For behold, I will raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD, the God of Hosts, “and they will oppress you from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.”
Parallel translations
- WEB For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, house of Israel,” says Yahweh, the God of Armies; “and they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah.”
- KJV But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hemath unto the river of the wilderness.
- NKJV “But, behold, I will raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel,” Says the Lord God of hosts; “And they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath To the Valley of the Arabah.”
- NASB “For behold, I am going to raise up a nation against you, House of Israel,” declares the Lord God of armies, “And they will torment you from the entrance of Hamath To the brook of the Arabah.”
- NLT “O people of Israel, I am about to bring an enemy nation against you,” says the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies. “They will oppress you throughout your land— from Lebo-hamath in the north to the Arabah Valley in the south.”
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 declares he will raise up a nation to oppress Israel throughout its whole territory. The very strength they boasted in cannot save them from the enemy God sends.
Overview
The unnamed nation is Assyria, which God sovereignly raises as the instrument of judgment over Israel's entire land. Their boasted power proves useless against the foe the Lord commands. This shows God's rule over the nations even in judgment, the same sovereignty by which he later works all things for the salvation of his people in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 2 Kgs 14:25This Jeroboam restored the boundary of Israel from Lebo-hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word that the LORD, the God of Israel, had spoken through His servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath-hepher.
- 1 Kgs 8:65So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him—a great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt—kept the feast before the LORD our God for seven days and seven more days—fourteen days in all.
- Jer 5:15–17Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. “It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.
- Ezek 47:15–17This shall be the boundary of the land: On the north side it will extend from the Great Sea by way of Hethlon through Lebo-hamath to Zedad,
- 2 Kgs 17:6In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried away the Israelites to Assyria, where he settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes.
- 2 Kgs 15:29In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and he took the people as captives to Assyria.
- Num 34:7–8Your northern border will run from the Great Sea directly to Mount Hor,
- Isa 7:20On that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates—the king of Assyria—to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to remove your beard as well.
- Isa 8:4–8For before the boy knows how to cry ‘Father’ or ‘Mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”
- Hos 10:5The people of Samaria will fear for the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its people will mourn with its idolatrous priests—those who rejoiced in its glory—for it has been taken from them into exile.
- Isa 10:5–6Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.
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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 6:14 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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