For, behold, the LORD commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts.
Parallel translations
- WEB “For, behold, Yahweh commands, and the great house will be smashed to pieces, and the little house into bits.
- BSB For the LORD gives a command: “The great house will be smashed to pieces, and the small house to rubble.”
- 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 3:15And 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.
- Isa 55:11So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
- 2 Kgs 25:9And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man’s house burnt he with fire.
- Amos 9:9For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.
- Amos 6:8The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein.
- Nah 1:14And the LORD hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.
- Zech 14:2For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
- Luke 19:44And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
- Isa 10:5–6O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
- Isa 13:3I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.
- Amos 9:1I 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.
- Hos 13:16Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.
- Ezek 29:18–20Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it:
- Ps 105:16Moreover he called for a famine upon the land: he brake the whole staff of bread.
- Ps 105:34He spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillers, and that without number,
- Isa 46:10–11Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
- Eccl 10:18By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.
- Ps 105:31He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies, and lice in all their coasts.
- Amos 3:6–7Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?
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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.