Amos 1:2
in Amos 1He said: “The LORD roars from Zion and raises His voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the summit of Carmel withers.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he said, Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the pastures of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.
KJV
And he said, The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.
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This verse in Amos 1
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThe Lord will roar from Zion - It is a pity that our translators had not followed the hemistich form of the Hebrew: - Jehovah from Zion shall roar, And from Jerusalem shall give forth his voice; And the pleasant dwellings of the shepherds shall mourn, And the top of mount Carmel shall wither. Carmel was a very fruitful mountain in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:56; Isa 35:2. This introduction was natural in the mouth of a herdsman who was familiar with the roaring of lions, the bellowing of bulls, and the lowing of kine.
This site's exposition
among the sheepherders of Tekoa
on Amos 1:1-2
Amos names himself "among the sheepherders of Tekoa," a man of Judah sent to Israel while Jeroboam reigned. He dates his words "two years before the earthquake," and Zechariah 14:5 remembers that earthquake. Verse 2 gives the theme: "The LORD roars from Zion," and "the summit of Carmel withers."
This site's exposition
The LORD roars from Zion
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that Zion was the seat of the theocracy Israel had left for the calf shrines of Dan and Bethel. Matthew Henry reads a roar from the place of the mercy seat as judgment tempered by mercy. Adam Clarke adds that Carmel was a fruitful mountain.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 2.) And he said: The Lord from Zion shall roar, and from Jerusalem he shall give his voice.
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Our God, whose special residence is there, will issue out warrants, given at that court, as it were, for the executing of judgments on the land. In Zion was the mercy-seat; thence the Lord roars, intimating that God's acts of justice are consistent with mercy, allayed and mitigated by mercy, nay, as they are warnings, they are really acts of mercy.
), speaking death and terror to the sinful nations." It is an irrevocable sentence. God has spoken it, and he will not call it back. Note, Though God bear long, he will not bear always, with those that provoke him; and, when the decree brings forth, it will bring up.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
And this was the delight and wealth of these men; alluding to which Amos expresses the wealth and delight of the kingdom of Israel. Shall wither - Either blasted, or dried up with drought, and turned into barrenness. So the whole kingdom of the ten tribes, though as fruitful as Carmel should be made horrid and desolate as a wilderness.
And he said,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Whereas Jehovah is there represented roaring in Israel's behalf, here He roars against her (compare Ps 18:13; Jer 25:30). from Zion . . . Jerusalem--the seat of the theocracy, from which ye have revolted; not from Dan and Beth-el, the seat of your idolatrous worship of the calves. habitations . . . mourn--poetical personification.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The Lord will roar - Amos joins on his prophecy to the end of Joel’s, in order at once in its very opening to attest the oneness of their mission, and to prepare people’s minds to see, that his own prophecy was an expansion of those words, declaring the nearer and coming judgments of God. Those nearer judgments, however, of which he spake, were but the preludes of the judgments of the Great Day which Joel foretold, and of that last terrible voice of Christ, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah,” of whom Jacob prophesies; “He couched, He lay down as a lion, and as a young lion; who shall raise Him up?” Gen 49:9. God is said to “utter His” awful “voice from Zion and Jerusalem,” because there He had set His Name, there He was present in His Church. It was, as it were, His own place, which He had hallowed by tokens of His presence, although “the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him.” In the outset of his prophecy, Amos warned Israel, that there, not among themselves in their separated state, God dwelt. Jeremiah, in using these same words toward Judah, speaks not of Jerusalem, but of heaven; “The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation” Jer 25:30. The prophecy is to the ten tribes or to the pagan: God speaks out of the Church. […]
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּאמַ֓ר׀ | vaiyomar | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָה֙ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| מִצִיּ֣וֹן | mitziyon | from Zion | H6726 → | |
| יִשְׁאָ֔ג | yishag | he will roar | H7580 → | 20 times |
| וּמִירוּשָׁלִַ֖ם | umirushalim | and from Jerusalem | H3389 → | |
| יִתֵּ֣ן | yiten | he will give forth | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| קוֹל֑וֹ | kolo | voice his | H6963 → | 506 times |
| וְאָֽבְלוּ֙ | veavelu | and they will dry up | H56 → | 39 times |
| נְא֣וֹת | neot | [the] pastures of | H4999 → | |
| הָרֹעִ֔ים | haroim | the shepherds | H7462 → | |
| וְיָבֵ֖שׁ | veyavesh | and it will wither | H3001 → | |
| רֹ֥אשׁ | rosh | [the] top of | H7218 → | 599 times |
| הַכַּרְמֶֽל׃ פ | hakarmel | <the> Carmel | H3760 → |
וַיֹּאמַ֓ר׀and he said
vaiyomarH559 →5305 times
יְהוָה֙Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
מִצִיּ֣וֹןfrom Zion
mitziyonH6726 →
יִשְׁאָ֔גhe will roar
yishagH7580 →20 times
וּמִירוּשָׁלִַ֖םand from Jerusalem
umirushalimH3389 →
יִתֵּ֣ןhe will give forth
yitenH5414 →2011 times
קוֹל֑וֹvoice his
koloH6963 →506 times
וְאָֽבְלוּ֙and they will dry up
veaveluH56 →39 times
נְא֣וֹת[the] pastures of
neotH4999 →
הָרֹעִ֔יםthe shepherds
haroimH7462 →
וְיָבֵ֖שׁand it will wither
veyaveshH3001 →
רֹ֥אשׁ[the] top of
roshH7218 →599 times
הַכַּרְמֶֽל׃ פ<the> Carmel
hakarmelH3760 →
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
Joel 3:16The LORD will roar from Zion and raise His voice from Jerusalem; heaven and earth will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for His people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.
it leads to
- Isaiah 42:13
The LORD goes forth like a mighty one; He stirs up His zeal like a warrior. He shouts; yes, He roars in triumph over His enemies:
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Joel 2:10–11
Before them the earth quakes; the heavens tremble. The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars lose their brightness.
- Jeremiah 25:30–31
So you are to prophesy all these words against them and say to them: ‘The LORD will roar from on high; He will raise His voice from His holy habitation. He will roar loudly…
- Proverbs 18:10
The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.
- Jeremiah 16:19
O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of distress, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our fathers inherited nothing…
- Isaiah 42:13
Through
Isaiah 42:13The LORD goes forth like a mighty one; He stirs up His zeal like a warrior. He shouts; yes, He roars in triumph over His enemies:
it leads to
- Psalms 78:65
Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty warrior overcome by wine.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 15:1–3
Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: “I will sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted. The horse and rider He has thrown into the sea.
- Psalms 78:65
Through
Jeremiah 12:4How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field be withered? Because of the evil of its residents, the animals and birds have been swept away, for the people have said,…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 9:10
I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness pasture, for they have been scorched so no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not…
- Jeremiah 9:10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
On this verse
About Amos
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
- PlaceJerusalemZionThe eastern ridge David took from the Jebusites and made his stronghold, the name the Psalms and the prophets give the city the LO…
- PlaceJerusalemJerusalemThe city David took from the Jebusites and made his capital, where Solomon built the temple, where Christ was crucified and rose,…
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; 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.