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“I, the Sovereign Lord, am watching this sinful nation of Israel. I will destroy it from the face of the earth. But I will never completely destroy the family of Israel,” says the Lord.
Amos 9:8 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB Behold, the eyes of the Lord Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” says Yahweh.
  • KJV Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD.
  • BSB Surely the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the LORD.
  • NKJV “Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom, And I will destroy it from the face of the earth; Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” Says the Lord.
  • NASB “Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom, And I will eliminate it from the face of the earth; Nevertheless, I will not totally eliminate the house of Jacob,” 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 sinful kingdom from the earth, yet promises not to utterly destroy the house of Jacob. Judgment is real, but a remnant will be preserved by grace.

Overview

While the corrupt kingdom faces ruin, God pledges to spare a remnant of Jacob, marking a crucial turn from judgment toward hope. His justice and his covenant faithfulness are held together. This preserved remnant carries forward God's redemptive purposes, ultimately fulfilled in Christ, in whom a people is forever secured.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 22

  • Jer 30:11For I am with you, says Yahweh, to save you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished.”
  • Jer 44:27Behold, I watch over them for evil, and not for good; and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until they are all gone.
  • Amos 9:4Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good.
  • Jer 5:10“Go up on her walls, and destroy; but don’t make a full end. Take away her branches; for they are not Yahweh’s.
  • Deut 4:31For Yahweh your God is a merciful God. He will not fail you, neither destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which he swore to them.
  • 1 Kgs 13:34This thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the surface of the earth.
  • Gen 6:7Yahweh said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground — man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky — for I am sorry that I have made them.”
  • Isa 27:7–8Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or are they killed like those who killed them were killed?
  • Joel 2:32It will happen that whoever will call on Yahweh’s name shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as Yahweh has said, and among the remnant, those whom Yahweh calls.
  • Prov 5:21For the ways of man are before Yahweh’s eyes. He examines all his paths.
  • Deut 6:15for Yahweh your God among you is a jealous God; lest the anger of Yahweh your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.
  • Hos 1:6She conceived again, and bore a daughter. Then he said to him, “Call her name Lo-Ruhamah; for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, that I should in any way pardon them.
  • Jer 33:24–26“Don’t consider what this people has spoken, saying, ‘The two families which Yahweh chose, he has cast them off?’ Thus they despise my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.”
  • Jer 31:35–36Yahweh, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar; Yahweh of Armies is his name, says:
  • Gen 7:4In seven days, I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will destroy every living thing that I have made from the surface of the ground.”
  • Ps 11:4–6Yahweh is in his holy temple. Yahweh is on his throne in heaven. His eyes observe. His eyes examine the children of men.
  • Prov 15:3Yahweh’s eyes are everywhere, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
  • Rom 11:1–7I ask then, did God reject his people? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
  • Hos 13:15–16Though he is fruitful among his brothers, an east wind will come, the breath of Yahweh coming up from the wilderness; and his spring will become dry, and his fountain will be dried up. He will plunder the storehouse of treasure.
  • Hos 9:11–17As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird. There will be no birth, no one with child, and no conception.
  • Rom 11:28–29Concerning the Good News, they are enemies for your sake. But concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sake.
  • Obad 1:16–17For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so will all the nations drink continually. Yes, they will drink, swallow down, and will be as though they had not been.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

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 9:8YouTube · 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 9:8 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.