Amos 9:2

2 If they shall go down till to hell, from thence mine hand shall lead out them; and if they shall ascend till to heaven, from thence I shall draw them down. (Yea, if they shall go down to Sheol, or the land of the dead, my hand shall bring them out of there; and if they shall go up to heaven, I shall pull 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 on the altar, and he said, Smite thou the hinge(s), and the over-thresholds, either lintels, be moved (al)together; for avarice is in the head of all, and I shall slay by sword the last of them; there shall no flight be to them, and he that shall flee of them, shall not be saved. (I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said, Strike thou the hinges, and the lintels be shaken; for greed is in all their hearts, and I shall kill all of them with the sword; there shall be no escape for them, and even he who shall flee, shall not be saved.)

2 If they shall go down till to hell, from thence mine hand shall lead out them; and if they shall ascend till to heaven, from thence I shall draw them down. (Yea, if they shall go down to Sheol, or the land of the dead, my hand shall bring them out of there; and if they shall go up to heaven, I shall pull them down from there.)

3 And if they shall be hid in the top of Carmel, from thence I seeking shall do them away (And if they shall be hidden on top of Mount Carmel, I shall seek them out there, and I shall do them away); and if they shall hide themselves from mine eyes in the deepness of the sea, there I shall command a serpent, and it shall bite them, (and devour them).

4 And if they shall go away into captivity before their enemies, there I shall command to sword, and it shall slay them. And I shall put mine eyes on them into evil, and not into good. (And if they be taken away into captivity by their enemies, I shall command to the sword there, and it shall kill them. I shall look upon them for evil, and not for good/I shall look at them to do evil, and not to do good.)

5 And the Lord God of hosts shall do these things, (he) that toucheth earth, and it shall fail, and all men dwelling therein shall mourn; and it shall go up as each strand, and it shall float away as the flood of Egypt. (And the Lord God of hosts shall do these things, yea, he who toucheth the earth, and it faileth, and all the people living there shall mourn; and it shall go up like a stream, and it shall flow away like the River of Egypt.)