The Hebrew word qayits (קַיִץ) means summer, the summer season, or summer fruit (figs and other fruit harvested in the hot season). It appears about 20 times in the OT.
In Israel, summer was harvest time — a season of abundance but also of intense heat and the end of the agricultural year. Qayits appears in the covenantal blessing of seasons (Psalm 74:17: 'You made both summer and winter'). Amos uses a powerful wordplay: God showed him a basket of qayits (summer fruit), saying Israel's qets (end) had come — the similar sounds drive home the judgment (Amos 8:1–2). Jeremiah laments: 'The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved' (Jeremiah 8:20) — a cry of missed opportunity that still echoes. Summer's abundance should produce gratitude; its end should prompt urgency. The seasons themselves preach.