Amos , Sarah Barry
A BASKET OF RIPE FRUIT
Passage: Amos 8:1~14  
Key verse: 11b,12
A Basket of Ripe Fruit
8 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me:(A) a basket of ripe fruit. 2 “What do you see,(B) Amos?(C)” he asked.
“A basket(D) of ripe fruit,” I answered.
Then the Lord said to me, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.(E)
3 “In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “the songs in the temple will turn to wailing.[a](F) Many, many bodies—flung everywhere! Silence!(G)”
5 saying,
“When will the New Moon(J) be over
that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath be ended
that we may market(K) wheat?”(L)—
skimping on the measure,
boosting the price
and cheating(M) with dishonest scales,(N)
6 buying the poor(O) with silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
selling even the sweepings with the wheat.(P)
7 The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob:(Q) “I will never forget(R) anything they have done.(S)
8 “Will not the land tremble(T) for this,
and all who live in it mourn?
The whole land will rise like the Nile;
it will be stirred up and then sink
like the river of Egypt.(U)
9 “In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord,
“I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.(V)
10 I will turn your religious festivals(W) into mourning
and all your singing into weeping.(X)
I will make all of you wear sackcloth(Y)
and shave(Z) your heads.
I will make that time like mourning for an only son(AA)
and the end of it like a bitter day.(AB)
11 “The days are coming,”(AC) declares the Sovereign Lord,
“when I will send a famine through the land—
not a famine of food or a thirst for water,
but a famine(AD) of hearing the words of the Lord.(AE)
12 People will stagger from sea to sea
and wander from north to east,
searching for the word of the Lord,
but they will not find it.(AF)
13 “In that day
Cross references
- Amos 8:1 : S Am 7:1
- Amos 8:2 : Jer 1:13; 24:3
- Amos 8:2 : Am 7:8
- Amos 8:2 : S Ge 40:16
- Amos 8:2 : S La 4:18; Eze 7:2-9
- Amos 8:3 : S Am 5:16
- Amos 8:3 : Am 6:10
- Amos 8:4 : S Pr 30:14
- Amos 8:4 : S Job 20:19; S Ps 14:4; S Am 2:7
- Amos 8:5 : S Nu 10:10
- Amos 8:5 : Isa 58:13
- Amos 8:5 : S Ne 10:31
- Amos 8:5 : S Ge 31:7
- Amos 8:5 : Dt 25:15; 2Ki 4:23; Ne 13:15-16; Eze 45:10-12; S Hos 12:7; Mic 6:10-11; Zec 5:6
- Amos 8:6 : Am 5:11
- Amos 8:6 : S Am 2:6; S 4:1
- Amos 8:7 : S Ps 47:4
- Amos 8:7 : S Hos 8:13
- Amos 8:7 : S Job 35:15
- Amos 8:8 : S Job 9:6; Jer 51:29
- Amos 8:8 : Ps 18:7; S Jer 46:8; Am 9:5
- Amos 8:9 : S Job 5:14; Isa 59:9-10; Jer 13:16; 15:9; S Eze 32:7; S Am 5:8; Mic 3:6; Mt 27:45; Mk 15:33; Lk 23:44-45
- Amos 8:10 : S Lev 26:31
- Amos 8:10 : S La 5:15; S Hos 2:11
- Amos 8:10 : S Joel 1:8
- Amos 8:10 : S Lev 13:40; S Isa 3:17
- Amos 8:10 : S Ge 21:16
- Amos 8:10 : S Jer 2:19; S Eze 7:18
- Amos 8:11 : Jer 30:3; 31:27
- Amos 8:11 : S Isa 30:20
- Amos 8:11 : S 1Sa 3:1; S 28:6; S 2Ch 15:3
- Amos 8:12 : S Eze 20:3, 31
- Amos 8:13 : S Isa 9:17
- Amos 8:13 : Isa 41:17; Hos 2:3
- Amos 8:14 : Mic 1:5
- Amos 8:14 : S 1Ki 12:29
- Amos 8:14 : S Am 5:5
- Amos 8:14 : S Ps 46:2
- Amos 8:14 : S Am 5:2
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Source:  BibleGateway
1. A time ripe for judgment (1-6)
Amos' next vision was of a basket of ripe fruit. The time was ripe for judgment. The people had become so eager to make money that they were impatient for worship services to end. Merchants had developed many methods of cheating the poor. Creditors were eager to foreclose and make debtors slaves. Material ism had become their religion and money their god.
2. A famine of God's word (7-14)
God's judgment would come in the form of an earthquake accompanied by an eclipse (8,9). (Com pare Mt 27:45-54.) The most terrible consequence of materialism is the famine of God's word which it produces. Spiritually hungry people look for God's word and do not find it--because they look in the wrong places. They should look in the Bible, not in idol's temples, or in psychologists' offices, or in empty ritual.
Prayer: Lord, open our ears to hear your word and help us to share it with hungry people.
One Word: Share spiritual bread