Amos 9

Chapter context

What is happening in Amos 9?

justicefalse worshipjudgmentpoverty

Amos 9 belongs to the closing movement of the book, especially the section often described as closing promise of restoration. Amos is a relentless prophetic book of justice, judgment, false worship, and the remnant hope that survives divine shaking. Read this chapter with the wider themes of justice, false worship, and judgment in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

¹ I saw the LORD standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. ² Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down: ³ And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them: ⁴ And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good. ⁵ And the Lord GOD of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. ⁶ It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name. ⁷ Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? ⁸ Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD. ⁹ For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. ¹⁰ All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us. ¹¹ In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: ¹² That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this. ¹³ Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. ¹⁴ And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. ¹⁵ And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.

Study helps

Glossary

Mount Carmel Place v. 3: Biblical mountain. Modern identification: Mount Carmel.
Egypt Place v. 5, 7: The land of the Nile and the pyramids, the oldest kingdom of which we have any record, holds a place of great significance in Scripture. Modern identification: Ain Shams.
Nile Place v. 5: Biblical river. Modern identification: Nile River.
Caphtor Place v. 7: Biblical island. Modern identification: Crete.
Ethiopia Place v. 7: Country of burnt faces; the Greek word by which the Hebrew Cush is rendered. Modern identification: Meroe.
Kir Place v. 7: A wall or fortress, a place to which Tiglath-pileser carried the Syrians captive after he had taken the city of Damascus ( 2 Kings 16:9 ; Amos 1:5 ; 9:7 ). Modern identification: Der.
David Person v. 11: Beloved, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem. His father seems to have been a man in humble life. His mother’s name is not recorded. Some think she was the Nahash of 2 Sam. 17:25 .
Tabernacle Object v. 11: (1. ) A house or dwelling-place ( Job 5:24 ; 18:6 , etc. ). (2. ) A portable shrine (comp. Acts 19:24 ) containing the image of Moloch ( Amos 5:26 ; marg. and R. V., “Siccuth”). (3. ) The human body.
Edom Place v. 12: Biblical region. Modern identification: Buseira.