Amos Chapter 9

From The Open Bible Project

9:1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said, "Strike the tops of the pillars, that the thresholds may shake; and break them in pieces on the head of all of them; and I will kill the last of them with the sword: there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape.

• (a) Which was at Jerusalem: for he did not appear in the idolatrous places of Israel.
• (b) Both the most important of them, and also the common people.

9:2 Though they dig into [5] Sheol [See Amos Footnotes 5], there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down.

9:3 Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out there; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them.

• (c) He shows that God will declare himself as an enemy to them in all places, and that his elements and all his creatures will be enemies to destroy them.

9:4 Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good.

9:5 For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn; and it will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again, like the River of Egypt.

9:6 It is he who builds his chambers in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the earth; he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth; Yahweh is his name.

• (d) He declares by the wonderful power of God, by the making of the heavens and the elements, that it is not possible for man to escape his judgments when he punishes.

9:7 Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians to me, children of Israel?" says Yahweh. "Haven't I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?

• (e) Am I more bound to you than to the Ethiopians, or other people? Yet I have bestowed upon you greater benefits.
• (f) Read (Jeremiah 47:4).

9:8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob," says Yahweh.

• (g) Though he destroys the rebellious multitude, yet he will always reserve the remnant of his Church to call upon his name.

9:9 "For, behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least kernel will fall on the earth.

• (h) Meaning that none of his own would perish in his wrath.

9:10 All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, 'Evil won't overtake nor meet us.'

9:11 In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen, and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old;

• (i) I will send the promised Messiah, and restore by him the spiritual Israel; (Acts 15:16).

9:12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by my name," says Yahweh who does this.

• (k) Meaning, the very enemies (as were the Edomites) and others would be united with the Jews in one society and body, of which Christ would be the head.

9:13 "Behold, the days come," says Yahweh, "that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the one treading grapes him who sows seed; and sweet wine will drip from the mountains, and flow from the hills.

• (l) Signifying, that there will be great abundance of all things, so that when one type of fruit is ripe, another would follow, and every one in order; (Leviticus 26:5).
• (m) Read (Joel 3:18).

9:14 I will bring my people Israel back from captivity, and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

• (n) The accomplishment of this is under Christ, when they are planted in this Church, out of which they can never be pulled, after they have once been grafted into it.

9:15 I will plant them on their land, and they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them," says Yahweh your God.