Amos 6:11
in Amos 6For the LORD gives a command: “The great house will be smashed to pieces, and the small house to rubble.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For, behold, Jehovah commandeth, and the great house shall be smitten with breaches, and the little house with clefts.
KJV
For, behold, the Lord commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts.
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This verse in Amos 6
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The Lord commandeth and He will smite - Jerome: “If He commandeth, how doth He smite? If He smiteth, how doth He command? In that thing which He “commands” and enjoins His ministers, He Himself is seen to “smite.” In Egypt the Lord declares that He killed the first-born, who, we read, were slain by “the destroyer” Exo 12:23. The “breaches” denote probably the larger, “the cleft” the smaller ruin. The greater pile was the more greatly destroyed.
This site's exposition
if there remain ten men in one house
on Amos 6:9-11
The scene shrinks to a single household to make the scale of death vivid, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die, and the survivor who comes to remove the bodies is warned into silence, hold thy tongue, for we may not make mention of the name of the Lord, a fear the bench reads as dread that even invoking God might bring further judgment down. The Lord commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts extends the plague roll call from chapter 4 into total demolition, rich and poor houses struck alike. No exemption of rank or humility is left standing by the time the verse ends.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Vers. 7 seqq.) Therefore now they will migrate to the head of the transmigrants, and the faction of the revelers will be removed.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The princes' palaces are not above the rebuke of divine justice, nor the poor men's cottages beneath it; neither shall escape. When sin has marked them for ruin God will find ways to bring it about. It is by order from him that breaches are made.
For, behold, the Lord commandeth,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
commandeth, and he will smite--His word of command, when once given, cannot but be fulfilled (Isa 55:11). His mere word is enough to smite with destruction. great house . . . little house--He will spare none, great or small (Am 3:15).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
He will smote the great house with breaches - The great and small shall equally suffer; no distinction shall be made; rich and poor shall fall together; death has received his commission, and he will spare none. Horace has a sentiment precisely like this, Carm. Lib. i., Od. iv., 5:13. Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum Tabernas, Regumque Turres. With equal pace impartial fate Knocks at the palace as the cottage gate. But this may refer particularly to the houses of the poor in Eastern countries; their mud walls being frequently full of clefts; the earth of which they are built seldom adhering together because of its sandiness.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
into splinters —That it shall be splintered into fine chips.
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
And his kinsman and the one who saved him from burning shall carry him —His kinsman and his friend who saved his bones from the fire. In this manner, Jonathan rendered it: And his kinsman shall carry him out of the fire.
Will horses run on the rock —I.e, will they maintain their running when they change the order of the world?
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. 2 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
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| הִנֵּ֤ה | hineh | here! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| יְהוָה֙ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| מְצַוֶּ֔ה | metzaveh | [is] commanding | H6680 → | 494 times |
| וְהִכָּ֛ה | vehikah | and someone will strike | H5221 → | 499 times |
| הַבַּ֥יִת | habayit | the house | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| הַגָּד֖וֹל | hagadol | <the> great | H1419 → | |
| רְסִיסִ֑ים | resisim | fragments | H7447 → | |
| וְהַבַּ֥יִת | vehabayit | and the house | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| הַקָּטֹ֖ן | hakaton | <the> small | H6996 → | 101 times |
| בְּקִעִֽים׃ | bekiim | rubble<s> | H1233 → |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
הִנֵּ֤הhere!
hinehH2009 →843 times
יְהוָה֙Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
מְצַוֶּ֔ה[is] commanding
metzavehH6680 →494 times
וְהִכָּ֛הand someone will strike
vehikahH5221 →499 times
הַבַּ֥יִתthe house
habayitH1004 →2046 times
הַגָּד֖וֹל<the> great
hagadolH1419 →
רְסִיסִ֑יםfragments
resisimH7447 →
וְהַבַּ֥יִתand the house
vehabayitH1004 →2046 times
הַקָּטֹ֖ן<the> small
hakatonH6996 →101 times
בְּקִעִֽים׃rubble<s>
bekiimH1233 →
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
Isaiah 55:11so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.
it leads to
- Matthew 24:35
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
- Isaiah 46:10
I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’
- Romans 10:17
Consequently, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
- John 6:63
The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
- Isaiah 45:23
By Myself I have sworn; truth has gone out from My mouth, a word that will not be revoked: Every knee will bow before Me, every tongue will swear allegiance.
- Matthew 24:35
Through
Luke 19:44They will level you to the ground—you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”
it leads to
- Luke 13:34–35
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you…
- Luke 21:6
“As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
- Lamentations 1:8
Jerusalem has sinned greatly; therefore she has become an object of scorn. All who honored her now despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns away.
- Luke 13:34–35
About Amos
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; 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.