And I will smite the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the LORD.
Parallel translations
- WEB I will strike the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory will perish, and the great houses will have an end,” says Yahweh.
- BSB I will tear down the winter house along with the summer house; the houses of ivory will also perish, and the great houses will come to an end,” declares the LORD.
- NKJV I will destroy the winter house along with the summer house; The houses of ivory shall perish, And the great houses shall have an end,” Says the Lord.
- NASB “I will also strike the winter house together with the summer house; The houses of ivory will also perish, And the great houses will come to an end,” Declares the Lord.
- NLT And I will destroy the beautiful homes of the wealthy— their winter mansions and their summer houses, too— all their palaces filled with ivory,” says the Lord.
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 destroy the luxurious winter and summer houses and the homes adorned with ivory. The opulence built on injustice will perish.
Overview
The wealthy of Samaria enjoyed seasonal residences and ivory-inlaid mansions, evidence of great prosperity and excess. All of it is marked for destruction. Material splendor gained at the expense of the poor offers no lasting security. This warns that earthly riches cannot stand against God's judgment, redirecting hope to treasure that endures in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Jer 36:22Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.
- 1 Kgs 22:39Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he made, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
- Amos 6:11For, behold, the LORD commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts.
- Judg 3:20And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat.
- Isa 5:9In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
- Ps 45:8All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.
- Amos 3:11Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; An adversary there shall be even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled.
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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 3:15 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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