Amos 9:6
in Amos 9He 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 His name.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
it is he that buildeth his chambers in the heavens, and hath founded his vault upon the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth; Jehovah is his name.
KJV
It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name.
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This verse in Amos 9
Commentary
8 notes on this verse(Verse 6.) He who builds his ascent in heaven and establishes his foundation on earth: he who calls the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name. LXX: He who builds his ascent in heaven and establishes his promise on earth: he who calls the water of the sea and pours it out upon the face of the earth: The Lord Almighty is his name.
This site's exposition
toucheth the land
on Amos 9:5-6
The third of the book's three doxologies closes the judgment section (after 4:13 and 5:8-9), the Lord who touches the land until it melts and rises like the flood of Egypt, the same image 8:8 already used, now paired with the Lord who builds his stories in the heaven and calls for the waters of the sea. The bench reads the repeated hymn form as the book's own signature, naming the Creator at every hinge so the reader cannot mistake the coming judgment for anything less than the world's own maker acting in it, closed by the same anchor the whole book repeats, The Lord is his name.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
The heavenly intelligences gazed with admiration on "the Jerusalem that is above," and by the mouth of Isaiah said long ago, "Who are these that fly as clouds, and as doves with their young ones, unto me?" Now, as Christ has prepared for us this ascension into heaven, he must be the Christ of whom Amos spoke: "It is he who builds his ascent up to the heavens," even for himself and his people.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven,.... The three elements, according to Aben Ezra, fire, air, and water; the orbs, as Kimchi, one above another; a word near akin to this is rendered "his chambers", which are the clouds, Psa 104:3; perhaps the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, which are three stories high, may be meant; we read of the third heaven, 2Co 12:2; and particularly the throne of God is in the highest heaven; and the "ascents" (y) to it, as it may be rendered.
And he hath founded his troop in the earth: all the creatures, which are one army, one body; so closely are they connected, and so harmoniously do they all act for the accomplishing of their creator's purposes. Calleth for the waters - Either in judgment to drown, or in mercy to give rain.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Buildeth his stories in the heaven - There is here an allusion to large houses, where there are cellars, or places dug in the ground as repositories for corn; middle apartments, or stories, for the families to live in; and the house-top for persons to take the air upon.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
GROTIUS explains it, God's royal throne, expressed in language drawn from Solomon's throne, to which the ascent was by steps (compare 1Ki 10:18, 19). founded his troop--namely, all animate creatures, which are God's troop, or host (Ge 2:1), doing His will (Ps 103:20, 21;
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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
He that buildeth His stories - The word commonly means “steps,” nor is there any reason to alter it. We read of “the third heavens 2Co 12:2, the heavens of heavens Deu 10:14; 1Ki 8:27; Psa 148:4; that is, heavens to which this heaven is as earth. They are different ways of expressing the vast unseen space which God has created, divided, as we know, through the distance of the fixed stars, into countless portions, of which the lower, or further removed, are but as “steps” to the presence of the Great King, where, “above all heavens” Eph 4:10, Christ sitteth at the Right Hand of God. It comes to the same, if we suppose the word to mean “upper chambers.” The metaphor would still signify heavens above our heavens. And hath founded His troop - (literally, band in the earth Probably, “founded His arch upon the earth,” that is, His visible heaven, which seems, like an arch, to span the earth. The whole then describes” all things visible and invisible;” all of this our solar system, and all beyond it, the many gradations to the Throne of God. : “He daily “buildeth His stories in the heavens,” when He raiseth up His saints from things below to heavenly places, presiding over them, ascending in them. In devout wayfarers too, whose “conversation is in heaven Php 3:20, He ascendeth, sublimely and mercifully indwelling their hearts. In those who have the fruition of Himself in those heavens, He ascendeth by the glory of beatitude and the loftiest contemplation, as He walketh in those who walk, and resteth in those who rest in Him.” To this description of His power, Amos, as before Amo 5:8, adds that signal instance of its exercise on the ungodly, the flood, the pattern and type of judgments which no sinner escapes. God then hath the power to do this. Why should He not?
The words behind it
16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הַבּוֹנֶ֤ה | haboneh | who builds | H1129 → | 376 times |
| בַשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙ | vashamayim | in the heavens | H8064 → | |
| מַעֲלוֹתָ֔יו | maalotov | stairs his | H4609 → | |
| וַאֲגֻדָּת֖וֹ | vaagudato | and vault his | H92 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| אֶ֣רֶץ | ʾeretz | [the] earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
| יְסָדָ֑הּ | yesadah | he has founds it | H3245 → | |
| הַקֹּרֵ֣א | hakore' | who summons | H7121 → | 733 times |
| לְמֵֽי־ | lemei- | <to> [the] waters of | H4325 → | 581 times |
| הַיָּ֗ם | haiyam | the sea | H3220 → | 396 times |
| וַֽיִּשְׁפְּכֵ֛ם | vaiyishpekhem | and he poured out them | H8210 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| פְּנֵ֥י | penei | [the] surface of | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| הָאָ֖רֶץ | haaretz | the earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
| יְהוָ֥ה | yahweh | [is] Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| שְׁמֽוֹ׃ | shemo | name his | H8034 → | 864 times |
הַבּוֹנֶ֤הwho builds
habonehH1129 →376 times
בַשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙in the heavens
vashamayimH8064 →
מַעֲלוֹתָ֔יוstairs his
maalotovH4609 →
וַאֲגֻדָּת֖וֹand vault his
vaagudatoH92 →
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
אֶ֣רֶץ[the] earth
ʾeretzH776 →2504 times
יְסָדָ֑הּhe has founds it
yesadahH3245 →
הַקֹּרֵ֣אwho summons
hakore'H7121 →733 times
לְמֵֽי־<to> [the] waters of
lemei-H4325 →581 times
הַיָּ֗םthe sea
haiyamH3220 →396 times
וַֽיִּשְׁפְּכֵ֛םand he poured out them
vaiyishpekhemH8210 →
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
פְּנֵ֥י[the] surface of
peneiH6440 →2123 times
הָאָ֖רֶץthe earth
haaretzH776 →2504 times
יְהוָ֥ה[is] Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
שְׁמֽוֹ׃name 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 4:13For 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…
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…
- Amos 5:8
Through
Jeremiah 5:22Do you not fear Me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves…
it leads to
- Job 38:10–11
when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors,
- Psalms 104:9
You set a boundary they cannot cross, that they may never again cover the earth.
- Job 26:10
He has inscribed a horizon on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.
- Proverbs 8:29
when He set a boundary for the sea, so that the waters would not surpass His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth.
- Psalms 119:120
My flesh trembles in awe of You; I stand in fear of Your judgments.
- Job 38:10–11
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
Where this verse is studied
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About Amos
This page draws on 9 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); 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; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Tertullian, AGAINST MARCION 5.15.