Amos3

New King James Version

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¹Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying:

²“You only have I known of all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”

³Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?

⁴Will a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Will a young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing?

⁵Will a bird fall into a snare on the earth, where there is no trap for it? Will a snare spring up from the earth, if it has caught nothing at all?

⁶If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it?

⁷Surely the Lord God does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.

⁸A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy?

⁹“Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod, And in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say: ‘Assemble on the mountains of Samaria; See great tumults in her midst, And the oppressed within her.

¹⁰For they do not know to do right,’ Says the Lord, ‘Who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.’ ”

¹¹Therefore thus says the Lord God: “An adversary shall be all around the land; He shall sap your strength from you, And your palaces shall be plundered.”

¹²Thus says the Lord: “As a shepherd takes from the mouth of a lion Two legs or a piece of an ear, So shall the children of Israel be taken out Who dwell in Samaria— In the corner of a bed and on the edge of a couch!

¹³Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,” Says the Lord God, the God of hosts,

¹⁴“That in the day I punish Israel for their transgressions, I will also visit destruction on the altars of Bethel; And the horns of the altar shall be cut off And fall to the ground.

¹⁵I will destroy the winter house along with the summer house; The houses of ivory shall perish, And the great houses shall have an end,” Says the Lord.

Study Guide

Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Amos 3.

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Chapter Summary

In this chapter: Judgments against Israel. (1–8). The like to other nations. (9–15).

vv1-8

The distinguishing favours of God to us, if they do not restrain from sin, shall not exempt from punishment. They could not expect communion with God, unless they first sought peace with him. Where there is not friendship, there can be no fellowship. God and man cannot walk together, except they are agreed. Unless we seek his glory, we cannot walk with him. Let us not presume on outward privileges, without special, sanctifying grace. The threatenings of the word and providence of God against the sin of man are certain, and certainly show that the judgments of God are at hand. Nor will God remove the affliction he has sent, till it has done its work. The evil of sin is from ourselves, it is our own doing; but the evil of trouble is from God, and is his doing, whoever are the instruments. This should engage us patiently to bear public troubles, and to study to answer God's meaning in them. The whole of the passage shows that natural evil, or troubles, and not moral evil, or sin, is here meant. The warning given to a careless world will increase its condemnation another day. Oh the amazing stupidity of an unbelieving world, that will not be wrought upon by the terrors of the Lord, and that despise his mercies!

vv9-15

That power which is an instrument of unrighteousness, will justly be brought down and broken. What is got and kept wrongfully, will not be kept long. Some are at ease, but there will come a day of visitation, and in that day, all they are proud of, and put confidence in, shall fail them. God will inquire into the sins of which they have been guilty in their houses, the robbery they have stored up, and the luxury in which they lived. The pomp and pleasantness of men's houses, do not fortify against God's judgments, but make sufferings the more grievous and vexatious. Yet a remnant, according to the election of grace, will be secured by our great and good Shepherd, as from the jaws of destruction, in the worst times.

Key Words

HearH8085Hebrew

שָׁמַע: to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc.; causatively, to tell, etc.)

wordH1697Hebrew

דָּבָר: a word; by implication, a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adverbially, a cause

spokenH1696Hebrew

דָבַר: perhaps properly, to arrange; but used figuratively (of words), to speak; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue

peopleH1121Hebrew

בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)

IsraelH3478Hebrew

יִשְׂרָאֵל: Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity

familyH4940Hebrew

מִשְׁפָּחָה: a family, i.e. circle of relatives; figuratively, a class (of persons), a species (of animals) or sort (of things); by extension a tribe or people

brought upH5927Hebrew

עָלָה: to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount); used in a great variety of senses, primary and secondary, literal and figurative

landH776Hebrew

אֶרֶץ: the earth (at large, or partitively a land)

EgyptH4714Hebrew

מִצְרַיִם: Mitsrajim, i.e. Upper and Lower Egypt

onlyH7535Hebrew

רַק: properly, leanness, i.e. (figuratively) limitation; only adverbial, merely, or conjunctional, although