Amos 9:6

Amos 9:6 [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.

Ver. 6. It is he that buildeth his stories (or spheres) in the heaven] Surgit hic oratio. The prophet here riseth in his discourse; and as Chrysostom said of St Paul, Tricubitalis est, et coelos transcendit; Low though he were, and little, yet he got up into the third heaven; so may we of Amos, though but a plain spoken and illiterate herdsman, yet, in setting forth the power of God, he mounts from earth to heaven, and shows himself to be Virum bonum, dicendi peritum, an exquisite orator, according to Quintilian's character. God, this great architect and public workman, δημιουργος (as the apostle after Plato, whom he seemeth to have read, calleth him, Heb 11:10), hath, without tool or toil, Isaiah 40:28, builded his stories in the heaven, which is three stories high, 2 Corinthians 12:2, wherein, as in a theatre, or molten looking glass, Job 37:18, his majesty most clearly shineth, Amos 4:13; Amo 5:8 Psalms 104:3; every sphere and star twinkling at us, and as it were, beckoning to us, to remember his omnipotence (whereof that rare fabric is a notable work and witness), and not to think to escape his judgments if we go on in sin. For although he be higher than the heavens, Job 35:5, yet "his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men," Psalms 11:4; Psalms 11:6, "Upon the wicked he shall rain down snares, fire and brimstone," &c.

And hath founded his troop (or bundle) in the earth] That is, the other three elements, say some: the sea, which, together with the earth, maketh one globe, say others: the universe (saith Mr Diodati), which is like the fabric of a building; of which the earth, being the lower part, and only unmoveable, hath some resemblance of a foundation.

He that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out, &c.] See Trapp on " Amo 5:8 "