Amos 3:2
in Amos 3“Only you have I known from all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities.
KJV
You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
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This verse in Amos 3
Commentary
10 notes on this verseYou only have I known - I have taken no other people to be my own people. I have approved of you, loved you, fed, sustained, and defended you; but because you have forsaken me, have become idolatrous and polluted, therefore will I punish you. And the punishment shall be in proportion to the privileges you have enjoyed, and the grace you have abused.
This site's exposition
the LORD has spoken against you
on Amos 3:1-2
The book's argument turns on "Only you have I known from all the families of the earth." The Hebrew verb yada, to know, is the word of covenant intimacy. The conclusion follows, "therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities," so privilege is the ground of a heavier reckoning.
This site's exposition
Only you have I known
Adam Clarke reads known as the Lord taking Israel for His own people, approving, loving, feeding, sustaining and defending them. The word therefore draws judgment out of that very choice. Clarke adds that the punishment will be in proportion to the privileges they enjoyed and the grace they abused.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
And each of us thinks, since he has not been an idolater, since he has not been immoral—would that we were pure in such areas—that after he has been set free from this life, he will be saved. We do not see that "all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive either good or evil according to what he has done in the body." We do not hear what has been said: "You especially have I known out of all the tribes on the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all"—not just some and not others—"of your iniquities."
For this very cause God accuses the Israelites more vehemently, and shows that they were worthy of greater chastisement, because they sinned after so many honors had come to them from Him, saying in one place: "But you only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore will I punish you for your iniquities," and again, "and I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites;" and before the times of the prophets, wishing to show that sins receive sorer punishment by far when they occur in the case of the Priest than in the case of the laity, He enjoins as great a sacrifice to be offered for the Priest as for the whole people, and this amounts to a proof on his part, that the wounds of the Priesthood need more assistance—that is, as great as those of all the people together, and they would not have needed a greater, except they were worse; and they are not worse in their nature, but are aggravated through the dignity of the Priest, who dares to commit them.
(Chapter 3, verses 1-2) Listen to the word that the Lord spoke against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family that I brought out of the land of Egypt, saying: You alone have I known out of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
You only have I known of all the families of the earth,....
Of the sins that were found among them, by which God was provoked thus to threaten, thus to punish, that they might justify God in his controversy with them, and, unless they repented and reformed, might expect no other than that God should proceed in his controversy,
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)
proposed
You only have I known--that is, acknowledged as My people, and treated with peculiar favor (Ex 19:5; Compare the use of "know," Ps 1:6; 2Ti 2:19. therefore I will punish--the greater the privileges, the heavier the punishment for the abuse of them; for to the other offenses there is added, in this case, ingratitude.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities - Such is the one law of God. The nearer anyone is brought unto God, the worse is his fall, and, his trial over, the more heavily is he punished. Nearness to God is a priceless, but an awesome gift. The most intense blessing becomes, by the abuse of free will, the most dreadful woe. For the nearer God places anyone to His own light, the more malignant is the choice of darkness instead of light. The more clearly anyone knows the relation to God, in which God has placed him, the more terrible is his rejection of God. The more God reveals to any, what He is, His essential perfections, His holiness and love, the more utter, tearful malignity it is, to have been brought face to face with God, and to have in deed said to Him, “On Thy terms I will have none of Thee.” The angels who sinned against fullest light, had no redemption or repentance; but became devils. “He took not on Him the nature of angels” Heb 2:16. “The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitations, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great Day” Jud 1:6. Of the former people, when their first day of grace was past, Daniel says; “under the whole heaven hath not been done, as hath been done upon Jerusalem” Dan 9:12. Begin,” God saith in Ezekiel’s “at My sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house” Eze 9:6. So our Lord lays down the rule of judgment and punishment hereafter” Luk 12:47-48 “the servant which knew his Lord’s will, and prepared not” himself, “neither did according to His will, shall be beaten with many” stripes. “But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. […]
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| רַ֚ק | rak | only | H7535 → | |
| אֶתְכֶ֣ם | ʾetkhem | <obj.> you | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יָדַ֔עְתִּי | yada'ti | I have known | H3045 → | 945 times |
| מִכֹּ֖ל | mikol | from all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מִשְׁפְּח֣וֹת | mishpechot | [the] clans of | H4940 → | |
| הָאֲדָמָ֑ה | haadamah | the earth | H127 → | 225 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | there- | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כֵּן֙ | ken | -fore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| אֶפְקֹ֣ד | ʾefkod | I will visit | H6485 → | 303 times |
| עֲלֵיכֶ֔ם | ʾaleikhem | on you | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| אֵ֖ת | ʾet | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| עֲוֹנֹֽתֵיכֶֽם׃ | ʾavonoteikhem | iniquities your | H5771 → |
רַ֚קonly
rakH7535 →
אֶתְכֶ֣ם<obj.> you
ʾetkhemH853 →10935 times
יָדַ֔עְתִּיI have known
yada'tiH3045 →945 times
מִכֹּ֖לfrom all
mikolH3605 →5413 times
מִשְׁפְּח֣וֹת[the] clans of
mishpechotH4940 →
הָאֲדָמָ֑הthe earth
haadamahH127 →225 times
עַל־there-
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
כֵּן֙-fore
kenH3651 →771 times
אֶפְקֹ֣דI will visit
ʾefkodH6485 →303 times
עֲלֵיכֶ֔םon you
ʾaleikhemH5921 →5755 times
אֵ֖ת<obj.>
ʾetH853 →10935 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
עֲוֹנֹֽתֵיכֶֽם׃iniquities your
ʾavonoteikhemH5771 →
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
Deuteronomy 7:6For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all peoples on the face of…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 14:2
for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all the peoples on the face of the…
- Exodus 19:5–6
Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine.
- 1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
- Malachi 3:17
“They will be Mine,” says the LORD of Hosts, “on the day when I prepare My treasured possession. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.
- Deuteronomy 26:19
that He will set you high in praise and name and honor above all the nations He has made, and that you will be a holy people to the LORD your God, as He…
- Deuteronomy 14:2
Through
1 Peter 4:17For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?
it leads to
- Jeremiah 25:29
For behold, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears My Name, so how could you possibly go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword…
- Romans 2:9
There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Greek;
- 2 Thessalonians 1:8
in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
- Jeremiah 25:29
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 Chrysostom, Treatise on the Priesthood, Book 6; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 20:3.