The end is near (Am 8:2-8:3)

“Yahweh said.

‘Amos!

What do you see?’

I said.

‘A basket of summer fruit.’

Then Yahweh said to me.

‘The end has come

Upon my people Israel.

I will never again

Pass by them.

The songs of the temple

Shall become wailings

In that day.’

Says Yahweh God.

‘The dead bodies

Shall be many.

They shall be cast out

In every place.

Be silent!’”

Yahweh asked Amos to tell him what he saw.  Amos responded that he saw a basket of summer fruit, not the first fruits.  Yahweh said that these late ripening fruits indicated that the end of the Israelite people was near.  Yahweh said that he was not going to pass by them again.  The songs in their temple would turn to mourning wailing.  Yahweh God added that there would be many dead bodies cast out all over the place.  However, they were to be silent.