Amos 9:3-13

3 If they hide themselves on the top of the Karmel, I will search them out and capture them there; If they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, I will order the serpent to bite them there.

4 If their enemies herd them into exile, I will order the sword to kill them there. I will fix my gaze on them for harm and not for good."

5 For Adonai ELOHIM-Tzva'ot is the one who can melt the earth with his touch, and make all who live on it mourn. It will all rise, just like the Nile, and then subside, like the Nile in Egypt.

6 He builds his upper rooms in heaven and establishes his sky-vault over the earth. He summons the waters of the sea and pours them out over the earth. ADONAI is his name.

7 "People of Isra'el, are you any different from the Ethiopians to me?" asks ADONAI. "True, I brought Isra'el up from Egypt, but I also brought the P'lishtim from Kaftor, and Aram from Kir.

8 Look, the eyes of Adonai ELOHIM are on the sinful kingdom. I will wipe it off the face of the earth, yet I will not completely destroy the house of Ya'akov," says ADONAI.

9 "For when I give the order, I will shake the house of Isra'el, there among all the Goyim, as one shakes with a sieve, letting no grain fall to the ground.

10 All the sinners among my people who say, 'Disaster will never overtake us or confront us,' will die by the sword.

11 "When that day comes, I will raise up the fallen sukkah of David. I will close up its gaps, raise up its ruins and rebuild it as it used to be,

12 so that Isra'el can possess what is left of Edom and of all the nations bearing my name," says ADONAI, who is doing this.

13 "The days will come," says ADONAI, "when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the one treading grapes the one sowing seed. Sweet wine will drip down the mountains, and all the hills will flow with it.

Amos 9:3-13 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.