Amos 8: 1-11 Basket of Fruit - Israel's Captivity:

He said "What do you see?" And I said,"A basket of summer fruit." Then the Lord said to me, "The end has come for my people Israel, I will spare them no longer. The songs of the palace will turn to wailing in that day," declares the Lord. "Many will be corpses; in every place they will be cast the forth in silence." Hear this, you who trample the needy, to do away with the humble of the land saying, "When will the new moon be over, so that we may sell grain, and the sabbath, that we may open the wheat market, to make the bushel smalller and the shekel bigger. To cheat with dishonest scales so as to buy the helpless for money, and the needy for a pair of sandals, and that we may sell the rufuse of the wheat. The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob, "Indeed, I will never forget any of their deeds. Because of this, will not the land quake, and everyone who dwells in it mourn? "The days are coming when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread, but rather for hearing the words of the Lord."

The Israelites had replace God for money and a easy life style. They forgot the God who dwelt with their fathers and let them up out of Egypt in their time of distress. Now that they are in the land, they do not remember the strong hand of God's deliverence or the covenant made with their fathers. But the covenant remains, and the Israelites will pay the high price of going back into captivity and God will withdraw his word from them for 400 years, not to be renewed again until John the Baptist.

Daily Prayer: Father, today your word dwells in the hearts of the believer. We still do stumble, but greater is He who is in me, than he who is in the world. Break us free from the sin that can bind us, and make us in the image of your Son or Redeemer. In His name I pray Amen.