155 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Surely the Lord God will do nothing,.... In the world, in a nation or city; no remarkable event has happened, or shall happen, to the sons of men: but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets; what he willed and determined to do, which was a secret in his own breast, till revealed; and this generally, and for the most part, he makes...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The lion hath roared, who will not fear?.... Amos said this from his own experience, who, having been a herdsman in the wilderness of Tekoa, had often heard a lion roar, which had put him into a panic, both for himself, and the cattle he kept; the figure is explained in the next clause: the Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy? whether it be...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt,.... This is spoken to the prophets, to publish and declare in all the courts of the Philistines and Egyptians, and among all the princes and great men therein, the sins of the people of Israel, and the punishment God threatened them with; and let them, even these very...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For they know not to do right, saith the Lord,.... What is just and fight between man and man, no, not in one single instance; they did not regard it, or advert to it; they were under no concern about it; and were so much under the power of their lusts, that they knew not how to do it; and had used themselves so long to such wicked and unjust...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore thus saith the Lord God,.... Because of these tumults and riots, oppression and injustice, violence and robbery: an adversary there [shall be] even round about the land: not Tyre, as Theodoret renders the word; but the king of Assyria, who invaded the land of Israel in the days of Hoshea, took Samaria, and carried Israel captive, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thus saith the Lord, as the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion,.... Or what the lion has left, to show to his master that it had been seized and torn by a beast of prey; for otherwise it is a most daring thing, and not usual, for a shepherd to take anything out of a lion's mouth, though David did: and here it is said to be not a whole...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob,.... The prophets and priests, whose business it was to speak to the people from the Lord, and declare his will to them, and to admonish them of their sin and danger, are here called upon to hearken to what the Lord was about to say, and to testify and publish it to the people of Israel, the posterity of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him,.... The three or four mentioned in the preceding chapter, the great multitude of them, their profaneness, uncleanness, and luxury, their injustice and oppression of the poor; when he should visit and punish for these sins, as he would by the hand of the Assyrian, he would...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I will smite the winter house with the summer house,.... Both the one and, the other shall fall to the ground, being beat down by the enemy, or shook and made to fall by the earthquake predicted, Amos 1:1; as Kimchi thinks: kings and great personages had houses in the city in the winter season, in which they lived for warmth; and others in the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Amos 4 In this chapter, the great ones, or the people of Israel, are threatened with calamities for their oppression of the poor, Amos 4:1; and in an ironic manner are reproved for their idolatry, Amos 4:4; then follows an enumeration of several judgments that had been upon them, yet had had no effect on them, to bring them to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan,.... Or "cows of Bashan" (n); a country beyond Jordan, inhabited by the tribes of Gad and Reuben, and the half tribe of Manasseh, very fruitful of pasturage, and where abundance of fat cattle were brought up; to whom persons of distinction, and of the first rank, are here compared. Aben Ezra, Jarchi, and Kimchi,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness,.... That is, by himself, holiness being his nature, and an essential attribute of his; this is done to ascertain the truth of what is after said, and that men may be assured of the certain performance of it. Some render it, "by his holy place"; and interpret it of heaven; so Aben Ezra and Kimchi; which is...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And ye shall go out at the breaches,.... Not at the gates of the city, as they had used to do at pleasure; but at the breaches of the walls of it, made by the enemy, in order to make their escape, if possible; they who had broke down the fences of law and justice, and injured the poor and needy, shall now have the walls of their city broken down...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Come to Bethel and transgress,.... and what follows, are ironic and sarcastic speeches, not giving liberty to sin, but in this way reproving for it: Bethel was one of the places where the calves were placed and worshipped: and here they are bid to go thither, and go on with and continue in their idolatrous worship, by which they transgressed the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven,.... Which some observe was contrary to the law, which forbids all leaven in a meat offering; or "burning" it in any offering, Leviticus 2:11; which the word (t) here used suggests was done by these idolaters, as well as eaten by them, their priests not liking to eat unleavened bread; but; though...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,.... Meaning a famine, having no food to foul them with, or to stick in them. This was not the famine in Samaria, 2 Kings 6:25; for that was only in that city, and for a short time, while besieged; whereas this was in all the cities in Israel; rather therefore it designs the famine...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And also I have withholden the rain from you,.... As he did for the space of three years successively in the days of Ahab, as predicted by Elijah, 1 Kings 17:1; the consequences of which are very bad to men and beast, and bring on a scarcity of food for both, and a famine if long withheld: when [there were] yet three months to the harvest; that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So two [or] three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water,.... Two or three cities, that is, the inhabitants of them, being without water, went up and down in quest of any city or place where they could find water for themselves and cattle to drink: but they were not satisfied; could not get enough for their present use and much less to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I have smitten you with blasting and mildew,.... "Blasting" is what we commonly call "blights", generally occasioned by an east wind; and so Kimchi interprets the word here used; and the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "a burning wind"; which causes the buds and leaves of trees to shrivel up as if they were burnt with fire. "Mildew" is a kind of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I have sent among you the pestilence, after the manner of Egypt,.... Like that which was sent among the firstborn of Egypt, and cut them off in one night; or when in the way of Egypt, as the Targum; either as in the wilderness, when they came out of Egypt, so Jarchi interprets it; see Numbers 16:46; or the Lord sent the pestilence as they went in...