Amos 3:13

Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) Hear ye.—Addressed to the foreign nations Egypt and Philistia referred to in Amos 3:9.

Benson Commentary

Amos 3:13-15. Hear ye, and testify, &c. — These words are directed to the prophets whom God sends to declare his will. In the day that I shall visit, &c. — In the general destruction of the ten tribes, my judgments will be particularly visible upon the places dedicated to idolatrous worship, especially Beth-el, the principal place of that kind. And the horns of the altar shall be cut off — These were squares placed at the four corners of the altar, and hollow in the middle, into which some of the blood of the sacrifices was poured. And I will smite the winter-house with the summer- house — The kings and great men had different houses and apartments for spending the winter and summer in. These were placed and made suitable to those different seasons. And the houses of ivory shall perish — We read 1 Kings 22:49, that King Ahab built himself an ivory house, that is, a house ceiled or wainscoted with ivory: or at least inlaid in some parts of it with ivory; and it is probable that other great men followed his example.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:9-15 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hear ye and testify ye in - (Rather unto or against ) the house of Israel; first "hear" yourselves, then "testify," that is, solemnly "protest," in the Name of God; and "bear witness unto" and "against" them, so that the solemn words may sink into them. It is of little avail to "testfy," unless we first "hear;" nor can man "bear witness" to what he doth not know; nor will words make an "impression," that is, leave a trace of themselves, be stamped in or on people's souls, unless the soul which utters them have first hearkened unto them.

Saith the Lord God of hosts - "So thundereth, as it were, the authority of the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of the shepherd. Foretelling and protesting the destruction of the altar of Bethel, he sets his God against the god whom Israel had chosen as theirs and worshiped there, "the Lord God of hosts," against "the similitude of a calf that eateth hay" Psalm 106:20. Not I, a shepherd, but so speaketh my God against your god."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13. testify in the house, &c.—that is, against the house of Jacob. God calls on the same persons as in Am 3:9, namely, the heathen Philistines and the Egyptians to witness with their own eyes Samaria's corruptions above described, so that none may be able to deny the justice of Samaria's punishment [Maurer].

God of hosts—having all the powers of heaven and earth at His command, and therefore One calculated to strike terror into the hearts of the guilty whom He threatens.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Hear ye; prophets.

Testify, publicly declare and witness, make what proof you can of this thing, in the house of Jacob; to the ten tribes, as first and most nearly concerned herein, and to the two tribes also, who, as guilty of many and great sins, so are in danger of many and great judgments, and these hastening on them.

Saith the Lord God; assure them the message comes from the Lord God.

The God of hosts, who is Lord of all, and hath all power in his hand; when he commands, all the hosts of creatures attend to execute his commands, so that what he threateneth he will surely execute.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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 Jacob, though sadly degenerated:

saith the Lord God, the God of hosts; the eternal Jehovah, the Being of beings, the God of the whole earth, the God of the armies above and below; and, being so great, ought to be heard with the greatest attention and reverence in what follows.

Geneva Study Bible

Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. Hear ye, and testify against, &c.] The persons addressed might be the heathen nobles of Philistia and Egypt (Amos 3:9 b). But in view of the fact that they are not to see, but to hear, and that it is the divine sentence in Amos 3:14 which is to be virtually the subject of their testimony, it is probable that, as in Amos 3:9 a, ideal bearers of the divine message are intended by the prophet. Testify, i.e. declare solemnly, as Genesis 43:3; Deuteronomy 8:19; Psalm 50:7; Psalm 80:8; and frequently.

the Lord Jehovah, the God of hosts] In Amos 4:13, Amos 5:14-15, Amos 6:8; Amos 6:14, Hosea 7:5, “Jehovah, the God of hosts”; in ch. Amos 5:27, “the God of hosts”; in Amos 5:16, “Jehovah, the God of hosts, the Lord”; in Amos 9:5, “The Lord, Jehovah of hosts”; in the prophets generally, simply “Jehovah of hosts.” The finest and most expressive of Jehovah’s titles, used pre-eminently by the prophets, and designating Him, in a word, as the Omnipotent. See the Additional Note, p. 231 f.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 13. - Hear ye; Septuagint, Ἱερεῖς ἀκούσατε, "Hear, O ye priests." The address is to the heathen, already summoned (ver. 9) to witness the sins of Israel, and now called to witness her punishment, In the house; better, against the house of Jacob, the tribes of Israel (ver. 1). God of hosts. God of the powers of heaven and earth, and therefore able to execute his threats. Septuagint, ὁ Παντοκράτωρ, "the Almighty." Amos 3:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

This feature in the threat is brought out into peculiar prominence by a fresh introduction. Amos 3:13. "Hear ye, and testify it to the house of Jacob, is the utterance of the Lord, Jehovah, the God of hosts: Amos 3:14. That in the day when I visit the transgressions of the house of Israel upon it, I shall visit it upon the altars of Bethel; and the horns of the altar will be cut off, and fall to the ground. Amos 3:15. And I smite the winter-house over the summer-house, and the houses of ivory perish, and many houses vanish, is the saying of Jehovah." The words "Hear ye" cannot be addressed to the Israelites, fore they could not bear witness against the house of Israel, but must either refer to the prophets, as in Amos 3:9 ("publish ye"), or to the heathen, in which case they correspond to "assemble yourselves and behold" in Amos 3:9. The latter assumption is the only correct one, for the context does not assign a sufficient motive for an address to the prophets. On the other hand, as the heathen have been summoned to convince themselves by actual observation of the sins that prevail in Samaria, it is perfectly in keeping that they should now hear what is the punishment that God is about to inflict upon Israel in consequence, and that they should bear witness against Israel from what they have heard. העיד ב, to bear witness towards or against (not "in," as Baur supposes). The house of Jacob is the whole of Israel, of the twelve tribes, as in Amos 3:1; for Judah was also to learn a lesson from the destruction of Samaria. As the appeal to the heathen to bear witness against Israel indicates the greatness of the sins of the Israelites, so, on the other hand, does the accumulation of the names of God in Amos 3:13 serve to strengthen the declaration made by the Lord, who possesses as God of hosts the power to execute His threats. כּי introduces the substance of what is to be heard. The punishment of the sins of Israel is to extend even to the altars of Bethel, the seat of the idolatrous image-worship, the hearth and home of the religious and moral corruption of the ten tribes. The smiting off of the horns of the altar is the destruction of the altars themselves, the significance of which culminated in the horns (see at Exodus 27:2). The singular hammizbēăch (the altar) preceded by a plural is the singular of species (cf. Ges. 108, 1), and does not refer to any particular one - say, for example, to the principal altar. The destruction of the palaces and houses (Amos 3:15) takes place in the capital. In the reference to the winter-house and summer-house, we have to think primarily of the royal palace (cf. Jeremiah 36:22); at the same time, wealthy noblemen may also have had them. על, lit., over, so that the ruins of one house fall upon the top of another; then "together with," as in Genesis 32:12. בּתּי שׁן, ivory houses, houses the rooms of which are decorated by inlaid ivory. Ahab had a palace of this kind (1 Kings 22:39, compare Psalm 45:9). בּתּים רבּים, not the large houses, but many houses; for the description is rounded off with these words. Along with the palaces, many houses will also fall to the ground. The fulfilment took place when Samaria was taken by Shalmanezer (2 Kings 17:5-6).