The Coming Day of Bitter Mourning

(A)This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. And he said, (B)“Amos, what do you see?” And I said, (C)“A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me,

(D)“The end[a] has come upon my people Israel;
    I will never again pass by them.
(E)The songs of the temple[b] (F)shall become wailings[c] in that day,”
declares the Lord God.
(G)“So many dead bodies!”
“They are thrown everywhere!”
(H)“Silence!”

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Footnotes

  1. Amos 8:2 The Hebrew words for end and summer fruit sound alike
  2. Amos 8:3 Or palace
  3. Amos 8:3 Or The singing women of the palace shall wail

A Vision of Ripe Fruit

Then the Sovereign Lord showed me another vision. In it I saw a basket filled with ripe fruit. “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. In that day the singing in the temple will turn to wailing. Dead bodies will be scattered everywhere. They will be carried out of the city in silence. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”

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