The object Amos perceives in this vision evokes the most varied associations. Initially, the basket of fruit is a symbol of the year’s foremost time of joy, the time in which Israel celebrated its main festival, the festival of wine and oil, of figs and pomegranates, the festival of thanksgiving for the precious gifts of the land, the festival of free-flowing jubilation and dancing. Yet—just as in the third vision—as soon as Amos is prompted to utter and identify what he has seen, the reader becomes