About Amos

Amos, a shepherd called to prophesy, denounced social injustice and religious hypocrisy in prosperous Israel.

Author: AmosWritten: c. 760-750 BCReading time: ~2 minVerses: 14
JusticeSocial RighteousnessJudgmentPrivilege and ResponsibilityDay of the LordRestoration

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Beersheba 1(Settlement)Dan(Settlement)Egypt(Region)Nile(River)Samaria 1(Settlement)

King James Version

Amos 8

14 verses with commentary

The Vision of Ripe Fruit

1

Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit</strong>—God shows Amos a fourth vision (following locusts in 7:1-3, fire in 7:4-6, and plumb line in 7:7-9). The Hebrew <em>kelub qayits</em> (כְּלוּב קַיִץ, "basket of summer fruit") depicts late-harvest fruit—figs, grapes, dates gathered at summer's end. The term <em>qayits</em> (קַיִץ) means "summer" but specifi...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(1, 2) The visions are resumed as though the priest at Bethel had trembled at the presence of Amos, and had ceased to persecute him. There is a remarkable play of words, *qaits* being the Hebrew for “summer fruit,” and *qêts* for “end.” It is harvest time, the end of the agricultural year. Israel is ripe for his final doom, that shall sweep down like a scythe. For “pass by” see on Amos 7:8.
2

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.

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>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</strong>—God asks what Amos sees, receives his answer, then delivers the interpretation through devastating wordplay. <strong>Summer fruit</strong> (קַיִץ, <em>qayits</em>) sounds like <strong>end</strong> (קֵץ, <em>qets</em>)—the phonetic similarit...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**10-11. Levites ... shall ... bear--**namely, the punishment of **their iniquity ... Yet they shall be ministers--**So Mark, a Levite, nephew of Barnabas (Ac 4:36), was punished by Paul for losing an opportunity of bearing the cross of Christ, and yet was afterwards admitted into his friendship again, and showed his zeal (Ac 13:13; 15:37; Col 4:10; 2Ti 4:11). One may be a believer, and that too...
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3

And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence. shall be howlings: Heb. shall howl with: Heb. be silent

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KJV Study Commentary

The prophecy 'the songs of the temple shall be wailings in that day' announces reversal of worship into mourning. The Hebrew 'shirot hekhal' (temple songs) likely refers to Northern Kingdom shrines at Bethel and Dan (1 Kings 12:28-33), not Jerusalem's temple. These songs of false worship will become 'yelelylu' (wail/howl)—shrieks of anguish. 'Many dead bodies' (rav ha-peger) scattered everywhere i...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(3) **Temple.—**The word thus rendered (*hêchal*) also signifies “palace,” and this is probably the meaning in this passage. The “songs” have been already spoken of in Amos 6:5. The construction of the following clauses in the original is somewhat doubtful. Some commentators would break up the sentence into abrupt ejaculations. Thus Keil:—“corpses in multitude; in every place he hath cast them for...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**10-11. Levites ... shall ... bear--**namely, the punishment of **their iniquity ... Yet they shall be ministers--**So Mark, a Levite, nephew of Barnabas (Ac 4:36), was punished by Paul for losing an opportunity of bearing the cross of Christ, and yet was afterwards admitted into his friendship again, and showed his zeal (Ac 13:13; 15:37; Col 4:10; 2Ti 4:11). One may be a believer, and that too...
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The Coming Famine

4

Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail</strong>—Amos addresses economic oppressors with the imperative <strong>Hear this</strong> (שִׁמְעוּ־זֹאת, <em>shimu-zot</em>), demanding attention. The phrase <strong>swallow up the needy</strong> (הַשֹּׁאֲפִים אֶבְיוֹן, <em>hasho'afim evyon</em>) uses violent imagery—<em>sha'af</em> (שָׁאַף) means "pant ...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(4) **Ye that swallow up** . . .—Better, *ye that pant* (or *are greedy*)* for the very ashes on their heads.* **Make . . . to fail.—**Literally, *make* . . . *to cease: i.e.,* destroy.
5

Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? new: or, month set: Heb. open falsifying: Heb. perverting the balances of deceit

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat</strong>—This verse exposes the merchants' hearts: they observe religious festivals outwardly while resenting them inwardly. <strong>New moon</strong> (חֹדֶשׁ, <em>chodesh</em>) marked monthly celebrations with rest from commerce (Numbers 10:10, 28:11-15; Isaiah 1:13-14). <strong>Sab...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(5) **When** . . . **gone.—**They desired that the festivals of the New Moon and Sabbath should be over, when they might not only return to their secular employments, but pursue their search for ill-gotten gains—a proof that these festivals were observed in the northern nation, even if they were disliked. **Set forth wheat.—**The original signifies the opening of the sacks, or granaries, where the...
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6

That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes</strong>—This verse exposes debt slavery as economic strategy. The Hebrew <strong>buy</strong> (לִקְנוֹת, <em>liqnot</em>) means purchase as property, and <strong>for silver</strong> (בְּכֶסֶף, <em>bekhesef</em>) indicates monetary debt as the mechanism. When poor Israelites couldn't repay loans (often at usurious rates...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(6) On this perverse straining of the Law, comp. Amos 2:6. Their money-making propensity was carried to such unscrupulous lengths, that they even sold the refuse of corn, little better than mere chaff.
7

The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works</strong>—God takes an oath, and the oath formula is startling. <strong>The LORD hath sworn</strong> (נִשְׁבַּע יְהוָה, <em>nishba' YHWH</em>) invokes divine self-malediction—God stakes His own nature on this promise. He swears <strong>by the excellency of Jacob</strong> (בִּגְאוֹן יַעֲקֹב, <em>big...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(7) **Excellency of Jacob.—**In the previous use of this remarkable expression (Amos 6:8) Jehovah is said to abhor it, but here He swears by it. The “excellency” which He abhorred was the miserable substitute which they had made for His great Name. Here He gives it the value which, in itself, it ought to possess.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**15. Zadok--**The priests of the line of Ithamar were to be discharged from ministrations in the temple, because of their corruptions, following in the steps of Eli's sons, against whom the same denunciation was uttered (1Sa 2:32, 35). Zadok, according to his name (which means "righteous") and his line, were to succeed (1Ki 2:35; 1Ch 24:3), as they did not take part in the general apostasy to the...
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8

Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned , as by the flood of Egypt.

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein?</strong>—The rhetorical question expects affirmative answer: yes, the land will shake and its inhabitants mourn. <strong>Tremble</strong> (תִרְגַּז, <em>tirgaz</em>) describes earthquake convulsions, used metaphorically for social upheaval accompanying divine judgment. <strong>Mourn</strong> (אָבַל, <em>aval</e...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(8) **Shall not the land** . . .**?—**The rendering should be, *The whole of it rises as the Nile, surges and subsides* (or *sinks*)* as the Egyptian Nile.* The solid land shall rise up in earthquake, like the Nile that ascends twenty feet in the time of its inundation, and then subsides.
9

And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day</strong>—God announces cosmic disruption accompanying judgment. The phrase <strong>in that day</strong> (בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא, <em>bayyom hahu</em>) signals eschatological judgment, the "Day of the LORD" Amos described in 5:18-20 as "darkness, and...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(9) **Darken the earth.—**The darkening of the sun at noon-day gives an image of confusion and terror (comp. Amos 5:20). The eclipse of the sun that is here alluded to (see *Excursus* C), like the earthquake in the preceding verse, is employed as a powerful image of national calamity, the extinction of the royal house, and perhaps the final overthrow of Israel. (Comp. Jeremiah 15:9; Ezekiel 32:7-1...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**17. linen--**symbolical of purity. Wool soon induces perspiration in the sultry East and so becomes uncleanly.
10

And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.

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KJV Study Commentary

God promises to transform celebrations into calamity: 'I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation.' The Hebrew intensifies the reversal: 'your feasts' (hageykem) become 'mourning' (le-evel), 'your songs' (shirekh em) become 'lamentation' (le-qinah). The imagery becomes visceral: 'sackcloth on all loins' (saq al-kol-motnayim) and 'baldness on every head' (qorhah al-k...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(10, 11) The imagery is very vivid. The prophet threatens a famine of the word of Jehovah, and a parching thirst for the Water of Life, now no longer attainable. Such terrible destitution often supervenes on the neglect of the Word of God, the power to discern the ever-present Word being exhausted. Then comes the withdrawal of revelation, the silence of seers. One of the awful dooms of unbelief in...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**18. bonnets--**turbans.
11

Behold, the days come, saith 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 words of the LORD:

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KJV Study Commentary

Amos prophesies a devastating judgment worse than physical famine: "Behold, the days come, saith 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 words of the LORD." The Hebrew <em>hinneh yamim ba'im ne'um Adonai YHWH vehishlachti ra'av ba'aretz lo-ra'av lalechem velo-tzama lamayim ki im-lishmo'a et divrei-YHWH</em> (הִנֵּה יָמִ...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**19. not sanctify the people with their garments--**namely, those peculiarly priestly vestments in which they ministered in the sanctuary.
12

And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it</strong> (וְנָעוּ מִיָּם עַד־יָם וּמִצָּפוֹן וְעַד־מִזְרָח יְשׁוֹטְטוּ לְבַקֵּשׁ אֶת־דְּבַר־יְהוָה וְלֹא יִמְצָאוּ, <em>v'na'u miyam ad-yam umitzafon v'ad-mizrach y'shot'tu l'vakeish et-d'var YHWH v'lo yimtza'u</em>)—The verbs intensify d...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(12) **They shall wander from sea to sea . . .**—Stagger and reel from east to west to find one seer who knows the mind of the Lord: they shall not find one. The reference to the east here has an instructive parallel in Isaiah 2:6, where the house of Jacob is enounced as being “full of the east.” Probably Delitzsch is right in interpreting the east there to mean Arabia as inclusive of the whole tr...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**20. Neither ... shave ... heads--**as mourners do (Le 21:1-5). The worshippers of the Egyptian idols Serapis and Isis shaved their heads; another reason why Jehovah's priests are not to do so. **nor suffer ... locks to grow long--**as the luxurious, barbarians, and soldiers in warfare did [Jerome].
13

In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst</strong> (בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא תִּתְעַלַּפְנָה הַבְּתוּלֹת הַיָּפוֹת וְהַבַּחוּרִים בַּצָּמָא, <em>bayom hahu tit'alafnah hab'tulot hayafot v'habachurim batzama</em>)—Young, vigorous people (בְּתוּלוֹת, <em>betulot</em>, 'virgins'; בַּחוּרִים, <em>bachurim</em>, 'young men') typically most resilient will 'faint' (עָלַף, <em>alaf<...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(13) **Faint.**—That fair virgins and strong brave youths should faint by reason of their raging thirst suggests that the less vigorous would suffer even more keenly. It is sad when old men stumble into the darkness of unbelief amid the shining of the noon-day sun, seeing that they can remember the brightness of their morning, but there is always hope that their child-like spirit may return to the...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**21. Neither ... wine--**lest the holy enthusiasm of their devotion should be mistaken for inebriation, as in Peter's case (Ac 2:13, 15, 18).
14

They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again. manner: Heb. way

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KJV Study Commentary

<strong>They that swear by the sin of Samaria</strong> (הַנִּשְׁבָּעִים בְּאַשְׁמַת שֹׁמְרוֹן, <em>hanishba'im b'ashmat Shomron</em>)—'sin' (אַשְׁמַת, <em>ashmat</em>) likely refers to the golden calf at Bethel or possibly Asherah worship. They swear oaths by idols rather than Yahweh. <strong>And say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth</strong> (וְאָמְרוּ חֵי אֱלֹהֶיךָ דָּן, <em>v'am'ru chei Eloheicha Dan</em...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(14) **Thy God, O Dan, liveth.—**Translate, *By the life of thy God, O Dan, and by the life of the way of Beersheba.* On such forms of oath, see Note on Amos 6:8. The “way of Beersheba” was the ritual practised at Beersheba, another mode of designating the deity himself (probably Baal).[18] So LXX. Similarly the “sin of Samaria” means the golden calf that was worshipped there (Hosea 8:5). The supp...
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