Bible Strands
Amos 8:2
“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.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Lord addresses the prophet Amos during a vision, asking what he sees before declaring judgment. Amos identifies the vision of a basket of summer fruit, prompting God’s direct announcement of impending national termination.
The words — The Hebrew כְּלוּב (ke.Luv) translates literally to a "basket" or "fruit basket," while קָיִץ (Ka.yitz) means "summer" or "summer fruit." These terms anchor the prophetic symbol to a specific agricultural harvest cycle.
The thread — This prophetic question-and-answer pattern mirrors the plumb line vision in Amos 7:8 and the almond branch revelation in Jeremiah 1:11. The declared termination echoes the approaching deadline in Lamentations 4:18, framing Israel’s historical collapse as a fixed divine timeline.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that divine patience has reached its limit and that national consequences follow directly upon prophetic warning. It requires readers to confront the reality of unalterable judgment without seeking further delay or exemption.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Amos 7:8 “Amos, what do you see?” asked the LORD. “A plumb line,” I replied. “Behold,” said the Lord, “I am setting a plumb line among My people Israel; I will no longer spare them:
- Lamentations 4:18 They stalked our every step, so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end drew near, our time ran out, for our end had come!
- Jeremiah 1:11 And the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” “I see a branch of an almond tree,” I replied.
- Micah 7:1 Woe is me! For I am like one gathering summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster to eat, no early fig that I crave.
- Deuteronomy 26:1 When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and settle in it,
- 2 Samuel 16:1 When David had gone a little beyond the summit, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth was there to meet him. He had a pair of saddled donkeys loaded with two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred clusters of raisins, a hundred summer fruits, and a skin of wine.
- Isaiah 28:4 The fading flower of his beautiful splendor, set on the summit above the fertile valley, will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest: Whoever sees it will take it in his hand and swallow it.
- Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?
- Jeremiah 24:1 After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, as well as the officials of Judah and the craftsmen and metalsmiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon, the LORD showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the LORD.
- Jeremiah 40:10 As for me, I will stay in Mizpah to represent you before the Chaldeans who come to us. As for you, gather wine grapes, summer fruit, and oil, place them in your storage jars, and live in the cities you have taken.”