Amos 1:5 (WEB)

Passage

I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from the house of Eden; and the people of Syria shall go into captivity to Kir,” says Yahweh.

Nearby Context

Amos 1:3 Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron;

Amos 1:4 but I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, and it will devour the palaces of Ben Hadad.

Amos 1:5 I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from the house of Eden; and the people of Syria shall go into captivity to Kir,” says Yahweh.

Amos 1:6 Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Gaza, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they carried away captive the whole community, to deliver them up to Edom;

Amos 1:7 but I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it will devour its palaces.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "break", "damascus", "inhabitant", "valley", "aven", "holds", "scepter", 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 "but I will send a fire into..." into verse 6's "Yahweh says For three transgressions of Gaza...", 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.