Amos 8:9
in Amos 8And 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.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.
KJV
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:
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This verse in Amos 8
Commentary
8 notes on this verseAnd it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God,.... When this deluge and desolation of the land shall be, now spoken of: that I will cause the sun to go down at noon: or to he so dark as if it was set; as at the time of our Lord's crucifixion, to which many of the ancient fathers refer this prophecy, though it has respect to other times and things. Jarchi interprets it of the kingdom of the house of David.
This site's exposition
cause the sun to go down at noon
on Amos 8:9-10
The sun going down at noon and the earth darkened in the clear day is read by the bench chiefly as figurative language for a nation's sudden ruin at the height of its confidence, the same vocabulary the day of the Lord carries elsewhere in the Twelve, though some of the older writers also note a possible reference to the total solar eclipse over Israel in 763 BC, a date near Amos's own ministry. Feasts turned to mourning and songs to lamentation, sackcloth on every loin and baldness on every head, are named as the mourning of an only son, grief with no other child to comfort the parents, the sharpest grief the culture knew.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 9, 10.) And it shall come to pass on that day, says the Lord (Vulgate adds God): The sun will be darkened at noon, and I will make the earth go dark in the midst of light. I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation. I will bring sackcloth upon every waist, and baldness upon every head. I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day.
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 13 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
In relation to Christ's death, it is said: "The sun shall go down at midday." At midday, the sun falls for the Jews. When Christ was at the highest point of His power, that is, after the resurrection and the ascension, the Jews were blinded.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
At noon - So Israel's sun did as at noon set under the dark cloud of conspiracies and civil wars by Shallum, Menahem, Pekah, and Hosea, 'till the midnight darkness drew on by Pul, Tiglath- Pilneser, and Salmaneser. Darken - Bring a thick cloud of troubles and afflictions. In the clear day - When they think all is safe, sure, and well settled.
Job's sun went down at noon; many are taken away in the midst of their days, and their sun goes down at noon. In the midst of life we are in death. Thus terrible are the judgments of God to those that sleep in security; they are to them as the sun's going down at noon; the less they are expected the more confounding they are.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
I will cause the sun to go down - Darkness is heaviest and blackest in contrast with the brightest light; sorrow is saddest, when it comes upon fearless joy. God commonly, in His mercy, sends heralds of coming sorrow; very few burst suddenly on man. Now, in the meridian brightness of the day of Israel, the blackness of night should fall at once upon him. Not only was light to be displaced by darkness, but “then,” when it was most opposite to the course of nature. Not by gradual decay, but by a sudden unlooked-for crash, was Israel to perish.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
I will cause the sun to go down at noon - This may either refer to that darkness which often precedes and accompanies earthquakes, or to an eclipse. Abp. Usher has shown that about eleven years after Amos prophesied there were two great eclipses of the sun; one at the feast of tabernacles, and the other some time before the passover. The prophet may refer to the darkness occasioned by those eclipses; yet I rather think the whole may refer to the earthquake.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
And I will turn your festivals into mourning —as the matter is stated: (II Chron:24) “And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.”
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. 5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהָיָ֣ה׀ | vehayah | and it will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| בַּיּ֣וֹם | baiyom | on the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַה֗וּא | hahu' | <the> that | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| נְאֻם֙ | neum | [the] utterance of | H5002 → | 376 times |
| אֲדֹנָ֣י | ʾadonai | [the] Lord | H136 → | 440 times |
| יְהוִ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3069 → | 306 times |
| וְהֵבֵאתִ֥י | veheveti | and I will cause to go | H935 → | 2568 times |
| הַשֶּׁ֖מֶשׁ | hashemesh | the sun | H8121 → | |
| בַּֽצָּהֳרָ֑יִם | batzohorayim | at <the> noon<s> | H6672 → | |
| וְהַחֲשַׁכְתִּ֥י | vehachashakhti | and I will make dark | H2821 → | |
| לָאָ֖רֶץ | laaretz | <to> the earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
| בְּי֥וֹם | beyom | in a day of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| אֽוֹר׃ | ʾor | light | H216 → | 121 times |
וְהָיָ֣ה׀and it will be
vehayahH1961 →3559 times
בַּיּ֣וֹםon the day
baiyomH3117 →2304 times
הַה֗וּא<the> that
hahu'H1931 →1879 times
נְאֻם֙[the] utterance of
neumH5002 →376 times
אֲדֹנָ֣י[the] Lord
ʾadonaiH136 →440 times
יְהוִ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3069 →306 times
וְהֵבֵאתִ֥יand I will cause to go
vehevetiH935 →2568 times
הַשֶּׁ֖מֶשׁthe sun
hashemeshH8121 →
בַּֽצָּהֳרָ֑יִםat <the> noon<s>
batzohorayimH6672 →
וְהַחֲשַׁכְתִּ֥יand I will make dark
vehachashakhtiH2821 →
לָאָ֖רֶץ<to> the earth
laaretzH776 →2504 times
בְּי֥וֹםin a day of
beyomH3117 →2304 times
אֽוֹר׃light
ʾorH216 →121 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
Mark 15:33From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.
it leads to
- Matthew 27:45
From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Amos 8:9–10
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.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Luke 23:44–45
It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Mark 15:25
It was the third hour when they crucified Him.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 50:3–4
I clothe the heavens in black and make sackcloth their covering.”
- Matthew 27:45
Through
Luke 23:44It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour.
it leads to
- Mark 15:33–34
From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Acts 2:20
The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the coming of the great and glorious Day of the Lord.
- Mark 15:33–34
Through
Matthew 27:45From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.
it leads to
- Isaiah 50:3
I clothe the heavens in black and make sackcloth their covering.”
- Isaiah 50:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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); Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 13; 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.