Amos 1:5 (DRB)

Passage

And I will break the bar of Damascus: and I will cut off the inhabitants from the plain of the idol, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of pleasure: and the people of Syria shall be carried away to Cyrene, saith the Lord.

Nearby Context

Amos 1:3 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Damascus, and for four I will not convert it: because they have thrashed Galaad with iron wains.

Amos 1:4 And I will send a fire into the house of Azael, and it shall devour the houses of Benadad.

Amos 1:5 And I will break the bar of Damascus: and I will cut off the inhabitants from the plain of the idol, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of pleasure: and the people of Syria shall be carried away to Cyrene, saith the Lord.

Amos 1:6 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Gaza, and for four I will not convert it: because they have carried away a perfect captivity to shut them up in Edom.

Amos 1:7 And I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour the houses thereof.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "break", "damascus", "inhabitants", "plain", "idol", "holdeth", "sceptre", and "house". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "break" and "damascus", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 4's "And I will send a fire into..." into verse 6's "Thus saith the Lord For three crimes...", so "break" and "damascus" 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 "break" and "damascus" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.