Amos9
New Living Translation
1Then I saw a vision of the Lord standing beside the altar. He said, “Strike the tops of the Temple columns, so that the foundation will shake. Bring down the roof on the heads of the people below. I will kill with the sword those who survive. No one will escape!
2“Even if they dig down to the place of the dead, I will reach down and pull them up. Even if they climb up into the heavens, I will bring them down.
3Even if they hide at the very top of Mount Carmel, I will search them out and capture them. Even if they hide at the bottom of the ocean, I will send the sea serpent after them to bite them.
4Even if their enemies drive them into exile, I will command the sword to kill them there. I am determined to bring disaster upon them and not to help them.”
5The Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, touches the land and it melts, and all its people mourn. The ground rises like the Nile River at floodtime, and then it sinks again.
6The Lord’s home reaches up to the heavens, while its foundation is on the earth. He draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land. The Lord is his name!
7“Are you Israelites more important to me than the Ethiopians?” asks the Lord. “I brought Israel out of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from Crete and led the Arameans out of Kir.
8“I, the Sovereign Lord, am watching this sinful nation of Israel. I will destroy it from the face of the earth. But I will never completely destroy the family of Israel,” says the Lord.
9“For I will give the command and will shake Israel along with the other nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, yet not one true kernel will be lost.
10But all the sinners will die by the sword— all those who say, ‘Nothing bad will happen to us.’
11“In that day I will restore the fallen house of David. I will repair its damaged walls. From the ruins I will rebuild it and restore its former glory.
12And Israel will possess what is left of Edom and all the nations I have called to be mine.” The Lord has spoken, and he will do these things.
13“The time will come,” says the Lord, “when the grain and grapes will grow faster than they can be harvested. Then the terraced vineyards on the hills of Israel will drip with sweet wine!
14I will bring my exiled people of Israel back from distant lands, and they will rebuild their ruined cities and live in them again. They will plant vineyards and gardens; they will eat their crops and drink their wine.
15I will firmly plant them there in their own land. They will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Amos 9.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The ruin of Israel. (1–10). The restoration of the Jews and the gospel blessing. (11–15).
vv1-10
The prophet, in vision, saw the Lord standing upon the idolatrous altar at Bethel. Wherever sinners flee from God's justice, it will overtake them. Those whom God brings to heaven by his grace, shall never be cast down; but those who seek to climb thither by vain confidence in themselves, will be cast down and filled with shame. That which makes escape impossible and ruin sure, is, that God will set his eyes upon them for evil, not for good. Wretched must those be on whom the Lord looks for evil, and not for good. The Lord would scatter the Jews, and visit them with calamities, as the corn is shaken in a sieve; but he would save some from among them. The astonishing preservation of the Jews as a distinct people, seems here foretold. If professors make themselves like the world, God will level them with the world. The sinners who thus flatter themselves, shall find that their profession will not protect them.
vv11-15
Christ died to gather together the children of God that were scattered abroad, here said to be those who were called by his name. The Lord saith this, who doeth this, who can do it, who has determined to do it, the power of whose grace is engaged for doing it. Verses 13–15 may refer to the early times of Christianity, but will receive a more glorious fulfilment in the events which all the prophets more or less foretold, and may be understood of the happy state when the fulness both of the Jews and the Gentiles come into the church. Let us continue earnest in prayer for the fulfilment of these prophecies, in the peace, purity, and the beauty of the church. God marvellously preserves his elect amidst the most fearful confusions and miseries. When all seems desperate, he wonderfully revives his church, and blesses her with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. And great shall be the glory of that period, in which not one good thing promised shall remain unfulfilled.
Key Words
רָאָה: to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)
אֲדֹנָי: the Lord (used as a proper name of God only)
נָצַב: to station, in various applications (literally or figuratively)
עַל: above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications
מִזְבֵּחַ: an altar
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
נָכָה: to strike (lightly or severely, literally or figuratively)
כַּפְתֹּר: a chaplet; but used only in an architectonic sense, i.e. the capital of acolumn, or a wreath-like button or disk on the candelabrum
סַף: a vestibule (as a limit); also a dish (for holding blood or wine)
רָעַשׁ: to undulate (as the earth, the sky, etc.; also a field of grain), particularly through fear; specifically, to spring (as a locust)
Cross References
Amos 9James explicitly quotes Amos 9:11-12 at the Jerusalem Council regarding the inclusion of the Gentiles.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Direct New Testament quotation and application of rebuilding the fallen tabernacle of David.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Poole notes David's elegant description of God's omnipresence (heaven, hell, sea) mirrors Amos's escape limits.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The shaking of the temple posts/thresholds strongly echoes Isaiah's vision in the temple.
Supported by JFB
JFB links building chambers in the heavens directly to the language of Psalm 104:3.
Supported by JFB
Confirms the historic origin of the Philistines from Caphtor as part of divine migration providence.
Supported by JFB
Historical fulfillment of the Syrians being carried back captive to Kir, their original home.
Supported by JFB
Direct verbal parallel regarding digging into hell or climbing up to heaven.
Supported by JFB
JFB identifies the sea-serpent commanded to bite them with the leviathan/serpent of Isaiah 27:1.
Supported by JFB
Repeats the judgment of the land rising and drowning like the flood of Egypt.
Supported by JFB
Identifies Caphtor as the place of origin for the Philistines who destroyed the Avims.
Supported by JFB
Connects Kir with Syrian military presence and ethnic origins.
Supported by JFB
Earlier prophecy in Amos that the Syrians would go captive back to Kir.
Supported by JFB
Parallels the impossibility of hiding in secret places from God's all-seeing presence.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The Mosaic curse of being pursued by the sword even among the heathen nations.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Explains God's 'troop' or 'host' founded in the earth as all animate creatures.
Supported by JFB
Highlights the Ethiopian comparison, illustrating Israel's stubbornness and loss of special standing.
Supported by JFB
Parallels the promise to correct with judgment but not utterly destroy the seed of Jacob.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Fulfillment of raising up David's throne and kingdom eternally in Christ.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The blessing of agricultural abundance where threshing reaches to the vintage, symbolizing gospel plenty.
Supported by Matthew Henry