The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces. 6:8
Trivia: According to Amos 2, what did God say the courageous among the mighty would do on that day?
9:1-4
1I saw the LORD standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.
I saw God standing on the altar, and he said, [1]
Smite this building so hard that it falls down on the heads of all the people.
I will kill any survivors with a sword. No one will escape.
2Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down:
If they try to dig into hell, I'll be there to kill them.
If they climb their way into heaven, I'll bring them down.
3And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:
If they climb to the top of Mount Carmel, I find them.
If they hide in the bottom of the sea, I'll command the serpent to bite them.
4And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.
If they are enslaved by their enemies, I'll find them and kill them with the sword.
I'll do things that are evil to them, not good. [2]
9:5-10
5 And the Lord GOD of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
6 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.
7 Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?
God will touch the land, and it will melt.
Everyone will mourn.
Then there'll be a flood that drowns them all.
8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD.
9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.
God says,
My eyes are on the sinful kingdom.
I'll destroy it all, except for some of Jacob's descendants.
10All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
All the sinners among my people will die with the sword.
9:11-15
11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:
12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this.
God says,
In that day,
13 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.
the mountains will drip sweet wine,
and all the hills will melt.
14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
They will plant vineyards, and drink wine.
15And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.
I will return my people to the land that I gave them, and they will never be removed from it. [3]
I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good. (v.4)
Amos sees God standing on the altar. God tells Amos that he will "cut them in the head" and " slay the last of them with the sword." Any that try to escape by diving to the bottom of the sea will be bitten, at God's command, by a sea-serpent. God will set his "eyes upon them for evil, not for good."
Despite this promise, the Jews have been continually uprooted and their lives disrupted. Even today, their land is far from secure.
