Amos 3:11

11 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: “An enemy ^[a] will surround the land; he will pull down your strongholds and plunder your citadels.”

Amos 3:11 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 3:11

Therefore thus saith the Lord God
Because of these tumults and riots, oppression and injustice, violence and robbery: an adversary there [shall be] even round about the land:
not Tyre, as Theodoret renders the word; but the king of Assyria, who invaded the land of Israel in the days of Hoshea, took Samaria, and carried Israel captive, and placed them in foreign countries, ( 2 Kings 17:6 ) ; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee;
take away their riches, demolish their fortresses, and strip them of everything in which they put their confidence: and thy palaces shall be spoiled;
plundered of the treasures laid up in them, and pulled down to the ground; and a just retaliation this for their being the repositories of ill gotten substance and wealth.

Amos 3:11 In-Context

9 Proclaim to the citadels of Ashdod and to the citadels of Egypt: “Assemble on the mountains of Samaria; see the great unrest in the city and the acts of oppression in her midst.”

10 “For they know not how to do right,” declares the LORD. “They store up violence and destruction in their citadels.”

11 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: “An enemy will surround the land; he will pull down your strongholds and plunder your citadels.”

12 This is what the LORD says: “As the shepherd snatches from the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so the Israelites dwelling in Samaria will be rescued having just the corner of a bed or the cushion of a couch.

13 Hear and testify against the house of Jacob, declares the Lord GOD, the God of Hosts.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or An adversary