Amos 9:4

Literal Standard Version

And if they go into captivity before their enemies, || From there I command the sword, || And it has slain them, || And I have set My eye on them for evil, || And not for good."

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
And if they are drivenby their enemies into captivity,from there I will commandthe sword to kill them.I will keep my eye on themfor harm and not for good.

Hebrew Names Version
Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good.

King James Version (1611)
And though they goe into captiuitie before their enemies, thence will I commaund the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes vpon them for euill, and not for good.

King James Version
And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.

English Standard Version
And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good."

New American Standard Bible
"And though they go into captivity before their enemies, From there I will command the sword and it will kill them, And I will set My eyes against them for harm and not for good."

New Century Version
If they are captured and taken away by their enemies, I will command the sword to kill them. I will keep watch over them, but I will keep watch to give them trouble, not to do them good."

Amplified Bible
"And though they go into captivity before their enemies, From there I shall command the sword to kill them, And I will set My eyes against them for evil (judgment, punishment) and not for good [that is, not for correction leading to restoration]."

Geneva Bible (1587)
And though they goe into captiuitie before their enemies, thence wil I commande the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes vpon them for euill, and not for good.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"And though they go into captivity before their enemies, From there I will command the sword that it slay them, And I will set My eyes against them for evil and not for good."

Legacy Standard Bible
And though they go into captivity before their enemies,From there I will command the sword that it kill them,And I will set My eyes against them for evil and not for good."

Berean Standard Bible
Though they are driven by their enemies into captivity, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix My eyes upon them for harm and not for good."

Contemporary English Version
I'll send a sword to kill them, wherever their enemies drag them off as captives. I'm determined to hurt them, not to help them."

Complete Jewish Bible
If their enemies herd them into exile, I will order the sword to kill them there. I will fix my gaze on them for harm and not for good."

Darby Translation
and though they go into captivity before their enemies, there will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.

Easy-to-Read Version
If they are captured and taken away by their enemies, I will command the sword, and it will kill them there. Yes, I will watch over them, but I will watch for ways to give them troubles, not for ways to do good things."

George Lamsa Translation
And though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them; and I will set my eyes upon them for evil and not for good;

Good News Translation
If they are taken away into captivity by their enemies, I will order them to be put to death. I am determined to destroy them, not to help them."

Lexham English Bible
And even if they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I will command the sword and it will kill them, and I will fix my eyes on them for harm and not for good."

Literal Translation
And if they go into exile before their enemies, from there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. And I will set My eyes on them for evil, and not for good.

American Standard Version
And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.

Bible in Basic English
And though they are taken away as prisoners by their attackers, even there will I give orders to the sword to put them to death: my eyes will be fixed on them for evil and not for good.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them; and I will set Mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And though they go into captiuitie before their enemies, thence wil I commaunde the sworde & it shall slay them: and I will set myne eyes vpon them for euill, and not for good.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And if they should go into captivity before the face of their enemies, there will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes against them for evil, and not for good.

English Revised Version
And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.

World English Bible
Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And if thei schulen go awei in to caitifte bifore her enemyes, there Y schal comaunde to swerd, and it schal sle hem. And Y schal putte myn iyen on hem in to yuel, and not in to good.

Update Bible Version
And though they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good.

Webster's Bible Translation
And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set my eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.

New English Translation
Even when their enemies drive them into captivity, from there I will command the sword to kill them. I will not let them out of my sight; they will experience disaster, not prosperity."

New King James Version
Though they go into captivity before their enemies, From there I will command the sword, And it shall slay them. I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good."

New Living Translation
Even if their enemies drive them into exile, I will command the sword to kill them there. I am determined to bring disaster upon them and not to help them."

New Life Bible
Even if they are taken away to a strange land by those who hate them, there I will have the sword kill them. I will set My eyes against them to hurt them, and not to bring good to them."

New Revised Standard
And though they go into captivity in front of their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes on them for harm and not for good.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, though they go into captivity before their enemies, from thence, will I command the sword, and it shall slay them, - So will I set mine eyes upon them for calamity, and not for blessing.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there will I command the sword, and it shall kill them. And I will set my eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.

Revised Standard Version
And though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them; and I will set my eyes upon them for evil and not for good."

Young's Literal Translation
And if they go into captivity before their enemies, From thence I command the sword, And it hath slain them, And I have set Mine eye on them for evil, And not for good.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yff they go awaye before their enemies i to captyuyte, then shall I commaunde the swerde, there to slaye them. Thus wil I set myne eyes vpon them, for their harme and not for their wealth.

Contextual Overview

¹I have seen the Lord standing by the altar, and He says, || "Strike the knob, and the thresholds shake, || And cut them off by the head—all of them, || And I slay their posterity with a sword, || None that flee of them flee away, || Nor a fugitive of them escape. ²If they dig through into Sheol, || From there My hand takes them, || And if they go up [to] the heavens, || From there I cause them to come down. ³And if they are hid in the top of Carmel, || From there I search out, and have taken them, || And if they are hid from My eyes in the bottom of the sea, || From there I command the serpent, || And it has bitten them. ⁴And if they go into captivity before their enemies, || From there I command the sword, || And it has slain them, || And I have set My eye on them for evil, || And not for good."⁵And [it is] the Lord, YHWH of Hosts, || Who is striking against the land, and it melts, || And mourned have all the inhabitants in it, || And all of it has come up as a flood, || And it has sunk—like the flood of Egypt. ⁶Who is building His upper chambers in the heavens; As for His troop, || On earth He has founded it, || Who is calling for the waters of the sea, || And pours them out on the face of the land, || YHWH [is] His Name. ⁷"Are you not as sons of Cushim to Me, O sons of Israel?" A declaration of YHWH. "Did I not bring Israel up out of the land of Egypt? And the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir? ⁸Behold, [the] eyes of Lord YHWH [are] on the sinful kingdom, || And I have destroyed it from off the face of the ground, || Only, I do not utterly destroy the house of Jacob," || A declaration of YHWH. ⁹"For behold, I am commanding, || And I have shaken among all the nations the house of Israel, || As [one] shakes with a sieve, || And there does not fall a grain [to] the earth. ¹⁰By sword all sinners of My people die, || Who are saying, || Evil does not overtake, or go before, || For our sakes.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

go: Leviticus 26:33, Leviticus 26:36-39, Deuteronomy 28:64, Deuteronomy 28:65, Ezekiel 5:2, Ezekiel 5:12, Zechariah 13:8, Zechariah 13:9

set: Leviticus 17:10, Deuteronomy 28:63, 2 Chronicles 16:9, Psalms 34:15, Psalms 34:16, Jeremiah 24:6, Jeremiah 44:11

Reciprocal: Genesis 44:21 - that I may Numbers 21:6 - General 1 Kings 17:4 - I have commanded Jeremiah 12:12 - the sword Jeremiah 21:10 - I have Jeremiah 39:12 - look well to him Jeremiah 51:53 - mount Ezekiel 21:9 - A sword Amos 9:8 - the eyes Zechariah 8:10 - for

Cross-References

Genesis 9:10
and with every living creature which [is] with you, among bird, among livestock, and among every beast of the earth with you, from all who are going out of the ark—to every beast of the earth.

Genesis 9:14
and it has come to pass (in My sending a cloud over the earth) that the bow has been seen in the cloud,

Leviticus 3:17
[This is] a continuous statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you do not eat any fat or any blood."

Leviticus 7:26
And you do not eat any blood in all your dwellings, of bird, or of beast;

Leviticus 19:26
You do not eat with the blood. You do not enchant, nor observe clouds.

Deuteronomy 12:16
Only, you do not eat the blood—you pour it on the earth as water;

Deuteronomy 12:23
Only, be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood [is] the life, and you do not eat the life with the flesh;

Deuteronomy 14:21
You do not eat of any carcass; you give it to the sojourner who [is] within your gates, and he has eaten it; or sell [it] to a stranger; for you [are] a holy people to your God YHWH. You do not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

Deuteronomy 15:23
Only, you do not eat its blood—you pour it on the earth as water."

Acts 15:20
but to write to them to abstain from the defilements of the idols, and the whoredom, and the strangled thing, and the blood;

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And though they go into captivity before their enemies,.... Alluding to the manner in which captives are led, being put before their enemies, and so carried in triumph; see Lamentations 1:5; though some think this refers to their going voluntarily into a foreign country, in order to escape danger, as Johanan the son of Kareah with the Jews went into Egypt, Jeremiah 43:5; in whom Kimchi instances:

thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them; or them that kill with the sword, as the Targum; so that though they thought by going into another country, or into an enemy's country of their own accord, to escape the sword of the enemy, or to curry favour with them, yet should not escape:

and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good: this is the true reason, why, let them be where they will, they cannot be safe, because the eyes of the omniscient God, which are everywhere, in heaven, earth, hell, and the sea, are set upon them, for their ruin and destruction; and there is no fleeing from his presence, or getting out of his sight, or escaping his hand. The Targum is,

"my Word shall be against them.''

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Captivity - , at least, seemed safe. The horrors of war are over. Men enslave, but do not commonly destroy those whom they have once been at the pains to carry captive. Amos describes them in their misery, as “going” willingly, gladly, “into captivity before their enemies,” like a flock of sheep. Yet “thence” too, out of “the captivity,” God would command the sword, and it should slay them. So God had forewarned them by Moses, that captivity should be an occasion, not an end, of slaughter. “I will scatter you among the pagan, and will draw out a sword after you” Leviticus 26:33. “And among these nations shalt thou find no ease - and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee, and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life” Deuteronomy 28:65-66. The book of Esther shows how cheaply the life of a whole nation was held by Eastern conquerors; and the book of Tobit records, how habitually Jews were slain and cast out unburied (Tobit 1:17; 2:3). The account also that Sennacherib (Tobit 1:18) avenged the loss of his army, and “in his wrath killed many,” is altogether in the character of Assyrian conquerors. Unwittingly he fulfilled the command of God, “I will command the sword and it shall slay them.”

I will set mine eyes upon them for evil - So David says, “The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to root out the remembrance of them from off the earth” Psalms 34:15-16. The Eye of God rests on each creature which He hath made, as entirely as if He had created it alone. Every moment is passed in His unvarying sight. But, as man “sets his eye” on man, watching him and with purpose of evil, so God’s Eye is felt to be on man in displeasure, when sorrow and calamity track him and overtake him, coming he knows not how in unlooked-for ways and strange events. The Eye of God upon us is our whole hope and stay and life. It is on the Confessor in prison, the Martyr on the rack, the poor in their sufferings, the mourner in the chamber of death, for good. What when everywhere that Eye, the Source of all good, rests on His creature only for evil! “and not for good,” he adds; “not,” as is the wont and the Nature of God; “not,” as He had promised, if they were faithful; “not,” as perhaps they thought, “for good.” He utterly shuts out all hope of good. It shall be all evil, and no good, such as is hell.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Amos 9:4. I will set mine eyes upon them for evil — I will use that very providence against them which before worked for their good. Should they look upward, they shall see nothing but the terrible lightning-like eye of a sin-avenging God.