Amos 4:13
in Amos 4For behold, He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind and reveals His thoughts to man, who turns the dawn to darkness and strides on the heights of the earth—the LORD, the God of Hosts, is His name.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought; that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth—Jehovah, the God of hosts, is his name.
KJV
For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The Lord, The God of hosts, is his name.
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This verse in Amos 4
Commentary
14 notes on this verse(Verse 12, 13.) Therefore, I will do these things to you, Israel: but after I have done these things to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel. For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth - the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name. LXX: Therefore, I will do these things to you, Israel: but because I will do these things to you, prepare to call upon your God, O Israel.
This site's exposition
prepare to meet thy God
on Amos 4:12-13
The refrain breaks: since correction failed, the word changes from discipline to confrontation, therefore thus will I do unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel, a phrase the bench reads as summons to judgment rather than to worship. The doxology that follows, he that formeth the mountains and createth the wind, is the first of three such hymns scattered through the book (5:8-9, 9:5-6), each naming the Creator right where judgment is announced, so that the God Israel must meet is identified beyond appeal. The Lord, the God of hosts, is his name closes the chapter on the same divine name the whole book repeats as its anchor.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
But if any one thinks that the word of the prophet is to be explained with reference to the Holy Spirit, because it is said, "declaring unto men his Christ," he will explain it more easily of the Lord's Sun of justice. For if it troubles you that he said Spirit, and therefore you think that this cannot well be explained of the mystery of the taking of human nature, read on in the Scriptures, and you will find that all agrees most excellently with Christ.
This is Amos the third in order, who also was privileged to tell of the coming of the Lord Christ and in these words: Lo! I am he that confirms the thunder and that creates the wind and that announces to men his Anointed.
Nor does it escape my notice that heretics have been prone to object that the Holy Spirit appears to be a creature, because many of them use as an argument for establishing their impiety that passage of Amos, where he spoke of the blowing of the wind, as the words of the prophet made clear. For you read thus: "Behold, I am he that establishes the thunder and creates the wind and declare unto man his Christ, that make light and mist, and ascend upon high places, the Lord God Almighty is his name."
When Christ came, the people of the old covenant denied him, but the devils confessed him. His forefather David was not ignorant of him when he said, "I will place a lamp for my anointed." Some have interpreted "lamp" as the splendor of prophecy; others have understood by the lamp the flesh he assumed of the Virgin, according to the words of the apostle: "But we carry this treasure in vessels of clay." The prophet was not ignorant of him when he said, "And declaring his Christ to men." Moses also knew him, and Isaiah and Jeremiah as well. None of the prophets was ignorant of him. Even the devils acknowledged him, for he rebuked them, and Scripture adds, "Because they knew that he was the Christ."
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The God of hosts - Whose sovereign power all creatures obey, and acts for or against us as he willeth. Let us humble ourselves before this God, and give all diligence to make him our God. For happy are the people whose God he is, and who have all this power engaged for them.
7 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
For, lo, he that formeth the mountains,....
Or, " Thus I will go on to do unto thee, following one judgment with another, like the plagues of Egypt, till I have made a full end." Nothing but reformation will prevent the ruin of a sinful people. If they turn not to him, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Whatever are the products of the everlasting mountains, he formed them; whatever salvation is hoped for from hills and mountains, he is the founder of it, Ps. lxxxix. He that formed the great mountains can make them plain, when they stand in the way of his people's salvation.
It is here foretold, in the name of God, that oppressors shall be humbled and idolaters shall be hardened. That proud oppressors shall be humbled for their oppressions: for he that does wrong shall receive according to the wrong that he has done. How their sin is described,
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
For lo, He that formeth the mountains - Their God whom they worshiped was but nature. Amos tells them, who “their God” is, whom they were to prepare to meet. He describes Him as the Creator of that, which to man seems most solid, to go furthest back in times past. Before the everlasting mountains were, God is, for He made them. Yet God is not a Creator in the past alone.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The God whom Israel is to "prepare to meet" (Am 4:12) is here described in sublime terms. wind--not as the Margin, "spirit." The God with whom thou hast to do is the Omnipotent Maker of things seen, such as the stupendous mountains, and of things too subtle to be seen, though of powerful agency, as the "wind." declareth unto man . . . his thought-- (Ps 139:2).
He that formeth the mountains - Here is a powerful description of the majesty of God. He formed the earth; he created the wind; he knows the inmost thoughts of the heart; he is the Creator of darkness and light; he steps from mountain to mountain, and has all things under his feet! Who is he who hath done and can do all these things? Jehovah Elohim Tsebaoth, that is his name. 1. The self-existing, eternal, and independent Being. 2. The God who is in covenant with mankind. 3. The universal Commander of all the hosts of earth and heaven. This name is farther illustrated in the following chapter. These words are full of instruction, and may be a subject of profitable meditation to every serious mind.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
what his speech is —All his deeds are related in detail before him at the time of his death.
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
21 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֡י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| הִנֵּה֩ | hineh | here! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| יוֹצֵ֨ר | yotzer | [one who] formed | H3335 → | |
| הָרִ֜ים | harim | mountains | H2022 → | 546 times |
| וּבֹרֵ֣א | uvore' | and [one who] created | H1254 → | |
| ר֗וּחַ | ruach | wind | H7307 → | |
| וּמַגִּ֤יד | umagid | and [one who] tells | H5046 → | |
| לְאָדָם֙ | leadam | to humankind | H120 → | |
| מַה־ | mah- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| שֵּׂח֔וֹ | secho | [is] thought his | H7808 → | |
| עֹשֵׂ֥ה | ʾoseh | [one who] makes | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| שַׁ֙חַר֙ | shachar | <of> dawn | H7837 → | |
| עֵיפָ֔ה | ʾeifah | darkness | H5890 → | |
| וְדֹרֵ֖ךְ | vedorekh | and [one who] treads | H1869 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| בָּ֣מֳתֵי | bomotei | [the] high places of | H1116 → | |
| אָ֑רֶץ | ʾaretz | [the] earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
| יְהוָ֥ה | yahweh | [is] Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֵֽי־ | ʾelohei- | God of | H430 → | 2601 times |
| צְבָא֖וֹת | tzevaot | hosts | H6635 → | 485 times |
| שְׁמֽוֹ׃ ס | shemo | name his | H8034 → | 864 times |
כִּ֡יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
הִנֵּה֩here!
hinehH2009 →843 times
יוֹצֵ֨ר[one who] formed
yotzerH3335 →
הָרִ֜יםmountains
harimH2022 →546 times
וּבֹרֵ֣אand [one who] created
uvore'H1254 →
ר֗וּחַwind
ruachH7307 →
וּמַגִּ֤ידand [one who] tells
umagidH5046 →
לְאָדָם֙to humankind
leadamH120 →
מַה־what?
mah-H4100 →752 times
שֵּׂח֔וֹ[is] thought his
sechoH7808 →
עֹשֵׂ֥ה[one who] makes
ʾosehH6213 →2628 times
שַׁ֙חַר֙<of> dawn
shacharH7837 →
עֵיפָ֔הdarkness
ʾeifahH5890 →
וְדֹרֵ֖ךְand [one who] treads
vedorekhH1869 →
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
בָּ֣מֳתֵי[the] high places of
bomoteiH1116 →
אָ֑רֶץ[the] earth
ʾaretzH776 →2504 times
יְהוָ֥ה[is] Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֵֽי־God of
ʾelohei-H430 →2601 times
צְבָא֖וֹתhosts
tzevaotH6635 →485 times
שְׁמֽוֹ׃ סname his
shemoH8034 →864 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 5:8He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth—the LORD…
it leads to
- Job 9:9
He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, of the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
- Amos 9:6
He builds His upper rooms in the heavens and founds His vault upon the earth. He summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth. The LORD is…
- Psalms 104:20
You bring darkness, and it becomes night, when all the beasts of the forest prowl.
- Amos 8:9
And in that day, declares the Lord GOD, I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the daytime.
- Job 38:31–32
Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?
- Job 9:9
Through
Amos 9:6He builds His upper rooms in the heavens and founds His vault upon the earth. He summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth. The LORD is…
it leads to
- Amos 5:8
He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth—the LORD…
- Psalms 104:3
laying the beams of His chambers in the waters above, making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind.
- Amos 5:8
Through
Psalms 65:6You formed the mountains by Your power, having girded Yourself with might.
it leads to
- Psalms 93:1
The LORD reigns! He is robed in majesty; the LORD has clothed and armed Himself with strength. The world indeed is firmly established; it cannot be moved.
- Psalms 93:1
Where this verse is studied
By subject
Creation34 verses
About Amos
This page draws on 12 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); Ambrose of Milan, On the Holy Spirit, Book 2; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Cosmas Indicopleustes, The Christian Topography, Book 5; Cyril of Jerusalem, CATECHETICAL LECTURE 10:15; 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.