Amos 3:8
in Amos 3The lion has roared—who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken—who will not prophesy?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The lion hath roared; who will not fear? The Lord Jehovah hath spoken; who can but prophesy?
KJV
The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?
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This verse in Amos 3
Commentary
12 notes on this verse(Verse 3 onwards) Will two walk together unless they have agreed? Does a lion roar in the forest unless it has prey? Does a lion's cub give a cry from its den without capturing something? Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground without a trapper? Does a trap spring up from the ground before catching something? If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, has not the Lord caused it?
This site's exposition
Surely the Lord GOD does nothing
on Amos 3:7-8
The rule is "Surely the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets." "The lion has roared" takes up the image of 1:2 as Amos's defense, the compulsion he names to Amaziah at 7:14-15. The closing question has only one answer: "who will not prophesy?"
This site's exposition
The Lord GOD has spoken
Matthew Henry names two forces, an inner impulse like the fire in the bones of Jeremiah 20:9 and a plain command to deliver the word. Cyril of Alexandria adds that the prophets bring no wrath themselves. Adam Clarke suggests prophesy here means to plead against the coming vengeance.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
"A lion will roar, and who will not be afraid? The Lord God has spoken, and who will not prophesy?" It is not the prophets, he says, who bring on the things that come from wrath; how could they? For they are also human in nature, just like you, but they have been honored by God by learning all the things that He might wish to fulfill, and to bring upon cities and lands either good things, perhaps, or things that are accustomed to cause pain.
"Lord, you have been our refuge." Therefore we have recourse to you. Our healing shall be from you, for our evil is from ourselves. Because we have abandoned you, you have abandoned us to ourselves. May we therefore be found in you, for in ourselves we had been lost. "Lord, you have been our refuge." Why, my brethren, should we doubt that the Lord will make us gentle if we submit ourselves to be tamed by him? You have tamed the lion, which you did not create. Will your Creator be unable to tame you? What is the source of your power to tame such savage beasts? Are you their equal in bodily strength? By what power then have you been able to tame such huge beasts? The so-called beasts of burden are wild by nature, for if untamed they could not be endured. But because you are not accustomed to see them except when handled by men and under the curb and control of men, you might think that they were born tame. At any rate, consider the savage beasts. The lion roars; who does not fear? And yet, whence your knowledge of the fact that you are more powerful? Not in bodily strength but in the inner reason of the mind. You are more powerful than a lion, because you have been made to the image of God. The image of God tames a wild beast. Is God unable to tame his own image?
National calamity is traced to national sin, specially to neglect of the poor.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Nay, and besides the prophetic impulse which went along with the inspiration, and made the word like a fire in their bones ( Jer. xx. 9 ), they received a command from God to deliver what they had been charged with; and they would have been false to their trust if they had not done it. Necessity was laid upon them, as upon the preachers of the gospel, 1 Cor. ix.
Hath roared - As a lion roareth when near his prey: so God hath terribly threatened what is near to be done. Prophesy - Amos can not but speak what he had heard.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The lion hath roared, who will not fear?....
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,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
The lion hath roared - God hath sent forth a terrible alarm, Who will not fear? Can any hear such denunciations of Divine wrath and not tremble? The Lord God hath spoken - And those only who are in communion with him have heard the speech. Who can but prophesy? Who can help proclaiming at large the judgment threatened against the nation? But I think נבא naba, here, is to be taken in its natural and ideal signification, to pray, supplicate, or deprecate vengeance.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The Lion hath roared: who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken: who can but prophesy? - that is, there is cause for you to fear, when the Lord “roareth from Zion;” but if ye fear not, God’s prophets dare not but fear. So Paul saith, “necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel! For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, a dispensation” of the Gospel “is committed unto me” 1Co 9:16-17; and Peter and John, “whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye! For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” Act 4:19-20; Moses was not excused, though slow of speech; nor Isaiah, though of polluted lips; nor Jeremiah, because he was a child; but God said, “Say not, I am child, for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak” Jer 1:7. And Ezekiel was bidden, “be not rebellious, like that rebellious house” Eze 2:8. And when Jeremiah would keep silence, he saith, “His Word was in mine heart as a burning fire, shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing and I could not stay” Jer 20:9.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַרְיֵ֥ה | ʾaryeh | a lion | H738 → | 80 times |
| שָׁאָ֖ג | shaag | it has roared | H7580 → | 20 times |
| מִ֣י | mi | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִירָ֑א | yira' | will he be afraid | H3372 → | |
| אֲדֹנָ֤י | ʾadonai | [the] Lord | H136 → | 440 times |
| יְהוִה֙ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3069 → | 306 times |
| דִּבֶּ֔ר | diber | he has spoken | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| מִ֖י | mi | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִנָּבֵֽא׃ | yinave' | will he prophesy | H5012 → | 115 times |
אַרְיֵ֥הa lion
ʾaryehH738 →80 times
שָׁאָ֖גit has roared
shaagH7580 →20 times
מִ֣יwho?
miH4310 →423 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יִירָ֑אwill he be afraid
yira'H3372 →
אֲדֹנָ֤י[the] Lord
ʾadonaiH136 →440 times
יְהוִה֙Yahweh
yahwehH3069 →306 times
דִּבֶּ֔רhe has spoken
diberH1696 →1141 times
מִ֖יwho?
miH4310 →423 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יִנָּבֵֽא׃will he prophesy
yinave'H5012 →115 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
Jeremiah 20:9If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of…
it leads to
- Psalms 39:3
My heart grew hot within me; as I mused, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue:
- 1 Corinthians 9:16–17
Yet when I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am obligated to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 32:18–20
For I am full of words, and my spirit within me compels me.
- Acts 4:20
For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
- Acts 17:16
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply disturbed in his spirit to see that the city was full of idols.
- Psalms 39:3
Through
Acts 4:20For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 20:9
If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of…
- Acts 22:15
You will be His witness to everyone of what you have seen and heard.
- Jeremiah 20:9
Through
Amos 1:2He said: “The LORD roars from Zion and raises His voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the summit of Carmel withers.”
it leads to
- Joel 3:16
The 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.
- Joel 3:16
About Amos
This page draws on 10 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); Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 55:3; Basil of Caesarea, Commentary (church-history corpus); Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Amos; 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.