Amos 4:11
in Amos 4“Some of you I overthrew as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I have overthrown cities among you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a brand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.
KJV
I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
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This verse in Amos 4
Commentary
13 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
I have overthrown some of you - The earthquake is probably reserved to the last, as being the rarest, and so the most special, visitation. Frequent as earthquakes have been on the borders of Palestine, the greater part of Palestine was not on the line, which was especially shaken by them. The line, chiefly visited by earthquakes, was along the coast of the Mediterranean or parallel to it, chiefly from Tyre to Antioch and Aleppo.
This site's exposition
blasting and mildew
on Amos 4:9-11
Blasting and mildew take the crop the drought spared, the pestilence after the manner of Egypt takes the young men, and the last discipline is named outright: I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, the nation's own history turned into its own warning. The firebrand plucked out of the burning is read by the bench as a rescue too narrow to notice, a remnant spared from a judgment that reached the rest, and the refrain closes each plague exactly as before, yet have ye not returned unto me. Five disciplines in a row and not one turned the nation back.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
(Verse 11) I will overthrow you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you will become like a bundle snatched from the fire, and yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. LXX: I will overthrow you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you will become like a bundle plucked from the fire, but even so you did not turn back to me, says the Lord. This is the ultimate remedy for the ten tribes, the heretics, and all sinners.
They [who refuse to repent] do not deserve to be saved by the Lord's visitation or to be healed by temporal afflictions. They are like those "who in despair have handed themselves over to lasciviousness in the working of every error, unto uncleanness." In their hardness of heart and with their frequent habit of sinning, they are beyond the purgation of this very brief age and the punishment of the present life. The divine Word reproves them too through the prophet: "I have destroyed you as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and you have become like a firebrand snatched from the fire, and not even thus have you returned to me, says the Lord."
In this he was probably suggesting to us the eventual sacking that happened in the time of Jeremiah by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, who took the whole of Judea, set fire even to Jerusalem itself and its neighboring cities and towns, pulled down the divine Temple, took captive the survivors from the fighting, and as a glorious conqueror went back home with the captives, who finally returned to Judea at the completion of the period of 70 years.
See how God, through His love of goodness, seeks repentance; and by means of the plan He pursues of threatening silently, shows His own love for man. "I will avert," He says, "My face from them, and show what shall happen to them." For where the face of the Lord looks, there is peace and rejoicing; but where it is averted, there is the introduction of evil.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Perhaps they were consumed with lightning, as Sodom was, or the houses were, in some other way, burnt to the ground, and the inhabitants in them. Sodom and Gomorrah are said to be condemned with an overthrow, and so made an example, 2 Pet. ii.
6 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Overthrew - By grievous and desolating judgments. As a fire- brand - Such of you as escaped were yet as fire-brands in the midst of the fire, 'till infinite mercy saved a remnant.
I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,....
They are invited yet at length to humble themselves before God, since it is impossible for them to make their part good against him,
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
"God" is often repeated in Hebrew instead of "I." The earthquake here apparently alluded to is not that in the reign of Uzziah, which occurred "two years" later (Am 1:1). Traces of earthquakes and volcanic agency abound in Palestine. The allusion here is to some of the effects of these in previous times.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Ho 7:10); the monotonous repetition of the same burden marking their pitiable obstinacy. cleanness of teeth--explained by the parallel, "want of bread." The famine alluded to is that mentioned in 2Ki 8:1 [GROTIUS]. Where there is no food to masticate, the teeth are free from uncleanness, but it is the cleanness of want.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
I have overthrown some of you - In the destruction of your cities I have shown my judgments as signally as I did in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; and those of you that did escape were as “brands plucked out of the fire;” if not consumed, yet much scorched. And as the judgment was evidently from my hand, so was the deliverance; “and yet ye have not returned unto me, saith the Lord.”
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
like a brand Heb. כְּאוּד, tison in French, an ember; i.e, black and dark and burnt black.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
after the manner of Egypt —Just as I sent upon you in the desert when you left Egypt.
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. 4 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
17 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הָפַ֣כְתִּי | hafakhti | I overthrew | H2015 → | 94 times |
| בָכֶ֗ם | vakhem | among you | ||
| כְּמַהְפֵּכַ֤ת | kemahpekhat | like [the] overthrow of | H4114 → | |
| אֱלֹהִים֙ | ʾelohim | God | H430 → | 2601 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| סְדֹ֣ם | sedom | Sodom | H5467 → | |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| עֲמֹרָ֔ה | ʾamorah | Gomorrah | H6017 → | |
| וַתִּהְי֕וּ | vatihyu | and you were | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כְּא֖וּד | keud | like a piece of firewood | H181 → | |
| מֻצָּ֣ל | mutzal | plucked out | H5337 → | 212 times |
| מִשְׂרֵפָ֑ה | miserefah | from [the] burning | H8316 → | |
| וְלֹֽא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| שַׁבְתֶּ֥ם | shavtem | you returned | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| עָדַ֖י | ʾadai | to me | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| נְאֻם־ | neum- | [the] utterance of | H5002 → | 376 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ ס | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
הָפַ֣כְתִּיI overthrew
hafakhtiH2015 →94 times
בָכֶ֗םamong you
vakhem
כְּמַהְפֵּכַ֤תlike [the] overthrow of
kemahpekhatH4114 →
אֱלֹהִים֙God
ʾelohimH430 →2601 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
סְדֹ֣םSodom
sedomH5467 →
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
עֲמֹרָ֔הGomorrah
ʾamorahH6017 →
וַתִּהְי֕וּand you were
vatihyuH1961 →3559 times
כְּא֖וּדlike a piece of firewood
keudH181 →
מֻצָּ֣לplucked out
mutzalH5337 →212 times
מִשְׂרֵפָ֑הfrom [the] burning
miserefahH8316 →
וְלֹֽא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
שַׁבְתֶּ֥םyou returned
shavtemH7725 →1056 times
עָדַ֖יto me
ʾadaiH5704 →1261 times
נְאֻם־[the] utterance of
neum-H5002 →376 times
יְהוָֽה׃ סYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 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
Zechariah 3:2And the LORD said to Satan: “The LORD rebukes you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you! Is not this man a firebrand snatched from the fire?”
it leads to
- Jude 1:23
save others by snatching them from the fire; and to still others show mercy tempered with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.
- Jude 1:9
But even the archangel Michael, when he disputed with the devil over the body of Moses, did not presume to bring a slanderous charge against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
- Romans 8:33
Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
- 1 John 3:8
The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the…
- Zechariah 1:17
Proclaim further that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘My cities will again overflow with prosperity; the LORD will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.’”
- Jude 1:23
Through
Amos 4:6“I beset all your cities with cleanness of teeth and all your towns with lack of bread, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.
it leads to
- Haggai 2:17
I struck you—all the work of your hands—with blight, mildew, and hail, but you did not turn to Me, declares the LORD.
- Haggai 2:17
Through
Isaiah 13:19And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
it leads to
- Daniel 4:30
the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built by the might of my power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”
- Daniel 4:30
Through
Jeremiah 23:14And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns his back on wickedness.…
it leads to
- Isaiah 1:9–10
Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
- Isaiah 1:9–10
About Amos
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor Book 1; Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Amos; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Amos; John Cassian, CONFERENCE 6:11.6; 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.