ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Amos 9.11-12

Book: Amos · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

9. For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, like as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least kernel fall upon the earth. 10. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, The evil shall not overtake nor meet us.

11. In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old; 12. that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations that are called by my name, saith Jehovah that doeth this.

  1. Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. 14. And I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. (Amos 9:9-14, ASV)
WEB

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

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

  1. “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “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. 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. (Amos 9:9-14, WEB)
KJV

9. For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. sift: Heb. cause to move grain: Heb. stone 10. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.

11. In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: close: Heb. hedge, or, wall 12. That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this. which: Heb. upon whom my name is called

  1. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. soweth: Heb. draweth forth sweet: or, new 14. And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. (Amos 9:9-14, KJV)
YLT

9. For lo, I am commanding, And I have shaken among all the nations the house of Israel, As [one] doth shake with a sieve, And there falleth not a grain [to] the earth. 10. By sword die do all sinners of My people, Who are saying, 'Not overtake, or go before, For our sakes, doth evil.'

11. In that day I raise the tabernacle of David, that is fallen, And I have repaired their breaches, And its ruins I do raise up, And I have built it up as in days of old. 12. So that they possess the remnant of Edom, And all the nations on whom My name is called, An affirmation of Jehovah, doer of this.

  1. Lo, days are coming, an affirmation of Jehovah, And come nigh hath the ploughman to the reaper, And the treader of grapes to the scatterer of seed, And the mountains have dropped juice, And all the hills do melt. 14. And I have turned back [to] the captivity of My people Israel, And they have built desolate cities, and inhabited, And have planted vineyards, and drunk their wine, And made gardens, and eaten their fruit. (Amos 9:9-14, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Amos of Tekoa, a herdsman (noqed, sheep breeder) and tender of sycamore figs from Judah, speaking the word of the LORD.
  • Audience: The northern kingdom of Israel, addressed at the height of its prosperity under Jeroboam II. The closing oracle turns from judgment to restoration.
  • Location: Delivered in the northern kingdom, principally at Bethel, the royal sanctuary and state temple (Amos 7:13).
  • Time period: c. 760-750 BC, in the reigns of Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam II of Israel, "two years before the earthquake" (Amos 1:1). Amos is generally reckoned the earliest of the writing prophets.

Theological reading

The book's final movement, and the Old Testament text that decided the most consequential debate in the early church.

The image. The sukkat David ha-nofelet, the fallen booth or hut of David, is a deliberately humble word: not the palace or the house of David but the temporary shelter of a farmer or a soldier. Amos promises repair of a shelter, not restoration of an empire, and the promise is of raising up what has already fallen.

The Jerusalem Council. James quotes this passage at Acts 15:16-18 to settle whether Gentiles must be circumcised to belong to the people of God, and his citation follows the Septuagint rather than the Masoretic Hebrew. The difference is two consonantal readings:

Hebrew (MT) Greek (LXX), quoted in Acts
the object Edom (אֱדוֹם), that they may possess the remnant of Edom adam (אָדָם), that the remnant of men may seek
the verb yireshu, they may possess yidreshu, they may seek

The two Hebrew words differ by pointing and by a single letter respectively, and the LXX reading is a defensible construal of an unpointed text rather than a paraphrase. Either way the last clause of verse 12 is the same in both, "all the nations who are called by My name", which is the clause James's argument actually needs: the nations belong to God under the restored Davidic shelter without becoming Judeans first.

Scholarly note. The textual situation is treated in Shalom Paul, Amos (Hermeneia, 1991), and in Francis Andersen and David Noel Freedman, Amos (Anchor Bible, 1989). Both note that the Qumran evidence (4QFlorilegium) shows the "booth of David" already being read messianically in Second Temple Judaism, so James was not inventing a Christian reading of an unremarkable verse.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.