Amos 9:1-4

Description of Israel’s fate

1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and the Lord said: Strike the pillars until the foundations shake, shatter them on the heads of all the people. With the sword, I will kill the last of them; not one of them will flee, not one of them will escape.

2 If they dig through into the underworld, from there my hand will take them. If they climb up to the heavens, from there I will bring them down.

3 If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, I will search for them there and remove them. If they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, I will give an order to the sea serpent, and it will bite them.

4 If they are forced from their homes before their enemies, there I will give an order to the sword, and it will kill them. I will fix my eyes on them for harm and not for good.

Amos 9:1-4 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.

Footnotes

• [a] Heb Sheol