Amos 6:11

11 For behold, the LORD commands, and the great house shall be smitten into fragments, and the little house into bits.

Amos 6:11 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 6:11

For, behold, the Lord commandeth
Hath determined and ordered the judgment before, and what follows: Kimchi paraphrases it, hath decreed the earthquake, as in ( Amos 3:15 ) ; of which he understands the following: and he will smite the great house with breaches;
or "droppings" ^F8; so that the rain shall drop through: and the little house with clefts;
so that it shall fall to ruin; that is, he shall smite the houses both of great and small, of the princes, and of the common people, either with an earthquake, so that they shall part asunder and fall; or, being left without inhabitants, shall of course become desolate, there being none to repair their breaches. Some understand, by the "great house", the ten tribes of Israel; and, by the "little house", the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin; to which sense the Targum seems to incline,

``he will smite the great kingdom with a mighty stroke, and the little kingdom with a weak stroke.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 (Myoyor) "guttis, [seu] stillis", Piscator; (qekadev) , "quae est minuta et rorans pluvia", Drusius.

Amos 6:11 In-Context

9 And if ten men remain in one house, they shall die.

10 And when a man's kinsman, he who burns him, shall take him up to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, "Is there still any one with you?" he shall say, "No"; and he shall say, "Hush! We must not mention the name of the LORD."

11 For behold, the LORD commands, and the great house shall be smitten into fragments, and the little house into bits.

12 Do horses run upon rocks? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood--

13 you who rejoice in Lo-debar, who say, "Have we not by our own strength taken Karnaim for ourselves?"