Amos 9:1-4

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."

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.