Amos 9:2-12

2 "Though they dig into ¹Sheol, From there will My hand take them; And though they ²ascend to heaven, From there will I bring them down.

3 "Though they hide on the summit of Carmel, I will ³search them out and take them from there; And though they ⁴conceal themselves from My sight on the floor of the sea, From there I will command the ⁵serpent and it will bite them.

4 "And though they go into ⁶captivity before their enemies, From there I will command the sword that it slay them, And I will ⁷set My eyes against them for evil and not for good."

5 The Lord GOD of hosts, The One who ⁸touches the land so that it melts, And ⁹all those who dwell in it mourn, And all of it rises up like the Nile And subsides like the Nile of Egypt;

6 The One who builds His ¹⁰upper chambers in the heavens And has founded His vaulted dome over the earth, He who ¹¹calls for the waters of the sea And ¹²pours them out on the face of the earth, ¹³The LORD is His name.

7 "Are you not as the sons of ¹⁴Ethiopia to Me, O sons of Israel?" declares the LORD. "Have I not brought up Israel from the land of Egypt, And the ¹⁵Philistines from Caphtor and the ¹⁶Arameans from ¹⁷Kir?

8 "Behold, the ¹⁸eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, And I will ¹⁹destroy it from the face of the earth; Nevertheless *, I will ²⁰not totally destroy the house of Jacob," Declares the LORD.

9 "For behold, I am commanding, And I will ²¹shake the house of Israel among all nations As grain is shaken in a sieve, But not a kernel will fall to the ground.

10 "All the ²²sinners of My people will die by the sword, Those who say, '²³The calamity will not overtake or confront us.'

The Restoration of Israel

11 "In that day I will ²⁴raise up the fallen ²⁵booth of David, And wall up its ²⁶breaches; I will also raise up its ruins And rebuild it as in the ²⁷days of old;

12 ²⁸That they may possess the remnant of ²⁹Edom And all the nations who are ³⁰called by My name," Declares the LORD who does this.

Amos 9:2-12 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.

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 139:8
• 2. Jeremiah 51:53; Obadiah 4
• 3. Jeremiah 16:16
• 4. Job 34:22; Psalms 139:9, 10
• 5. Isaiah 27:1
• 6. Leviticus 26:33
• 7. Leviticus 17:10; Jeremiah 21:10; Jeremiah 39:16; Jeremiah 44:11
• 8. Psalms 104:32; Psalms 144:5; Isaiah 64:1; Micah 1:4
• 9. Amos 8:8
• 10. Psalms 104:3, 13
• 11. Amos 5:8
• 12. Psalms 104:6
• 13. Amos 4:13
• 14. 2 Chronicles 14:9, 12; Isaiah 20:4; Isaiah 43:3
• 15. Deuteronomy 2:23; Jeremiah 47:4
• 16. Amos 1:5
• 17. 2 Kings 16:9; Isaiah 22:6
• 18. Jeremiah 44:27; Amos 9:4
• 19. Amos 7:17; Amos 9:10
• 20. Jeremiah 5:10; Jeremiah 30:11; Jeremiah 31:35, 36; Joel 2:32; Amos 3:12; Obadiah 17
• 21. Isaiah 30:28; Luke 22:31
• 22. Isaiah 33:14; Zechariah 13:8
• 23. Amos 6:3
• 24. Acts 15:16-18
• 25. Isaiah 16:5
• 26. Psalms 80:12
• 27. Isaiah 63:11; Jeremiah 46:26
• 28. Obadiah 19
• 29. Numbers 24:18; Isaiah 11:14
• 30. Isaiah 43:7

Footnotes

• [a] Heb "YHWH," usually rendered LORD, and so throughout the ch
• [b] Or "stairs"
• [c] Or "pebble"
• [d] Or "shelter" or "tabernacle"
• [e] Or "Gentiles"