Amos 3:11
in Amos 3Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: “An enemy will surround the land; he will pull down your strongholds and plunder your citadels.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: An adversary there shall be, even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be plundered.
KJV
Therefore thus saith the Lord God; An adversary there shall be even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled.
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This verse in Amos 3
Commentary
8 notes on this verse(Verse 11) Therefore thus says the Lord God: The land shall be troubled and surrounded, and your strength shall be taken away from you, and your houses shall be plundered. LXX: Therefore thus says the Lord God: Tyre and the surrounding land will be deserted by your strength, and your regions will be plundered.
This site's exposition
An adversary there shall be even round about the land
on Amos 3:11-12
The adversary named without a name is read by the bench as Assyria, the empire whose shadow lies behind every oracle in the book though Amos never speaks its name outright, its armies to surround the land and spoil the very palaces just named as guilty. The shepherd rescuing two legs or a piece of an ear from the lion's mouth invokes the legal principle of Exodus 22:13, evidence produced to prove a beast was truly killed and the loss not the shepherd's fault, applied here to a remnant so meager it will only prove how total the disaster was, not that it was survived. The corner of a bed and the couch in Damascus, a textual crux the commentators read as either luxury furnishings looted or the posture of the doomed reclining in false security, are named with the readings rather than settled.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
(1.) Their country shall be invaded and ruined; and observe how the punishment answers to the sin. [1.] Great tumults are in the midst of the land, and therefore an adversary shall be even round about the land; the Assyrian forces shall surround it and break in upon it on every side.
Therefore - Because of all the violence and rapine with other crying sins. An adversary - The Assyrian. Round about - Shall beset the whole land as one besieged city.
Therefore thus saith the Lord God,....
8 The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord G OD hath spoken, who can but prophesy? The scope of these verses is to convince the people of Israel that God had a controversy with them. That which the prophet has to say to them is to let them know that the Lord has something to say against them,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Therefore thus saith the Lord God - There was no human redress. The oppressor was mighty, but mightier the Avenger of the poor. Man would not help; therefore God would. “An adversary” there shall be, “even round about the land;” literally, “An enemy, and around the land!” The prophets speaks, as seeing him. The abruptness tells how suddenly that enemy should come, and hem in the whole land on all sides. What an unity in their destruction!
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
An adversary, round about the land - Ye shall not be able to escape, wherever ye turn, ye shall meet a foe.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
An adversary, even round about the land —The adversary is prepared to come, and he will come around this land.
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. 7 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
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לָכֵ֗ן | lakhen | <to> therefore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| כֹּ֤ה | koh | thus | H3541 → | 577 times |
| אָמַר֙ | ʾamar | he says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֲדֹנָ֣י | ʾadonai | [the] Lord | H136 → | 440 times |
| יְהוִ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3069 → | 306 times |
| צַ֖ר | tzar | an opponent | H6862 → | |
| וּסְבִ֣יב | useviv | and around | H5439 → | |
| הָאָ֑רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| וְהוֹרִ֤ד | vehorid | and he will bring down | H3381 → | 381 times |
| מִמֵּךְ֙ | mimekh | from you | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| עֻזֵּ֔ךְ | ʾuzekh | strength your | H5797 → | |
| וְנָבֹ֖זּוּ | venavozu | and they will be plundered | H962 → | |
| אַרְמְנוֹתָֽיִךְ׃ | ʾarmenotayikh | fortresses your | H759 → | 32 times |
לָכֵ֗ן<to> therefore
lakhenH3651 →771 times
כֹּ֤הthus
kohH3541 →577 times
אָמַר֙he says
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
אֲדֹנָ֣י[the] Lord
ʾadonaiH136 →440 times
יְהוִ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3069 →306 times
צַ֖רan opponent
tzarH6862 →
וּסְבִ֣יבand around
usevivH5439 →
הָאָ֑רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
וְהוֹרִ֤דand he will bring down
vehoridH3381 →381 times
מִמֵּךְ֙from you
mimekhH4480 →1188 times
עֻזֵּ֔ךְstrength your
ʾuzekhH5797 →
וְנָבֹ֖זּוּand they will be plundered
venavozuH962 →
אַרְמְנוֹתָֽיִךְ׃fortresses your
ʾarmenotayikhH759 →32 times
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
Amos 2:5So I will send fire upon Judah to consume the citadels of Jerusalem.”
it leads to
- Hosea 8:14
Israel 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.
- 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…
- Jeremiah 21:10
For 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…
- Jeremiah 39:8
The Chaldeans set fire to the palace of the king and to the houses of the people, and they broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
- Hosea 8:14
Through
Amos 6:14For behold, I will raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD, the God of Hosts, “and they will oppress you from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.”
it leads to
- 2 Kings 14:25
This Jeroboam restored the boundary of Israel from Lebo-hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word that the LORD, the God of Israel, had spoken through His servant Jonah son of…
- 1 Kings 8:65
So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him—a great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt—kept the feast before the LORD our God for seven days and seven more…
- 2 Kings 14:25
Through
2 Kings 15:19Then Pul king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver in order to gain his support and strengthen his own grip on the kingdom.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 14:5
As soon as the kingdom was firmly in his grasp, Amaziah executed the servants who had murdered his father the king.
- 1 Chronicles 5:25–26
They were mighty men of valor, famous men, and heads of their families. But they were unfaithful to the God of their fathers, and they prostituted themselves with the gods of the peoples of…
- 2 Kings 14:5
About Amos
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; 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.