Amos 2:10
in Amos 2And I brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness, that you might take possession of the land of the Amorite.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.
KJV
Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.
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This verse in Amos 2
Commentary
7 notes on this verse(Verse 9 and following) But I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of cedar trees, and he was strong like an oak tree. And I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from below. I am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you into the wilderness for forty years, so that you could possess the land of the Amorite. And I raised up prophets from among your sons and Nazirites from among your young men.
This site's exposition
whose height was like the height of the cedars
on Amos 2:9-11
The Lord's own recital of grace interrupts the charge sheet, and the bench reads the interruption as the argument's real hinge, since the sins just listed are set against benefits Israel could never claim to have earned. The Amorite destroyed before them, his height like the cedars and his roots and fruit both cut off, recalls the giant peoples of Numbers 13:33 whose land Israel simply received; the exodus from Egypt and forty years in the wilderness are named as gift rather than achievement, and prophets and Nazarites raised up from Israel's own sons as a further unearned mercy. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel presses the recital home as a question no honest hearer could answer no to.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
They were of great stature ( whose height was like the height of the cedars ) and the people of Israel were as shrubs to them; and they were also of great strength, not only tall, but well-set: He was strong as the oaks. Their kingdom was eminent among the nations, and over-topped all its neighbours.
With tumult - Such as soldiers in fight or assaults make, when they carry all by force. The judge - The governor that is, every one of them. To err - Their idolatry blinded them, partly from the natural tendency of this sin, and partly from the just judgment of God.
Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Also I - (Literally, “And I,” I, emphatic; thus and thus did ye to Me; and thus and thus, with all the mercy from the first, did I to you,) I brought you up from the land of Egypt It is this language in which God, in the law, reminded them of that great benefit, as a motive to obedience; “I brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” Exo 20:2; Deu 5:6; Deu 6:12; only there, since God has not as yet “brought them up” into the land which He promised them, but they were yet in the wilderness, He says, “brought them forth;” here, “brought them up,” as to a place of dignity, His own land.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
brought you up from . . . Egypt--"brought up" is the phrase, as Egypt was low and flat, and Canaan hilly. to possess the land of the Amorite--The Amorites strictly occupied both sides of the Jordan and the mountains afterward possessed by Judah; but they here, as in Am 2:9, stand for all the Canaanites.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
as Nazirites — Jonathan renders: as teachers. For they were separated from the ways of the people of the land and were engaged in the Torah. The expression נְזִירָה is everywhere only an expression of separation.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאָנֹכִ֛י | veanokhi | and I | H595 → | 359 times |
| הֶעֱלֵ֥יתִי | heeleiti | I brought up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| אֶתְכֶ֖ם | ʾetkhem | <obj.> you | H853 → | 10935 times |
| מֵאֶ֣רֶץ | meeretz | from [the] land of | H776 → | 2504 times |
| מִצְרָ֑יִם | mitzrayim | Egypt | H4714 → | 641 times |
| וָאוֹלֵ֨ךְ | vaolekh | and I led | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| אֶתְכֶ֤ם | ʾetkhem | <obj.> you | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בַּמִּדְבָּר֙ | bamidbar | in the wilderness | H4057 → | |
| אַרְבָּעִ֣ים | ʾarbaim | forty | H705 → | |
| שָׁנָ֔ה | shanah | year[s] | H8141 → | 877 times |
| לָרֶ֖שֶׁת | lareshet | to take possession of | H3423 → | |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אֶ֥רֶץ | ʾeretz | [the] land of | H776 → | 2504 times |
| הָאֱמֹרִֽי׃ | haemori | the Amorite[s] | H567 → |
וְאָנֹכִ֛יand I
veanokhiH595 →359 times
הֶעֱלֵ֥יתִיI brought up
heeleitiH5927 →890 times
אֶתְכֶ֖ם<obj.> you
ʾetkhemH853 →10935 times
מֵאֶ֣רֶץfrom [the] land of
meeretzH776 →2504 times
מִצְרָ֑יִםEgypt
mitzrayimH4714 →641 times
וָאוֹלֵ֨ךְand I led
vaolekhH1980 →1546 times
אֶתְכֶ֤ם<obj.> you
ʾetkhemH853 →10935 times
בַּמִּדְבָּר֙in the wilderness
bamidbarH4057 →
אַרְבָּעִ֣יםforty
ʾarbaimH705 →
שָׁנָ֔הyear[s]
shanahH8141 →877 times
לָרֶ֖שֶׁתto take possession of
lareshetH3423 →
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
אֶ֥רֶץ[the] land of
ʾeretzH776 →2504 times
הָאֱמֹרִֽי׃the Amorite[s]
haemoriH567 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Acts 7:42But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘Did you bring Me sacrifices and…
it leads to
- Amos 5:25–26
Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
- Amos 5:25–26
Through
Exodus 3:8I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and…
it leads to
- Genesis 50:24
Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely visit you and bring you up from this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac,…
- Exodus 3:17
And I have promised to bring you up out of your affliction in Egypt, into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’
- Genesis 15:18–21
On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates—
- Exodus 13:5
And when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites—the land He swore to your fathers that He would give you, a land flowing with milk and…
- Deuteronomy 1:25
They took some of the fruit of the land in their hands, carried it down to us, and brought us word: “It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us.”
- Genesis 50:24
Through
Deuteronomy 2:7Indeed, the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. The LORD your God has been with you these…
it leads to
- Luke 22:35
Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you out without purse or bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Nothing,” they answered.
- Nehemiah 9:21
For forty years You sustained them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.
- Luke 22:35
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Amos
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Amos; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.