Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Therefore thus will I do to you, Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, Israel.
- BSB “Therefore, that is what I will do to you, O Israel, and since I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!
- NKJV “Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”
- NASB “Therefore so I will do to you, Israel; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, Israel.”
- NLT “Therefore, I will bring upon you all the disasters I have announced. Prepare to meet your God in judgment, you people of Israel!”
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
Because Israel would not repent, God will bring final judgment, and he warns: 'Prepare to meet your God.' A direct, inescapable encounter with God awaits.
Overview
After listing the rejected warnings, God announces decisive action. The solemn summons to 'prepare to meet your God' calls Israel to reckon with the Lord himself, no longer through partial chastisements but in full confrontation. It is both a threat of judgment and an implicit call to repent before it is too late. Every person must ultimately meet God, making readiness through faith in Christ the most urgent of all concerns.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- 1 Th 5:2–4For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
- Jas 4:1–10From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
- Amos 9:1–4I saw the LORD standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.
- Mark 13:32–37But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
- Ezek 13:5Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.
- Isa 47:3Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.
- Amos 5:4–15For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
- Luke 21:3–36And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all:
- Luke 14:31–32Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
- Matt 24:44Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
- Hos 13:8I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.
- Ezek 22:30And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.
- Amos 4:2–3The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.
- Matt 5:25Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
- Rev 3:3Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
- Amos 2:14Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 4:12 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.