Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,
Parallel translations
- WEB “Listen, and testify against the house of Jacob,” says the Lord Yahweh, the God of Armies.
- BSB Hear and testify against the house of Jacob, declares the Lord GOD, the God of Hosts.
- NKJV Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,” Says the Lord God, the God of hosts,
- NASB “Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,” Declares the Lord God, the God of armies.
- NLT “Now listen to this, and announce it throughout all Israel,” says the Lord, the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies.
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, the Lord of Armies, calls for testimony against the house of Jacob. A formal indictment against Israel is being declared.
Overview
The summons to 'listen and testify' frames the coming words as legal witness against Israel's sin. The title 'God of Armies' (LORD of hosts) underscores his sovereign power to execute the verdict. This introduces the specific judgment on Israel's false worship that follows. God himself stands as both witness and judge over his people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Acts 20:21Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Deut 8:19And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
- Acts 2:40And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
- 2 Kgs 17:13Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.
- Ezek 2:7And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious.
- Eph 4:17This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
- 2 Chr 24:19Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the LORD; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear.
- Acts 18:5–6And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.
- Amos 5:27Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.
- Josh 22:22The LORD God of gods, the LORD God of gods, he knoweth, and Israel he shall know; if it be in rebellion, or if in transgression against the LORD, (save us not this day,)
- Isa 1:24Therefore saith the LORD, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies:
- 1 Th 4:6That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
- 2 Kgs 17:15And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.
- Deut 30:18–19I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
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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 3:13 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
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