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1 Heare this word that the Lord hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family, which I brought vp from the land of Egypt, saying;

2 You onely haue I knowen of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

3 Can two walke together, except they be agreed?

4 Will a lyon roare in the forrest, when he hath no pray? will a young lyon cry out of his den, if he haue taken nothing?

5 Can a bird fall in a snare vpon the earth, where no ginne is for him? shall one take vp a snare from the earth, and haue taken nothing at all?

6 Shall a trumpet be blowen in the citie, and the people not be afraid? shall there be euill in a citie, and the Lord hath not done it?

7 Surely the Lord God will doe nothing, but he reuealeth his secret vnto his seruants the Prophets.

8 The lyon hath roared, Who will not feare? the Lord God hath spoken, Who can but prophecie?

9 ¶ Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say; Assemble your selues vpon the mountaines of Samaria: and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof.

10 For they know not to doe right, saith the Lord; who store vp violence, and robberie in their palaces.

11 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, An aduersarie there shall be euen round about the land: and he shal bring downe thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled.

12 Thus saith the Lord, As the shepheard taketh out of the mouth of the lyon two legges or a piece of an eare; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria, in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch.

13 Heare yee and testifie in the house of Iacob, saith the Lord God, the God of hostes;

14 That in the day that I shall visite the transgressions of Israel vpon him, I will also visite the altars of Bethel, and the hornes of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground.

15 And I will smite the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of yuorie shall perish, and the great houses shall haue an end, saith the Lord.

Viewing the original 1611 KJV with archaic English spelling
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Commentary for Amos 3

Judgments against Israel. (1-8) The like to other nations. (9-15)1-8 The distinguishing favours of God to us, if they do not restrain from sin, shall not exempt from punishment. They could not expect communion with God, unless they first sought peace with him. Where there is not friendship, there can be no fellowship. God and man cannot walk together, except they are agreed. Unless we seek his glory, we cannot walk with him. Let us not presume on outward privileges, without special, sanctifying grace. The threatenings of the word and providence of God against the sin of man are certain, and certainly show that the judgments of God are at hand. Nor will God remove the affliction he has sent, till it has done its work. The evil of sin is from ourselves, it is our own doing; but the evil of trouble is from God, and is his doing, whoever are the instruments. This should engage us patiently to bear public troubles, and to study to answer God's meaning in them. The whole of the passage shows that natural evil, or troubles, and not moral evil, or sin, is here meant. The warning given to a careless world will increase its condemnation another day. Oh the amazing stupidity of an unbelieving world, that will not be wrought upon by the terrors of the Lord, and that despise his mercies!

9-15 That power which is an instrument of unrighteousness, will justly be brought down and broken. What is got and kept wrongfully, will not be kept long. Some are at ease, but there will come a day of visitation, and in that day, all they are proud of, and put confidence in, shall fail them. God will inquire into the sins of which they have been guilty in their houses, the robbery they have stored up, and the luxury in which they lived. The pomp and pleasantness of men's houses, do not fortify against God's judgments, but make sufferings the more grievous and vexatious. Yet a remnant, according to the election of grace, will be secured by our great and good Shepherd, as from the jaws of destruction, in the worst times.

Commentary by Matthew Henry, 1710.

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