Limitless Word
“So I will send fire on the wall of Gaza And it will consume her citadels.
Amos 1:7 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB but I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it will devour its palaces.
  • KJV But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof:
  • BSB So I will send fire upon the walls of Gaza, to consume its citadels.
  • NKJV But I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza, Which shall devour its palaces.
  • NLT So I will send down fire on the walls of Gaza, and all its fortresses will be destroyed.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

God will send fire on Gaza's walls to consume its fortified palaces. The cities that profited from cruelty will themselves be destroyed.

Overview

As with Damascus, the judgment falls as fire on the city's defenses and seats of power. Gaza's wealth, built on the slave trade, offers no protection. The pattern reinforces that ill-gotten security is no security at all before God. Divine justice ultimately overturns every system built on oppression.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 12

  • Zeph 2:4For Gaza will be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation. They will drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron will be rooted up.
  • 2 Kgs 18:8He struck the Philistines to Gaza and its borders, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.
  • Jer 47:1Yahweh’s word that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before that Pharaoh struck Gaza.
  • Rom 12:19Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.”
  • Jer 25:18–20Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and its kings, and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is today;
  • Ps 75:7–8But God is the judge. He puts down one, and lifts up another.
  • Ps 94:1–5Yahweh, you God to whom vengeance belongs, you God to whom vengeance belongs, shine out.
  • Deut 32:35Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slides; for the day of their calamity is at hand. Their doom rushes at them.”
  • Zech 9:5–7Ashkelon will see it, and fear; Gaza also, and will writhe in agony; as will Ekron, for her expectation will be disappointed; and the king will perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon will not be inhabited.
  • 2 Chr 26:6He went out and fought against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gath, the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod; and he built cities in the country of Ashdod, and among the Philistines.
  • Deut 32:41–43if I sharpen my glittering sword, my hand grasps it in judgment; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me.
  • Amos 1:4but I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, and it will devour the palaces of Ben Hadad.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Amos videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Amos 1:7YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on AmosMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Amid judgment on injustice, Amos promises the raising up of David's fallen tent — read by James in Acts 15 as the ingathering of the nations into the kingdom of the risen Christ.

How Amos 1:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.