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For the LORD gives a command: “The great house will be smashed to pieces, and the small house to rubble.”
Amos 6:11 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB “For, behold, Yahweh commands, and the great house will be smashed to pieces, and the little house into bits.
  • KJV For, behold, the LORD commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts.
  • NKJV For behold, the Lord gives a command: He will break the great house into bits, And the little house into pieces.
  • NASB For behold, the Lord is going to command that the great house be smashed to pieces, and the small house to rubble.
  • NLT When the Lord gives the command, homes both great and small will be smashed to pieces.

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

At God's command, both great and small houses will be shattered to pieces. No household, rich or poor, escapes the coming ruin.

Overview

The destruction reaches every level of society, from grand mansions to humble dwellings, because the judgment is comprehensive. God's mere command is enough to bring it about, showing his absolute authority. This universal reach of judgment underscores that all stand accountable to God and all alike need the salvation offered in Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 19

  • Amos 3:15I 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.
  • Isa 55:11so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.
  • 2 Kgs 25:9He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.
  • Amos 9:9“For surely I will give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations as grain is sifted in a sieve; but not a pebble will reach the ground.
  • Amos 6:8The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself—the LORD, the God of Hosts, has declared: “I abhor Jacob’s pride and detest his citadels, so I will deliver up the city and everything in it.”
  • Nah 1:14The LORD has issued a command concerning you, O Nineveh: “There will be no descendants to carry on your name. I will cut off the carved image and cast idol from the house of your gods; I will prepare your grave, for you are contemptible.”
  • Zech 14:2For I will gather all the nations for battle against Jerusalem, and the city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be removed from the city.
  • Luke 19:44They will level you to the ground—you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”
  • Isa 10:5–6Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.
  • Isa 13:3I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have even summoned My warriors to execute My wrath and exult in My triumph.
  • Amos 9:1I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said: “Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. Topple them on the heads of all the people, and I will kill the rest with the sword. None of those who flee will get away; none of the fugitives will escape.
  • Hos 13:16Samaria will bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.
  • Ezek 29:18–20“Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to labor strenuously against Tyre. Every head was made bald and every shoulder made raw. But he and his army received no wages from Tyre for the labor they expended on it.
  • Ps 105:16He called down famine on the land and cut off all their supplies of food.
  • Ps 105:34He spoke, and the locusts came—young locusts without number.
  • Isa 46:10–11I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’
  • Eccl 10:18Through laziness the roof caves in, and in the hands of the idle, the house leaks.
  • Ps 105:31He spoke, and insects swarmed—gnats throughout their country.
  • Amos 3:6–7If a ram’s horn sounds in a city, do the people not tremble? If calamity comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?

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 6:11YouTube · 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 6:11 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.