Amos 9:1-15

The Concluding Vision and a Discourse. Comfortable Words

1. The vision.

2-10. The discourse, declaring that none shall evade God's judgments (Amos 9:2); that Israel stands in no peculiar relationship to Jehovah (Amos 9:7); that all the sinners amongst them shall perish (Amos 9:8).

11-15. Comfortable words, predicting the restoration of the Davidic kingdom in all its former extent (Amos 9:11); the exuberant fertility of the land (Amos 9:13); the complete and final establishment of the nation on it (Amos 9:15).

1. Read, 'I saw Jehovah standing beside the altar; and he said, “Smite the capitals of the pillars, so that the thresholds may shake, and break them in pieces on the head of all of them.. there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape.”' The altar is that at Bethel, the chief sanctuary of the kingdom (1 Kings 12:33; Amos 7:13); assembled there for worship, the great mass of the people meet with destruction, like the Philistines in the house of their god (Judges 16:29). The blow from heaven shakes the building throughout, and its loftier parts come crashing down on the worshippers.