Amos 9:9 (DRB)

Passage

For behold I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as corn is sifted in a sieve: and there shall not a little stone fall to the ground.

Nearby Context

Amos 9:7 Are not you as the children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel, saith the Lord? did not I bring up Israel, out of the land of Egypt: and the Philistines out of Cappadocia, and the Syrians out of Cyrene?

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

Amos 9:9 For behold I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as corn is sifted in a sieve: and there shall not a little stone fall to the ground.

Amos 9:10 All the sinners of my people shall fall by the sword: who say: The evils shall not approach, and shall not come upon us.

Amos 9:11 In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, that is fallen: and I will close up the breaches of the walls thereof, and repair what was fallen: and I will rebuild it as in the days of old.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "behold", "command", "sift", "house", "israel", "nations", "corn", and "sifted". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "behold" and "command", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "Behold the eyes of the Lord God..." into verse 10's "All the sinners of my people shall...", so "behold" and "command" 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 "behold" and "command" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.