Amos 9

1

I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said, “Strike the tops of the pillars, that the thresholds may shake. Break them in pieces on the head of all of them. I will kill the last of them with the sword. Not one of them will flee away. Not one of them will escape.

ExplanationCommentary

EXPLANATION

Verse 1. Altar, in Jerusalem. Calmet. 8:3 and 1:2. God is going to punish Israel, ( Calmet.) or the two tribes. Chal. Saint Jerome—The ruin of the altar and temple, imply the abolishing of sacrifices during the captivity, at Babylon. Worthington.—But Amos speaks rather of Israel. Calmet.—Sword. The princes and people are all guilty. Septuagint “strike or cut on the heads of all.” Bible.

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2

Though they dig into Sheol, there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down.

ExplanationCommentary

EXPLANATION

Verse 2. Hell; to the deepest caves, where they used to flee. Psalms 138:8.

EXPLANATION

Sheol is the place of the dead.

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3

Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out from there; and though they be hidden from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them.

ExplanationCommentary

EXPLANATION

Verse 3. Top, in woods, or caverns.—Serpent. Fishes and sea monsters are so called.

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4

Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good.

5

For the Lord, the GOD of Armies, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn; and it will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again, like the River of Egypt.

ExplanationCommentary

EXPLANATION

Verse 5. A river. Septuagint “the river of Egypt.” Calmet. 8:8. and 5:24. Calmet.—Grabe’s ed. has “its consummation (or utter ruin) shall rise up as a river.” Bible.

EXPLANATION

When rendered in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, “LORD” or “GOD” is the translation of God’s Proper Name (Hebrew “יהוה”, usually pronounced Yahweh).

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6

It is he who builds his rooms in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the earth; he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth—the LORD is his name.

ExplanationCommentary

EXPLANATION

Verse 6. Ascension, or his high throne. Challoner.—Septuagint “the ascent, and hath founded the declarations ( Bible.) or promise upon,” and so forth which must be explained in a moral sense. Calmet.—Bundle. That is, his Church, bound up together by the bands of one faith and communion, ( Challoner.) which God will protect, and punish sinners. Worthington.—Hebrew “his apartments in heaven, and his assembly (or footstool) on earth.”—Sea, by floods, or rather by rain. Calmet. 5:8. Calmet.

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7

Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians to me, children of Israel?” says the LORD. “Haven’t I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?

ExplanationCommentary

EXPLANATION

Verse 7. Ethiopians. That is, as black as they, by your iniquities. Challoner.—Chus was father of the Scythians, Arabs, and so forth Yet none of these nations were under the peculiar protection of God. The Israelites depended too much on this prerogative, ( Calmet.) which they deserved to lose by their sins. Bible.—God brought them out of Egypt. But he also took the Philistines from Caphtor, ( Calmet.) and enabled them to settle in the country. Bible.—Cappadocia. Cyprus, (Genesis 10:14) or rather Crete. 1 Kennicott. Calmet.—Cyrene, (Sym.) “wall,” (Th.) or “pit.” Septuagint Theglathphalassar took Aram or the people of Damascus into captivity. Calmet.—Their future return is represented as already past. Vat. Mercer.

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8

Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” says the LORD.

9

“For behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least kernel will fall on the earth.

ExplanationCommentary

EXPLANATION

Verse 9. Ground, to be mixed with the good corn.—Israel shall be purified in captivity. Calmet.—Though many perished, God still preserved his Church. Worthington.

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10

All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, ‘Evil won’t overtake nor meet us.’

ExplanationCommentary

EXPLANATION

Verse 10. Us. Such infidels delayed repentance, ( Bible.) or laughed at the menaces of impending ruin. Calmet. 5:18. Calmet.

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11

In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old,

ExplanationCommentary

EXPLANATION

Verse 11. David. Saint James, after Saint Peter, explains this of the vocation of the Gentiles. Acts 15:15. Worthington.—After the fall of Israel, Juda still flourished: but this cannot be meant. The prosperity after the return from Babylon, or rather under Jesus Christ, must fulfil the prediction. Zorobalel had a very precarious authority, and the Machabees were not of the tribe of Juda, nor was their kingdom so flourishing or durable. Calmet.

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12

that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” says the LORD who does this.

ExplanationCommentary

EXPLANATION

Verse 12. Edom, subdued by Hircan, with the surrounding nations. The same letters may be read Adam, “man,” as the Septuagint have, agreeably to Acts 15:17. Calmet.—“That the rest of men might seek the Lord, (Grabe substitutes me) and all the nations upon whom my,” and so forth Edom and all mankind shall receive the glad tidings of salvation. Bible.

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13

“Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the one treading grapes him who sows seed; and sweet wine will drip from the mountains, and flow from the hills.

ExplanationCommentary

EXPLANATION

Verse 13. Shall overtake, and so forth By this is meant the great abundance of spiritual blessings; which, as it were, by a constant succession, shall enrich the Church of Christ. Challoner.—Munster, and his imitator, Clarius, see nothing but an allegory in this abundance and return, verse 14. Yet the literal sense ought to be adopted, when it involves no contradiction. Houbigant, pref. p. 297.—God promised a succession of crops to the faithful Israelites, (Leviticus 26:5) and the return of the ten tribes is frequently specified. Calmet.

ABDIAS

THE PROPHECY OF ABDIAS

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14

I will bring my people Israel back from captivity, and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens, and eat their fruit.

15

I will plant them on their land, and they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them,” says the LORD your God.