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.
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.
- KJV 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.
- 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.
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 was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month: and there was a fire in the brazier 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 built, and all the cities that he built, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
- Amos 6:11“For, behold, Yahweh commands, and the great house will be smashed to pieces, and the little house into bits.
- Judg 3:20Ehud came to him; and he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room. Ehud said, “I have a message from God to you.” He arose out of his seat.
- Isa 5:9In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: “Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful, unoccupied.
- Ps 45:8All your garments smell like myrrh, aloes, and cassia. Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made you glad.
- Amos 3:11Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “An adversary will overrun the land; and he will pull down your strongholds, and your fortresses will be plundered.”
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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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