Amos 9:10

which say, The evil shall not draw near, or come in front about us i.e. shall not meet us in any direction. The sinners whom the prophet has here specially in view are those who, trusting to the fact that they were members of the chosen people (cf. Amos 3:2), or relying upon their zeal in an external ceremonial (Amos 5:21 ff.), deemed themselves secure, and declared that misfortune could never overtake them (cf. Amos 6:3). Their false security, says Amos, should be the cause of their destruction. Cf. similar expressions of security, uttered in defiance of the prophets" warnings, Isaiah 5:19; Micah 3:11; Jeremiah 23:17; Ezekiel 12:22; Ezekiel 12:27. Overtake(A.V., R.V.) may be a legitimate emendation (תשׂיג for תגישׁ [202]; cf. Deuteronomy 28:2; Deuteronomy 28:15, in the Hebrew), but it is no rendering of the existing text. Prevent(A.V., R.V.) is, of course, used in its old sense of come before, which it has in such passages as Psalms 18:5 (A.V.), Psalms 59:10 (A.V., R.V.), Psalms 119:147-148 (A.V., R.V.).

[202] Or rather, as should no doubt be read (the Hiphil conj. being elsewhere transitive), תִּלֹשׁ (Psalms 91:7).