Amos 9:2

2 If they dig down as deep as the place of the dead, I will pull them up from there. If they climb up into heaven, I will bring them down from there.

Amos 9:2 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 9:2

Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them,
&c.] That is, they that endeavour to make their escape from their enemies, though they seek for places of the greatest secrecy and privacy; not hell, the place of the damned; nor the grave, the repository of the dead; neither of which they chose to he in, but rather sought to escape them; but the deepest and darkest caverns, the utmost recesses of the earth, the very centre of it; which, could they get into, would not secure them from the power and providence of God, and from their enemies in pursuit of them, by his permission: though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down;
the summit of the highest mountains, and get as near to heaven, and at as great a distance from men, as can be, and yet all in vain. The Targum is,

``if they think to be hid as it were in hell, from thence their enemies shall take them by my word; and if they ascend the high mountains, to the top of heaven, thence will I bring them;''

see ( Psalms 139:8 ) .

Amos 9:2 In-Context

1 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said: "Smash the top of the pillars so that even the bottom of the doors will shake. Make the pillars fall on the people's heads; anyone left alive I will kill with a sword. Not one person will get away; no one will escape.

2 If they dig down as deep as the place of the dead, I will pull them up from there. If they climb up into heaven, I will bring them down from there.

3 If they hide at the top of Mount Carmel, I will find them and take them away. If they try to hide from me at the bottom of the sea, I will command a snake to bite them.

4 If they are captured and taken away by their enemies, I will command the sword to kill them. I will keep watch over them, but I will keep watch to give them trouble, not to do them good."

5 The Lord God All-Powerful touches the land, and the land shakes. Then everyone who lives in the land cries for the dead. and falls like the river of Egypt.