Amos 9:1-11

Israel to Be Destroyed

1 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said: “Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. Bring them down on the heads of all the people; those who are left I will kill with the sword. Not one will get away, none will escape.

2 Though they dig down to the depths below, from there my hand will take them. Though they climb up to the heavens above, from there I will bring them down.

3 Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, there I will hunt them down and seize them. Though they hide from my eyes at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them.

4 Though they are driven into exile by their enemies, there I will command the sword to slay them. “I will keep my eye on them for harm and not for good.”

5 The Lord, the LORD Almighty— he touches the earth and it melts, and all who live in it mourn; the whole land rises like the Nile, then sinks like the river of Egypt;

6 he builds his lofty palace^[a] in the heavens and sets its foundation^[b] on the earth; he calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land— the LORD is his name.

7 “Are not you Israelites the same to me as the Cushites^[c] ?” declares the LORD. “Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor^[d]and the Arameans from Kir?

8 “Surely the eyes of the Sovereign LORDare on the sinful kingdom. I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Yet I will not totally destroy the descendants of Jacob,” declares the LORD.

9 “For I will give the command, and I will shake the people of Israel among all the nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, and not a pebble will reach the ground.

10 All the sinners among my people will die by the sword, all those who say, ‘Disaster will not overtake or meet us.’

Israel’s Restoration

11 “In that day I will restore David’s fallen shelter— I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins— and will rebuild it as it used to be,

Amos 9:1-11 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.

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 68:21
• 2. Jeremiah 11:11
• 3. S Job 7:9; S Ezekiel 26:20; Psalms 139:8
• 4. Jeremiah 51:53
• 5. Obadiah 1:4
• 6. Amos 1:2
• 7. Psalms 139:8-10
• 8. Psalms 68:22
• 9. Isaiah 27:1
• 10. Jeremiah 16:16-17
• 11. S Genesis 49:17; S Job 11:20
• 12. S Leviticus 26:33; S Ezekiel 5:12
• 13. S Jeremiah 21:10
• 14. Jeremiah 39:16; S Ezekiel 15:7
• 15. S Jeremiah 44:11
• 16. S Psalms 46:2; Micah 1:4
• 17. S Amos 8:8
• 18. Jeremiah 43:9
• 19. Ps 104:1-3,5-6,13; S Amos 5:8
• 20. S 2 Chronicles 12:3; Isaiah 20:4; Isaiah 43:3
• 21. S Genesis 10:14
• 22. S Deuteronomy 2:23; Jeremiah 47:4
• 23. S 2 Kings 16:9; S Isaiah 22:6; S Amos 1:5; Amos 2:10
• 24. S Jeremiah 4:27
• 25. S Jeremiah 44:27
• 26. Luke 22:31
• 27. Isaiah 30:28
• 28. S Jeremiah 31:36; S Daniel 9:7
• 29. Jeremiah 49:37
• 30. Jeremiah 5:12; S Jeremiah 23:17; S Ezekiel 20:38; S Amos 6:3
• 31. S Isaiah 7:2
• 32. S Genesis 26:22
• 33. Psalms 53:6; S Isaiah 49:8
• 34. Psalms 80:12; S Ezekiel 17:24; Micah 7:8,11; Zechariah 12:7; Zechariah 14:10

Footnotes

• [a]. The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.
• [b]. The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
• [c]. That is, people from the upper Nile region
• [d]. That is, Crete