ripe fig before the summer; which someone picks and eats as soon as he sees it.
  • 2 Sam 16:1–2When David was a little past the top, behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him with a couple of donkeys saddled, and on them two hundred loaves of bread, and one hundred clusters of raisins, and one hundred summer fruits, and a bottle of wine.
  • Ezek 3:7But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they will not listen to me; for all the house of Israel are obstinate and hard-hearted.
  • Ezek 12:23Tell them therefore, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel;”’ but tell them, ‘“The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision.
  • Ezek 7:2–3“You, son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh to the land of Israel, ‘An end! The end has come on the four corners of the land.
  • Ezek 7:6An end has come. The end has come! It awakes against you. Behold, it comes.
  • Ezek 29:8Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Behold, I will bring a sword on you, and will cut off man and animal from you.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Amos videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Amos 8:2YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on AmosMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Amid judgment on injustice, Amos promises the raising up of David's fallen tent — read by James in Acts 15 as the ingathering of the nations into the kingdom of the risen Christ.

How Amos 8:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.