And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:
to secrete · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
top
בְּרֹ֣אשׁbe.Rosh
H7218
the head (as most easily shaken) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Carmel
הַכַּרְמֶ֔לha.kar.Mel
H3760
Karmel · definite article + proper noun, a place name
search
אֲחַפֵּ֖שׂ'a.cha.Pes
H2664
to seek · verb, piel imperfect, 1st person common singular
out
וּלְקַחְתִּ֑יםu.le.kach.Tim
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
hid
יִסָּ֨תְר֜וּyi.Sa.te.Ru
H5641
to hide (by covering) · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
sight
עֵינַי֙'ei.Nai
H5869
an eye (literally or figuratively) · noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix
bottom
בְּקַרְקַ֣עbe.kar.Ka'
H7172
floor (as if a pavement of pieces or tesseroe) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
sea
הַיָּ֔םhai.Yam
H3220
a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of water · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
command
אֲצַוֶּ֥ה'a.tza.Veh
H6680
(intensively) to constitute · verb, piel imperfect, 1st person common singular
serpent
הַנָּחָ֖שׁha.na.Chash
H5175
a snake (from its hiss) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
bite
וּנְשָׁכָֽםu.ne.sha.Kham
H5391
to strike with a sting (as a serpent) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Jeremiah 16:16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt…
Job 34:22 There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
Jeremiah 23:23-24 Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?
Isaiah 27:1 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpe…
Psalms 139:9-11 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Amos 1:2 And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Amos 9:1-10
We have here the justice of God passing sentence upon a provoking people; and observe,
I. With what solemnity the sentence is passed. The prophet saw in vision the Lord standing upon the altar (Amo 9:1), the altar of burnt-offerings; for the Lord has a sacrifice, and multitudes must fall as victims to his justice. He is removed from the mercy-seat between the cherubim, and stands upon the altar, the judgment-seat, on which the fire of God used to fall, to devour the sacrifices. He stands upon the altar, to show that the ground of his controversy with this people was their profanation of his holy things; here he stands to avenge the quarrel of his altar, as also to signify that the sin of the…
Carmel--where the forests, and, on the west side, the caves, furnished hiding-places (Amo 1:2; Jdg 6:2; Sa1 13:6).
the sea--the Mediterranean, which flows at the foot of Mount Carmel; forming a strong antithesis to it.
command the serpent--the sea-serpent, a term used for any great water monster (Isa 27:1). The symbol of cruel and oppressive kings (Psa 74:13-14).
Adam Clarke on Amos 9:3
Though they hide themselves - All these are metaphorical expressions, to show the impossibility of escape.
John Gill on Amos 9:3
And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel,.... One of the highest mountains in the land of Israel; in the woods upon it, and caves in it:
I will search and take them out from thence: by directing their enemies where to find them: so the Targum,
"if they think to be hid in the tops of the towers of castles, thither will I command the searchers, and they shall search them:''
and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea; get into ships, going by sea to distant parts; or make their escape to isles upon the sea afar off, where they may think themselves safe:
thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them; the dragon that is in the sea, Isaiah 27:1; the g…
While the little one is nourished by the example of the one who from greatness descended to humility, the devil has lost what he held: because the proud held only the proud. When such an example of humility was displayed before them, people learned to condemn their own pride and to imitate the humility of God. Thus also the devil, by losing those whom he had in his power, has even himself been humbled; not chastened, but thrown prostrate. "You have humbled the proud like one that is wounded." You have been humbled and have humbled others. You have been wounded and have wounded others, for your blood as it was shed to blot the handwriting of sins could not but wound him. For what was the ground of his pride, except the bond that he held against us? This bond, this handwriting, you have blotted out with your blood. Him therefore you have wounded, from whom you have rescued so many victims. You must understand the devil wounded, not by the piercing of the flesh, which he has not, but by the bruising of his proud heart. "You have scattered your enemies abroad with your mighty arm."
[Daniel 7:2-3] "And during the night I saw in my vision, and behold, the four winds of heaven strove upon the great sea, and four great beasts were coming up out of the sea, differing from one another." The four winds of heaven I suppose to have been angelic powers to whom the principalities have been committed, in accordance with what we read in Deuteronomy: "When the Most High divided the nations and when He separated the children of Adam, He established the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the angels. For the Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the line of His inheritance (Deuteronomy 32:8). But the sea signifies this world and the present age, overwhelmed with salty and bitter waves, in accordance with the Lord's own interpretation of the dragnet cast into the sea (Matthew 13:47-50). Hence also the sovereign of all creatures that inhabit the waters is described as a dragon, and his heads, according to David, are smitten in the sea (Psalm 74:13). And in Amos we read: "If he descends to the very depth of the sea, there will I give him over to the dragon and he shall bite him" (Amos 9:3). But as for the four beasts who came up out of the sea and were differentiated from one another, we may identify them from the angel's discourse. "These four great beasts," he says, "are four kingdoms which shall rise up from the earth." And as for the four winds which strove in the great sea, they are called winds of heaven because each one of the angels does for his realm the duty entrusted to him. This too should be noted, that the fierceness and cruelty of the kingdoms concerned are indicated by the term "beasts."
Dictionary and topics
Carmel — A park; generally with the article, “the park.” (1.) A prominent headland of Central Palestine, consisting of several connected hills extending from the plain of Esdraelon to the sea, a distance of…
Carmel · . — .
Serpent · Sea serpent — Sea serpent
Sin · .No es — .No es
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Amos 9:2-4
Amos 9:2-4
2. Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down:
2. Si foderint ad sepulchrum (vel, ad infernum,) inde manus mea educet vos; et si ascenderint in coelos, inde detraham eos;
3. And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:
3. Et si occultaverint se in fastigio (vel, culmine) Carmeli, inde scrutabor et extraham eos; et si absconditi fuerint ab oculis meis (ad verbum, e regione oculorum meorum) in profundo (vel, pavimento, in fundo ipso…
The thought is still further expanded in Amo 9:2-6. Amo 9:2. "If they break through into hell, my hand will take them thence; and if they climb up to heaven, thence will I fetch them down. Amo 9:3. And if they hide themselves upon the top of Carmel, I will trace them, and fetch them thence; and if they conceal themselves from before mine eyes in the bottom of the sea, thence do I command the serpent, and it biteth them. Amo 9:4. And if they go into captivity before their enemies, I will command the sword thence, and it slayeth them; and I direct my eye upon them for evil, and not for good." The imperfects, with אם, are to be taken as futures. They do not assume what is impossible as merely h…
Though Mount Carmel is not the highest mountain in the region, its lofty grandeur often represents the beauty and richness of the land. • sea serpent: In the ancient Near East, the sea was a symbol of chaos, often pitted against the national god (cp. Pss 74:14; 89:10; 104:26). However, the biblical text does not grant divine status to the sea monster (“Leviathan,” also called “Rahab”; Ps 89:9-10) but sees it as subject to the Lord’s command and judgment (Isa 27:1). Here, Amos portrays God’s sovereign power to summon the sea serpent to his service.
Rashi on Amos 9:3
at the peak of Carmel—At the top of the towers of the fortifed cities. [from Jonathan]
from there I will search [them out]—From there I will appoint searchers, and they will search them out. [from Jonathan]
in the land of the sea Heb. בְּקַרְקַע הַיָּם. [Jonathan renders:] בְּנִיסֵי יַמָּא, in the islands of the sea.
I will command the serpent—Jonathan renders: peoples as strong as a serpent.