Amos 2 · Verse 9

Amos 2:9

Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.

Amos 2:9, King James Version

Amos 2:9 in other translations

BSB	Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, though his height was like that of the cedars, and he was as strong as the oaks. Yet I destroyed his fruit above and his roots below.
WEB	Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
ASV	Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
YLT	And I--I have destroyed the Amorite from before them, Whose height is as the height of cedars, And strong he is as the oaks, And I destroy his fruit from above, And his roots from beneath.
DARBY	But I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was as the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; but I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
BBE	Though I sent destruction on the Amorite before them, who was tall as the cedar and strong as the oak-tree, cutting off his fruit from on high and his roots from under the earth.
Webster	Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose hight was like the hight of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.

What does Amos 2:9 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

9. Yet--My former benefits to you heighten your ingratitude. the Amorite--the most powerful of all the Canaanite nations, and therefore put for them all (Ge 15:16; 48:22; De 1:20; Jos 7:7). height ... like ... cedars--(Nu 13:32, 33). destroyed his fruit ... above ... roots ... beneath--that is, destroyed him utterly (Job 18:16; Eze 17:9; Mal 4:1).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 9 Yet destroyed I the Amorite - Here follow general heads of God's mercies to them, and the great things he had done for them. 1. Bringing them out of Egypt. 2. Miraculously sustaining them in the wilderness forty years. 3. Driving out the Canaanites before them, and giving them possession of the promised land. 4. Raising up prophets among them to declare the Divine will. 5. And forming the holy institution of the Nazarites among them, to show the spiritual nature of his holy religion, Amo 2:9-11.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Amos 2:9-16

We need often to be reminded of the mercies we have received; which add much to the evil of the sins we have committed. They had helps for their souls, which taught them how to make good use of their earthly enjoyments, and were therefore more valuable. Faithful ministers are great blessings to any people; but it is God that raises them up to be so. Sinners' own consciences will witness that he has not been wanting to them in the means of grace. They did what they could to lead believers aside. Satan and his agents are busy to corrupt the minds of young people who look heavenward; they overcome many by drawing them to the love of mirth and pleasure, and into drinking company. Multitudes of young men who bade fair as professors of religion, have erred through strong drink, and have been undone for ever. The Lord complains of sin, especially the sins of his professing people, as a burden to him. And though his long-suffering be tired, his power is not, and so the sinner will find to his cost. When men reject God's word, adding obstinacy to sin, and this becomes the general character of a people, they will be given up to misery, notwithstanding all their boasted power and resources. May we then humble ourselves before the Lord, for all our ingratitude and unfaithfulness.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Amos 2:9 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וְאָ֨נֹכִ֜יve.'A.no.Khiand IH595

הִשְׁמַ֤דְתִּיhish.Mad.tiI destroyedH8045

אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853

הָֽאֱמֹרִי֙ha.'e.mo.Rithe Amorite[s]H567

מִפְּנֵיהֶ֔םmi.pe.nei.Hemfrom before themH6440

אֲשֶׁ֨ר'a.SherwhoH834

כְּגֹ֤בַהּke.Goah[was] like [the] height ofH1363

אֲרָזִים֙'a.ra.ZimcedarsH730

גָּבְה֔וֹga.ve.Hoheight hisH1363

וְחָסֹ֥ןve.cha.Sonand [is] strongH2634

ה֖וּאhu'heH1931

כָּֽאַלּוֹנִ֑יםka.'a.lo.Nimlike <the> oaksH437

וָאַשְׁמִ֤ידva.'ash.Midand I destroyedH8045

פִּרְיוֹ֙pir.Yofruit hisH6529

מִמַּ֔עַלmi.Ma.'al<from> aboveH4605

וְשָׁרָשָׁ֖יוve.sha.ra.Shavand roots hisH8328

מִתָּֽחַת\׃mi.Ta.chat<from> beneathH8478

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Amos 2:9

Malachi 4:1
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
Job 18:16
His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.
Exodus 34:11
Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
Numbers 13:28-29
Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.
Genesis 15:16
But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
Deuteronomy 3:11
For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.
Deuteronomy 9:1-3
Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven, A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak! Understand therefore this day, that the Lord thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the Lord hath said unto thee.
Deuteronomy 2:24-33
Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle. This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee. And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, Let me pass through thy land: I will go along by the high way, I will neither turn unto the right hand nor to the left. …
Numbers 21:23-25
And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness: and he came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel. And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon: for the border of the children of Ammon was strong. And Israel took all these cities: and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the villages thereof.
Numbers 13:32-33
And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Nehemiah 9:22-24
Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into corners: so they possessed the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan. Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it. So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they would.
Ezekiel 17:9
Say thou, Thus saith the Lord God; Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither? it shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by the roots thereof.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

I the.
Ge 15:16; Ex 3:8; 34:11; Nu 21:24; De 2:24-33; Jos 3:10; 24:8-12
Jud 11:21-23; Ne 9:22-24; Ps 135:10-12; 136:17-22
whose.
Nu 13:28,29,32,33; De 1:28; 2:10,11; 3:11; 9:1-3
I destroyed.
Jos 11:21,22; 2Sa 23:16-22; Job 18:16; Isa 5:24; Mal 4:1

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Amos 2:8
And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.
Amos 2:9
Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
Amos 2:10
Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.

Read all of Amos 2

Amos 2:9 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Y yo destruí delante de ellos al Amorrheo, cuya altura era como la altura de los cedros, y fuerte como un alcornoque; y destruí su fruto arriba, sus raíces abajo.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Mais moi, j’ai détruit devant eux l’Amoréen, dont la taille était comme la hauteur des cèdres, et qui était fort comme les chênes; et j’ai détruit son fruit en haut et ses racines en bas.
German Elberfelder 1871	Und doch habe ich den Amoriter vor ihnen vertilgt, dessen Höhe wie die Höhe der Cedern war, und er war stark wie die Eichen; und ich habe seine Frucht vertilgt von oben und seine Wurzeln von unten.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Ego autem exterminavi Amorrhæum a facie eorum, cujus altitudo, cedrorum altitudo ejus, et fortis ipse quasi quercus; et contrivi fructum ejus desuper, et radices ejus subter.