Amos 9:7 (DBY)

Passage

Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith Jehovah. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?

Nearby Context

Amos 9:5 And the Lord Jehovah of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it melteth, and all that dwell therein shall mourn; and it shall wholly rise up like the Nile, and sink down as the river of Egypt.

Amos 9:6 It is he that buildeth his upper chambers in the heavens, and hath founded his vault upon the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: Jehovah is his name.

Amos 9:7 Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith Jehovah. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?

Amos 9:8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth: only that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith Jehovah.

Amos 9:9 For behold, I command, and I will shake the house of Israel to and fro among all the nations, like as one shaketh [corn] in a sieve; yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "children", "ethiopians", "israel", "saith", "jehovah", and "brought". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "children" and "ethiopians", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 6's "It is he that buildeth his upper..." into verse 8's "Behold the eyes of the Lord Jehovah...", so "children" and "ethiopians" 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 "children" and "ethiopians" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.