Amos 9:1-10

1 I saw the Lord standing on the altar: and he said, Smite the mercy-seat, and the porch shall be shaken: and cut through into the heads of all; and I will slay the remnant of them with the sword: no one of them fleeing shall escape, and no one of them, striving to save himself shall be delivered.

2 Though they hid themselves in hell, thence shall my hand drag them forth; and though they go up to heaven, thence will I bring them down.

3 If they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, thence will I search out and take them; and if they should go down from my presence into the depths of the sea, there will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them.

4 And if they should go into captivity before the face of their enemies, there will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes against them for evil, and not for good.

5 And the Lord, the Lord God Almighty, that takes hold of the land, and causes it to shake, and all that inhabit it shall mourn; and its destruction shall go up as a river, and shall descend as the river of Egypt.

6 that builds his ascent up to the sky, and establishes his promise on the earth; who calls the water of the sea, and pours it out on the face of the earth; the Lord Almighty is his name.

7 Are not ye to me as the sons of the Ethiopians, O children of Israel? saith the Lord. Did I not bring Israel up out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Cappadocia, and the Syrians out of the deep?

8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the kingdom of sinners, and I will cut it off from the face of the earth; only I will not utterly cut off the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.

9 For I give commandment, and sift the house of Israel among all the Gentiles, as is sifted in a sieve, and a fragment shall not in any wise fall upon the earth.

10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, Calamities shall certainly not draw near, nor come upon 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.