Amos 9:1-10

1 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said, Smite the threshold and shake the doors and cut the head of them all into pieces; and I will slay the last of them with the sword; there shall be none of them left to flee away or to escape.

2 Though they dig unto Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down;

3 and though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out of there; and though they hide from my sight in the bottom of the sea, from there will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:

4 and though they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set my eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.

5 The Lord GOD of the hosts is he that touches the earth, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall all rise up like a river and shall be sunk, as the river of Egypt.

6 He that built his degrees in the heaven and has founded his gathering upon the earth; he that calls the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name.

7 O sons of Israel, Are ye not as sons of the Ethiopians unto me, said the LORD? Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Palestinians from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?

8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are against the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, said the LORD.

9 For, behold, I will command, and I will cause the house of Israel to be sifted among all the Gentiles like as the grain is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall to the earth.

10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, For our sake the evil shall not come near nor overtake 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.