Amos 9:1-10

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.’

Amos 9:1-10 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.

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

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