Amos 2:5
in Amos 2So I will send fire upon Judah to consume the citadels of Jerusalem.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.
KJV
But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.
⋯
This verse in Amos 2
Commentary
7 notes on this verseBut I will send a fire upon Judah,.... An enemy, Nebuchadnezzar, who should burn, waste, and destroy, all that were in his way: and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem; the chief city of Judah, the royal city, where stood the temple, the palace of the most High, and the palaces of the king and his nobles; these were burnt with fire when it was taken by the Chaldean army, about two hundred years after this prophecy, Jer 52:13.
This site's exposition
they have despised the law of the Lord
on Amos 2:4-5
The formula shifts here in a way every hearer in Israel would have felt, since the six oracles before this named war crimes against neighbors while Judah's charge is purely covenantal, despising the law of the Lord and being led astray by lies their fathers walked after, meaning idolatry inherited across generations rather than any single act of violence. The bench reads the shift as deliberate, moving the whole argument from the natural law that binds every nation to the revealed law that binds Judah and Israel alone, which is the ground the next oracle will stand on at full weight. Fire upon Judah devouring the palaces of Jerusalem is read by the older writers as reaching its fulfilment in the Babylonian destruction more than a century later.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 4, 5.) Thus says the Lord: On account of three crimes of Judah, and on account of four, I will not turn them aside, because they have rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his commandments. They have been deceived by their idols, after which their fathers walked, and I will send fire into Judah, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): " I will send a fire upon Judah, though it is the land where God is known, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, though it is the holy city, and God has formerly been known in its palaces for a refuge, " Ps. xlviii. But the sin here charged upon Judah is different from all the rest.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
He at length begins his charge against Israel, to which all that goes before is but an introduction. The sins they are charged with--injustice, oppression, whoredom,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
I will send a fire upon Judah - All know now, how Jerusalem, its temple, and its palaces perished by fire, first by Nebuchadnezzar, then by the Romans. Yet some two centuries passed, before that first destruction came. The ungodly Jews flattered themselves that it would never come.
I will send a fire upon Judah - This fire was the war made upon the Jews by Nebuchadnezzar, which terminated with the sackage and burning of Jerusalem and its palace the temple.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְשִׁלַּ֥חְתִּי | veshilachti | and I will send forth | H7971 → | 845 times |
| אֵ֖שׁ | ʾesh | a fire | H784 → | 378 times |
| בִּֽיהוּדָ֑ה | bihudah | on Judah | H3063 → | 819 times |
| וְאָכְלָ֖ה | veakhelah | and it will consume | H398 → | 810 times |
| אַרְמְנ֥וֹת | ʾarmenot | [the] fortresses of | H759 → | 32 times |
| יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם׃ פ | yerushalim | Jerusalem | H3389 → |
וְשִׁלַּ֥חְתִּיand I will send forth
veshilachtiH7971 →845 times
אֵ֖שׁa fire
ʾeshH784 →378 times
בִּֽיהוּדָ֑הon Judah
bihudahH3063 →819 times
וְאָכְלָ֖הand it will consume
veakhelahH398 →810 times
אַרְמְנ֥וֹת[the] fortresses of
ʾarmenotH759 →32 times
יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם׃ פJerusalem
yerushalimH3389 →
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
Jeremiah 17:27But if you do not listen to Me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load while entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an…
it leads to
- 2 Kings 25:9
He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.
- Jeremiah 7:20
Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the produce…
- Jeremiah 21:14
I will punish you as your deeds deserve, declares the LORD. I will kindle a fire in your forest that will consume everything around you.’”
- 2 Kings 25:9
Through
Jeremiah 21:10For I have set My face against this city to bring disaster and not good, declares the LORD. It will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, who will destroy it…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 44:11
Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I will set My face to bring disaster and to cut off all Judah.
- Amos 9:4
Though they are driven by their enemies into captivity, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix My eyes upon them for harm and not for good.”
- Jeremiah 44:27
I am watching over them for harm and not for good, and every man of Judah who is in the land of Egypt will meet his end by sword or famine, until they are…
- Jeremiah 44:11
Through
Hosea 8:14Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; Judah has multiplied its fortified cities. But I will send fire upon their cities, and it will consume their citadels.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 17:27
But if you do not listen to Me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load while entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an…
- Deuteronomy 32:18
You ignored the Rock who brought you forth; you forgot the God who gave you birth.
- Jeremiah 17:27
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Amos
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
- PersonPatriarchsJudahJacob's fourth son who pledges himself for Benjamin; the tribe that carries the scepter to Shiloh (49:10) and the line to Christ (…
- PlaceJerusalemJerusalemThe city David took from the Jebusites and made his capital, where Solomon built the temple, where Christ was crucified and rose,…
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jerome, Commentary on Amos; John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.