Amos 9:5-10

A divine confession

5 The LORD, God of heavenly forces, touches the earth and it melts, and all who live in it are sick to death. All of it rises up like the Nile and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt.
6 It is the LORD who builds his upper rooms in the heavens and establishes his residence upon the earth; who summons the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth— the LORD is his name.

Divine address to the Israelites

7 Aren't you like the Cushites to me, people of Israel? says the LORD. Haven't I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?
8 Look, the LORD God is eyeing the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. However, I won't destroy fully the house of Jacob, says the LORD.

Warning to the house of Israel

9 Look, I am giving orders, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one sifts dirt with a screen, but no pebble will fall to the ground.
10 All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, those who say, "Evil won't overtake or meet us."

Amos 9:5-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO AMOS 9

This chapter contains the fifth and last vision the prophet saw; which represents the certain desolation of the land, city, and temple, and the slaughter of all sorts of persons, high and low, none should escape it, Am 9:1; be they where they would, they should be found out, whether in hell or heaven, on the tops of the highest mountains, or in the bottom of the sea, or in a foreign land, since the eyes of the Lord were upon them for evil, Am 9:2-4; nor could they hope to escape, when they considered his greatness and his power, and what he could do, and had done; and how they had behaved towards him, even though they were the people he had brought out of Egypt, Am 9:5-7; but though the sinful kingdom should be destroyed, yet not utterly, a remnant should be saved, Am 9:8-10; and the chapter is concluded with gracious promises of raising up the tabernacle of David fallen down, and of the return of the people of Israel to their own land; and of their settlement and continuance in it, never more to depart from it, Am 9:11-15.

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