Amos 9:6 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Amos 9:6
It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name.
to build (literally and figuratively) · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
stories
מַעֲלוֹתָ֔יוma.'a.lo.tov
H4609
elevation · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
heaven
בַשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙va.sha.Ma.yim
H8064
the sky (as aloft · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
founded
יְסָדָ֑הּye.sa.Dah
H3245
to set (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
troop
וַאֲגֻדָּת֖וֹva.'a.gu.da.To
H92
a band · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
earth
אֶ֣רֶץ'E.retz
H776
the earth (at large · noun, common feminine singular absolute
calleth
הַקֹּרֵ֣אha.ko.Re'
H7121
to call out to (i.e. properly · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
waters
לְמֵֽיle.mei-
H4325
water · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
sea
הַיָּ֗םhai.Yam
H3220
a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of water · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
out
וַֽיִּשְׁפְּכֵ֛םvai.yish.pe.Khem
H8210
to spill forth (blood · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
face
פְּנֵ֥יpe.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct
earth
הָאָ֖רֶץha.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
LORD
יְהוָ֥הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
name
שְׁמֽוֹshe.Mo
H8034
an appellation · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
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
Psalms 104:3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:
Amos 5:8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that c…
Amos 4:13 For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness,…
Psalms 104:13 He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.
Jeremiah 5:22 Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decre…
Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
Genesis 7:11-19 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the…
Exodus 3:14-15 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
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…
stories--literally, "ascents," that is, upper chambers, to which the ascent is by steps [MAURER]; evidently referring to the words in Psa 104:3, Psa 104:13. GROTIUS explains it, God's royal throne, expressed in language drawn from Solomon's throne, to which the ascent was by steps (compare Kg1 10:18-19).
founded his troop--namely, all animate creatures, which are God's troop, or host (Gen 2:1), doing His will (Psa 103:20-21; Joe 2:11). MAURER translates, "His vault," that is, the vaulted sky, which seems to rest on the earth supported by the horizon.
Adam Clarke on Amos 9:6
Buildeth his stories in the heaven - There is here an allusion to large houses, where there are cellars, or places dug in the ground as repositories for corn; middle apartments, or stories, for the families to live in; and the house-top for persons to take the air upon. There may be here a reference to the various systems which God has formed in illimitable space, transcending each other, as the planets do in our solar system: and thus we find Solomon speaking when addressing the Most High: "The heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, השמים ושמי השמים hashshamayim ushemey hashshamayim, Kg1 8:27. Six heavens are necessarily implied in these three words. According to the points,…
The heavenly intelligences gazed with admiration on "the Jerusalem that is above," and by the mouth of Isaiah said long ago, "Who are these that fly as clouds, and as doves with their young ones, unto me?" Now, as Christ has prepared for us this ascension into heaven, he must be the Christ of whom Amos spoke: "It is he who builds his ascent up to the heavens," even for himself and his people.
(Verse 6.) He who builds his ascent in heaven and establishes his foundation on earth: he who calls the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name. LXX: He who builds his ascent in heaven and establishes his promise on earth: he who calls the water of the sea and pours it out upon the face of the earth: The Lord Almighty is his name. The Lord God Almighty, who looks upon or touches the earth and moves it, is the one who daily builds his ascent in heaven and says in the Gospel: My Father is still working, and I am working as well (John 5:17). And not only did God build Eve from Adam's rib as a figure of the Church (Gen. II), but He daily builds believers and members of His body, and lifts them from the earth to heaven, so that He Himself may ascend in them. The Lord ascended into heaven with Enoch (Gen. V), ascended with Elijah (IV Kings II), ascended with Moses, whose burial place could not be found on earth because he had ascended to heaven (Deut. XXXIV). He ascended with Paul, who was a chosen vessel, and was transformed from a persecutor into an apostle (2 Cor. 12). He was caught up to the heights, so that he ascended to the third heaven, and through the Holy Spirit and the Son, he reached the Father, and heard unspeakable words, the mysteries of the Trinity, which are not lawful for humans to hear. Therefore, he who ascends daily in the holy ones, has established his bundle on the earth, of which it is said in the Gospel: Fear not, little flock, for it has pleased my Father to dwell in you (Luke 12:32). This bundle is bound together by the one religion of the Lord. From this, the religion itself received its name from being bound and united in the bundle of the Lord. Moreover, according to the Seventy, it founded its promise upon the earth so that all the promises that the holy prophets sang with their mouths may not be empty sounds and the mere names of tropology, but be poured out upon the earth. And when they have the foundations of history, then they may receive the summit of spiritual understanding: that truly Christ was born of the Virgin, truly raised Lazarus from the dead, truly healed the woman with a flow of blood at his touch, truly the blind saw upon the coming of the Lord, the lame ran, the contracted hands were extended, the leprosy was cleansed; even though according to tropology the divine word…
Dictionary and topics
Clouds · Formed from the sea — Formed from the sea
Evaporation · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Meteorology And Celestial Phenomena · 9:7;26:7,8,11;27:20,21;28:24-27;29:19;36:27-33;37:6-22;38:8-11,22,24-29,31-35,37; — 9:7;26:7,8,11;27:20,21;28:24-27;29:19;36:27-33;37:6-22;38:8-11,22,24-29,31-35,37;
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 Gill on Amos 9:6
It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven,.... The three elements, according to Aben Ezra, fire, air, and water; the orbs, as Kimchi, one above another; a word near akin to this is rendered "his chambers", which are the clouds, Psalm 104:3; perhaps the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, which are three stories high, may be meant; we read of the third heaven, 2 Corinthians 12:2; and particularly the throne of God is in the highest heaven; and the "ascents" (y) to it, as it may be rendered. The Targum is,
"who causeth to dwell in a high fortress the Shechinah of his glory:''
and hath founded his troop in the earth; this Kimchi interprets of the three above elements. So the words are t…
Amos 9:6
6. It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name.
6. AEdificans in coelis ascensiones suas, et coagmentationem suam super terram fundans (qui fundat,) qui vocat aquas maris et effundit eas super faciem terrae, Jehova nomen ejus. [61]
The Prophet describes now in general terms the power of God, that he might the more impress his hearers, and that they might not heedlessly reject what he had previously threatened respecting their approaching ruin; for he had said, Lo, God will smite the land, and it shall tremble.' This was sp…
To strengthen this threat, Amos proceeds, in Amo 9:5, Amo 9:6, to describe Jehovah as the Lord of heaven and earth, who sends judgments upon the earth with omnipotent power. Amo 9:5. "And the Lord Jehovah of hosts, who toucheth the earth, and it melteth, and all the inhabitants of thereupon mourn; and the whole of it riseth like the Nile, and sinketh like the Nile of Egypt. Amo 9:6. Who buildeth His stories in heaven, and His vault, over the earth hath He founded it; who calleth to the waters of the sea, and poureth them out over the earth: Jehovah is His name." This description of God, who rules with omnipotence, is appended, as in Amo 4:13 and Amo 5:8, without any link of connection whatev…
Amos uses a third hymn fragment (also 4:13; 5:8-9) to remind Israel that God’s domain is universal.
Rashi on Amos 9:6
and... His company—The company of His creatures. Another explanation: The company of the righteous was the foundation of the earth and the ceiling [other editions: and the benefit] of the heavens, for whose sake everything exists.
Who calls the water of the sea—Who says to gather camps as numerous as the waters of the sea. [from Jonathan]
