Bible Commentaries
Amos 8

Verses 1-14

The next vision, that of the basket of summer fruit, indicated the im minence of the judgment. Jehovah declared that the end was come, that He would not pass by them any more.

This announcement was followed by the prophet's impassioned address to the moneymakers, in which he first declared the effect of their lust for gain. They swallowed the needy, and caused the poor to fail. He described the intensity of that lust; the new moon and sabbath were irksome.

Then followed a figurative description of judgment which declared Jehovah's perpetual consciousness of these things, and His consequent retribution. The final judgment would be a famine of hearing the words of the Lord, as a result of which there would be eager and fruitless search for substitutes, followed by the fainting of the youth for lack.