Amos 7:4
in Amos 7This is what the Lord GOD showed me: The Lord GOD was calling for judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me: and, behold, the Lord Jehovah called to contend by fire; and it devoured the great deep, and would have eaten up the land.
KJV
Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord God called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part.
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This verse in Amos 7
Commentary
8 notes on this verse(Vers. 4 seqq.) This the Lord God showed me, and behold, the Lord God called for judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and will consume it together with a portion. And I said: O Lord God, please cease; who will raise up Jacob since he is small? The Lord had mercy on this also, but even this shall not be, said the Lord God. LXX: Thus the Lord God showed me, and behold, He called for judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and consumed a portion.
This site's exposition
called to contend by fire
on Amos 7:4-6
The second vision escalates from crop to catastrophe: a fire that devours the great deep and eats up a part of the land itself, a judgment reaching past drought into the created order. Amos repeats the same plea in nearly the same words, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small, and the Lord repents again, this also shall not be. The bench reads the doubled reprieve as mercy already stretched twice before the third vision arrives with no plea answered, the pattern itself a warning that intercession has a limit the prophet does not control.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
): The Lord God called to contend by fire. He contended, for God's judgment upon a people are his controversies with them; in them he prosecutes his action against them; and his controversies are neither causeless nor groundless.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Thus hath the Lord showed unto me,....
God is here coming forth against this sinful nation, first by one judgment and then by another. (1.) He begins with the judgment of famine. The prophet saw this in vision.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
The Lord God called to contend by fire - Permitted war, both civil and foreign, to harass the land, after the death of Jeroboam the second. These wars would have totally destroyed it, had not the prophet interceded. It devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part - We are here to understand the partially destructive wars which afterwards took place; for the Lord causes all these things to pass before the eyes of Amos in the vision of prophecy; and intimates that, at the intercession of his prophets, total ruin should be prevented.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Waters are the symbol for many people (Re 17:15). did eat up a part--namely, all the land (compare Am 4:7) of Israel east of Jordan (1Ch 5:26; This was a worse judgment than the previous one: the locusts ate up the grass: the fire not only affects the surface of the ground, but burns up the very roots and reaches even to the deep.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
God called to contend by fire - that is, He “called” His people to maintain their cause with Him “by fire,” as He says, “I will plead” in judgment “with him” (Gog) “with” (that is,” by”) pestilence and blood” Eze 38:22; and, “by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh” Isa 66:16; and, “The Lord standeth up to plead and standeth to judge the people” Isa 3:13. Man, by rebellion, challenges God’s Omnipotence. He will have none of Him; he will find his own happiness for himself, apart from God and in defiance of Him and His laws; he plumes himself on his success, and accounts his strength or wealth or prosperity the test of the wisdom of his policy. God, sooner or later, accepts the challenge. He brings things to the issue, which man had chosen. He “enters into judgment” (Isa 3:14, etc.) with him. If man escapes with impunity, then he had chosen well, in rejecting God and choosing his own ways. If not, what folly and misery was his short-sighted choice; short-lived in its gain; its loss, eternal! “Fire” stands as the symbol and summary of God’s most terrible judgments. It spares nothing, leaves nothing, not even the outward form of what it destroys. Here it is plainly a symbol, since it destroys “the sea” also, which shall be destroyed only by the fire of the Day of Judgment, when “the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” 2Pe 3:10. The sea is called the “great deep,” only in the most solemn language, as the history of the creation or the flood, the Psalms and poetical books. Here it is used, in order to mark the extent of the desolation represented in the vision. And did eat up a part - Rather literally, “The portion,” that is, probably the definite “portion” foreappointed by God to captivity and desolation. […]
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כֹּ֤ה | koh | thus | H3541 → | 577 times |
| הִרְאַ֙נִי֙ | hirani | he showed me | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| אֲדֹנָ֣י | ʾadonai | [the] Lord | H136 → | 440 times |
| יְהוִ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3069 → | 306 times |
| וְהִנֵּ֥ה | vehineh | and there! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| קֹרֵ֛א | kore' | [was] calling | H7121 → | 733 times |
| לָרִ֥ב | lariv | for conducting a case | H7378 → | |
| בָּאֵ֖שׁ | baesh | by <the> fire | H784 → | 378 times |
| אֲדֹנָ֣י | ʾadonai | [the] Lord | H136 → | 440 times |
| יְהוִ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3069 → | 306 times |
| וַתֹּ֙אכַל֙ | vatokhal | and it consumed | H398 → | 810 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| תְּה֣וֹם | tehom | [the] deep | H8415 → | |
| רַבָּ֔ה | rabah | great | H7227 → | 454 times |
| וְאָכְלָ֖ה | veakhelah | and it consumed | H398 → | 810 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַחֵֽלֶק׃ | hachelek | the portion of land | H2506 → |
כֹּ֤הthus
kohH3541 →577 times
הִרְאַ֙נִי֙he showed me
hiraniH7200 →1300 times
אֲדֹנָ֣י[the] Lord
ʾadonaiH136 →440 times
יְהוִ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3069 →306 times
וְהִנֵּ֥הand there!
vehinehH2009 →843 times
קֹרֵ֛א[was] calling
kore'H7121 →733 times
לָרִ֥בfor conducting a case
larivH7378 →
בָּאֵ֖שׁby <the> fire
baeshH784 →378 times
אֲדֹנָ֣י[the] Lord
ʾadonaiH136 →440 times
יְהוִ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3069 →306 times
וַתֹּ֙אכַל֙and it consumed
vatokhalH398 →810 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
תְּה֣וֹם[the] deep
tehomH8415 →
רַבָּ֔הgreat
rabahH7227 →454 times
וְאָכְלָ֖הand it consumed
veakhelahH398 →810 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַחֵֽלֶק׃the portion of land
hachelekH2506 →
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
Revelation 4:1After this I looked and saw a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had previously heard speak to me like a trumpet was saying, “Come up here, and I will show…
it leads to
- Revelation 11:12
And the witnesses heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watched them.
- Exodus 24:12
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and stay here, so that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commandments I have written…
- Revelation 1:19
Therefore write down the things you have seen, and the things that are, and the things that will happen after this.
- Revelation 1:10
On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,
- Revelation 1:1–3
This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon come to pass. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John,
- Revelation 11:12
Through
Amos 7:1This is what the Lord GOD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts just after the king’s harvest, as the late spring crop was coming up.
it leads to
Through
Amos 1:4So I will send fire upon the house of Hazael to consume the citadels of Ben-hadad.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 49:27
“I will set fire to the walls of Damascus; it will consume the fortresses of Ben-hadad.”
- Jeremiah 49:27
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); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Amos; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.