1By a basket of summer fruit is shewed the near approach of Israel's end. 4Their oppression of the poor shall cause their joy to be turned into mourning. 11A famine of God's word threatened.
1THUS hath the Lord GOD 1shewed unto me: and behold a 2basket of summer fruit.
1 As Amos 7:1, 4, 7.
2 Some understand by the Hebrew word a hook, wherewith one takes down the fruits which hang in the top of the trees. Jer. 5:27 the word is taken to signify a bird-basket or cage.
2And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The 3end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again 4pass by them any more.
3 In the Hebrew text the word for summer or summer fruit, and the word end do closely agree, so that the name of the one could be reminded of the other. Compare Jer. 1:11.
4 See Amos 7 on verse 8.
3And the songs of the 5temple shall be howlings 6in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every 7place; 8they shall cast them forth with silence.
5 The songs or the music, which they made use of in the idolatrous temple at Bethel and elsewhere (Amos 5:23), shall be changed into howling. See verse 10.
6 At the time of punishment.
7 Or, places. Hebr. place.
8 Or, one shall hear: Cast away, be silent. Or, in all places shall he that has cast them away, say: be silent. Compare Amos 6:10. The sense is: there shall be such a multitude of dead bodies, for which no great pains are made or do trouble themselves with burials, but they shall quietly and without any motion hide or be cast away.
4¶Hear this, O ye that 9swallow up 10the needy, even to make the 11poor of the land to 12fail,
9 Hebr. swill down.
10 Or, gape after the needy.
11 Or, meek, lowly ones.
12 Hebr. make to cease, and consequently, dispatch, consume, destroy, as the Hebrew word is likewise used.
5Saying, When will 13the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth 14wheat, making the 15ephah small, and the 16shekela great, and 17falsifying the balancesb by deceit?
13 Which one must celebrate and perform the worship. See Num. 10:10; 28:11, etc. This was so vexatious to these greedy wolves that they must be idle so long. Other, this month, that another may come wherein all things may be at a higher price; but that which follows of the sabbath agrees better with the new moon or moon.
14 That is, to open the granaries, to put in the wheat for auction.
15 See Lev. 5 on verse 11; Ezek. 45:10, 11. Using deceitful weights and measures in delivering and selling, and on the other hand taking an higher price and large amount of money, using heavy weights for receiving of monies, against the law, Deut. 25:13.
16 See Gen. 23:15; 24:22, with the annotations. Likewise Ezek. 45:12. The shekel here is taken for the weight of the shekel.
a weight, standard: about 0.44 ounce or 12.4 grams
17 That is, by falsifying the balances, we may therewith defraud. Or thus: perverting the sale with deceitful or false balances. Hebr. perverting the balances of deceit.
b Hosea 12:8.
6That we may 18buy the poor for silver,c and the needy for a pair of shoes; 19yea, and sell 20the refuse of the wheat?
18 Not only bereave them of goods, but also may enslave their persons unto us, against God’s law, Lev. 25:39, 40. Compare Amos 2:6.
c Amos 2:6.
19 Or, yea, that we may, etc.
20 Hebr. a falling off, that is, the chaff and other refuse which falls off from the wheat. Other, the chaff for wheat.
7The LORD hath sworn by the 21excellency of Jacob, 22Surely I will never forget 23any of their works.
21 Or, glory, highness, eminence, that is, by Himself, He being the honor and glory of Israel, and as it properly should be. See Psalm 106:20, with the annotation. Compare Amos 4:2; 6:8, with the annotations.
22 See of this abrupt phrase usual in making of oaths, Ezek. 34 on verse 8, etc.
23 Or, any of these their works, or, all their works.
824Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and 25it shall rise up wholly as a 26flood; and it shall be 27cast out and drowned, as by the 28flood of Egypt.
24 As if God said: Should not all these sins be enough to bring a total destruction upon the entire land and to inundate it utterly, as the river Nile overflows the land of Egypt every year? Yea verily. Compare Amos 9:5. Understand by the land the inhabitants, as follows.
25 Land. Other, should it not wholly, etc., and so in the sequel by way of question.
26 Which rises and overflows. Or, as the river, namely, Nile, as follows.
27 As the waves of a deep sea. Other, be snatched away.
28 See Ezek. 29:3.
9And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to 29go down at 30noon, and I will darken the earth in the 31clear day:
29 Hebr. go in, namely, into his bedchamber, that is, go down. See Psalm 19:5.
30 When they shall think themselves most secure and flourishing, then shall I surprise them with all extremities, intimated by the darkness, etc. See Gen. 15 on verse 12, and compare Isa. 59:9, 10; Jer. 15:9; Joel 2:2, 30, 31, with the annotations.
31 Hebr. day of light.
10And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up 32sackcloth upon all loins, and 33baldness upon every head; and I will make 34it as the mourning of an only son, and the end 35thereof as a bitter day.
32 See Gen. 37 on verse 34, and compare Isa. 15:3; Jer. 48:37; Ezek. 7:18, etc.
33 See Jer. 16 on verse 6.
34 Or, the land, that is, I shall cause the inhabitants of the land to mourn so bitterly under My plagues that shall be upon them, as parents commonly do for the death of an only dear son. See Jer. 6:26; Zech. 12:10.
35 Namely, of the land, I shall purpose, make, etc. Or thus: its end (Hebr. hindmost, uttermost, last. See Psalm 37 on verse 37) shall be as a bitter day.
11¶Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine 36in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the 37words of the LORD:
36 Or, on the earth.
37 To obtain thereby some ease and comfort and to learn out of the mouth of a prophet, when there shall be an end at one time to all those miseries. Compare Psalm 74:9, with the annotations.
12And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the 38east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.
38 Hebr. rising, namely, of the sun, that is, the east.
13In that day shall the fair virgins and young men 39faint for thirst.
39 Or, succumb, swoon. Compare Hosea 2:2.
14They that swear by the 40sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, 41O Dan, liveth; and, The 42manner of Beer-shebad liveth; even they shall fall, and never 43rise up again.
40 That is, by the idols, by whom the Israelites made themselves guilty before God, at Samaria, Dan, etc., where these idols were set up. Compare Deut. 9:21; Isa. 27:9; Hosea 10:8, with the annotations.
41 Or, of Dan.
42 That is, the god which is served and worshiped at Beersheba as god, according to the manner of worship there in use. See Amos 5:5, with the annotation. Manner for Divine worship, religion, way of serving God, here in a bad sense, elsewhere in a good sense. See Jer. 32 on verse 39.
d Amos 5:5.
43 As Amos 5:2.