Amos 5:9 (DBY)

Passage

He causeth destruction to break forth suddenly upon the strong, and bringeth destruction upon the fortress.

Nearby Context

Amos 5:7 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth,

Amos 5:8 [seek him] that made the Pleiades and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night; that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: Jehovah is his name.

Amos 5:9 He causeth destruction to break forth suddenly upon the strong, and bringeth destruction upon the fortress.

Amos 5:10 They hate him that reproveth in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.

Amos 5:11 Forasmuch, therefore, as ye trample upon the poor, and take from him presents of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, and ye shall not drink the wine of them.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "causeth", "destruction", "break", "forth", "suddenly", "upon", "strong", and "bringeth". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "causeth" and "destruction", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "seek him that made the Pleiades and..." into verse 10's "They hate him that reproveth in the...", so "causeth" and "destruction" belong inside that flow. In Amos context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "causeth" and "destruction" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.