By refusing to repent of their apostasy from God's way of life, the Israelites could only expect the coming of God's fearsome punishment. The virgin of Israel has fallen; she will rise no more. She lies forsaken on her land; there is no one to raise her up. The city that goes out by a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which goes out by a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel. This death came when Assyria conquered Israel from 721 to 718 BC and deported her people to foreign lands. Israel, surrounded by luxury and prosperity, should have produced God's personality and character, but she failed miserably. Whenever Israel is destroyed, the evidence of her demise will be bits of furniture like couches and beds, symbols of opulence, luxury, self-indulgence, and indolence, products of their self-concern and self-satisfaction. They will show no effects of godly spirituality, righteousness, justice, and mercy. God will break the great house into bits, and the little house into pieces. The rich and powerful will not escape the dreadful punishment God promises, as He has commanded their destruction for disobedience, rebellion, and sin. Amos warns Israel of coming destruction through visions of locusts, fire, and the plumb line, depicting total devastation. God relents temporarily due to Amos' intercession, but because of the people's lack of repentance, punishment looms inevitable. The plumb line tests if they are upright, living in God's grace and law, but the Israelites fail, and God will no longer overlook their sins. His patience ends, and He will pass through them in judgment, destroying the high places, altars, and idols of false religions responsible for their moral, spiritual, and ethical decline. The vision of ripe fruit signifies the time is ripe for picking Israel, as God's patience has run out. Disaster will take them by surprise due to their spiritually oblivious state. God's punishment will turn songs of the temple to wailing, with many dead bodies everywhere, thrown out in silence. The people, in their self-absorption, will be stunned by God's sudden judgment, incredulous at the severity for what they perceive as little sin. God places the blame for their punishment on Israel's pride, unimpressed by His holiness and sovereignty. Nature itself suffers as beauty gives way to ugliness, with disasters mounting until the land vomits the people out. Earthquakes, floods, fires, and windstorms will devastate the land, and though the people may seek repentance, it will be too late. Society becomes unstable with crime, violence, immorality, and injustice, resulting in insecurity, bitterness, and death from failing to hold to God's absolute standards. Amos paints a vivid picture of the horrors of the Day of the Lord, a time of torment, fear, and hopelessness, with no escape from judgment. Darkness follows wailing, and in their complacency, the people feed themselves false hopes, only to find God as their enemy. During this time, a famine of God's Word will make repentance nearly impossible, as the people desperately search for truth they once regarded lightly, staggering in panic but finding no refuge. In the final vision, God acts without conversation, destroying everything in sight as the time for talk is over. No matter where the people flee, they find no rest, ease, safety, or security. God, as the Sovereign Lord, crushes the house of Israel for ignoring numerous warnings to repent. He reminds them of the covenant they made with Him, yet judges them as He does other nations, showing no partiality. The hedge protecting Israel is removed, leaving the nation vulnerable to invasion and destruction, with natural disasters and foreign armies wreaking havoc, leading to an utterly hopeless situation during the time of Jacob's Trouble.