the Fourth Week after Easter
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THE MESSAGE
Amos 4:12
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
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- InternationalParallel Translations
Therefore, Israel, that is what I will do to you,and since I will do that to you,Israel, prepare to meet your God!
"Therefore thus will I do to you, Yisra'el; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, Yisra'el.
Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
"Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!"
"Therefore so I will do to you, Israel; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, Israel."
"So this is what I will do to you, Israel; because I will do this to you, get ready to meet your God, Israel."
"Therefore this is what I shall do to you, O Israel; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God [in judgment], O Israel!"
Therefore, thus wil I do vnto thee, O Israel: and because I wil doe this vnto thee, prepare to meete thy God, O Israel.
"Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, O Israel."
"Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;Because I will do this to you,Prepare to meet your God, O Israel."
"Therefore, that is what I will do to you, O Israel, and since I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!
Now, Israel, I myself will deal with you. Get ready to face your God!
"This is why I will deal with you in this way, Isra'el; and because I will deal with you in this way, prepare to meet your God, Isra'el —
Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
"So, Israel, this is what I will do to you. You people of Israel, prepare to meet your God."
Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel, at the end; and because I will do this to you, prepare, O Israel, that you might call to your God.
"So then, people of Israel, I am going to punish you. And because I am going to do this, get ready to face my judgment!"
"Therefore, thus I will do to you, O Israel. Because I will do this to you, O Israel, prepare to meet your God!
So I will do this to you, O Israel: Because of this that I will do to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel.
Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel; and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
So this is what I will do to you, O Israel: and because I will do this to you, be ready for a meeting with your God, O Israel.
Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel; because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
Therefore thus will I doe vnto thee, O Israel: and because I will doe this vnto thee, prepare to meete thy God, O Israel.
Therfore thus will I do vnto thee O Israel, [and] because I will do this vnto thee, prepare to meete thy God O Israel.
Therefore thus will I do to thee, O Israel: nay because I will do thus to thee, prepare to call on thy God, O Israel.
Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
"Therefore thus will I do to you, Israel; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, Israel.
Wherfor, thou Israel, Y schal do these thingis to thee; but aftir that Y schal do to thee these thingis, Israel, be maad redi in to ayen comyng of thi God.
Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; [and] because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel.
Therefore thus will I do to thee, O Israel: [and] because I will do this to thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
"Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel. Because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, Israel!
"Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!"
"Therefore, I will bring upon you all the disasters I have announced. Prepare to meet your God in judgment, you people of Israel!"
"So I will do this to you, O Israel. And because I will do this to you, get ready to meet your God, O Israel."
Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!
Therefore, thus, will I do unto thee, O Israel, - Because this thing I will do unto thee, Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
Therefore I will do these things to thee, O Israel: and after I shall have done these things to thee, be prepared to meet thy God, O Israel.
"Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!"
Therefore, thus I do to thee, O Israel, at last, Because this I do to thee, Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
Therfore, thus will I handle the agayne (O Israel) ye euen thus will I handle the. Make the ready then to mete thy God, o Israel.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
thus: Amos 4:2, Amos 4:3, Amos 2:14, Amos 9:1-4
prepare: Amos 5:4-15, Isaiah 47:3, Ezekiel 13:5, Ezekiel 22:30, Hosea 13:8, Matthew 5:25, Matthew 24:44-51, Matthew 25:1-13, Mark 13:32-37, Luke 14:31, Luke 14:32, Luke 21:3-36, 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4, James 4:1-10, Revelation 3:3
Reciprocal: Exodus 19:15 - Be ready Deuteronomy 21:18 - will not Ezekiel 38:7 - General Matthew 25:6 - go Luke 1:17 - to make
Cross-References
Time passed. Cain brought an offering to God from the produce of his farm. Abel also brought an offering, but from the firstborn animals of his herd, choice cuts of meat. God liked Abel and his offering, but Cain and his offering didn't get his approval. Cain lost his temper and went into a sulk.
Cain slept with his wife. She conceived and had Enoch. He then built a city and named it after his son, Enoch. Enoch had Irad, Irad had Mehujael, Mehujael had Methushael, Methushael had Lamech.
Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, listen to me; you wives of Lamech, hear me out: I killed a man for wounding me, a young man who attacked me. If Cain is avenged seven times, for Lamech it's seventy-seven!
"As for those among you still alive, I'll give them over to fearful timidity—even the rustle of a leaf will throw them into a panic. They'll run here and there, back and forth, as if running for their lives even though no one is after them, tripping and falling over one another in total confusion. You won't stand a chance against an enemy. You'll perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will eat you up. Any who are left will slowly rot away in the enemy lands. Rot. And all because of their sins, their sins compounded by their ancestors' sins.
My God has washed his hands of them. They wouldn't listen. They're doomed to be wanderers, vagabonds among the godless nations.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel,.... What he would do is not expressly and particularly said; it is commonly understood to be something in a way of judgment, and worse than what he had done, since they had no effect upon them; or these things should be done over again, until an utter end was made of them; or the reference is to Amos 3:11; and the following words are usually interpreted, either, ironically, since the Lord was coming forth as an enemy to issue the controversy with them; they are called upon to meet, him in a hostile way, and muster up all their forces, exert all their power and strength, and make use of their best weapons and military skill, and see what would be the consequence of all this; feeble worms set in opposition to the mighty God; thorns and briers he can easily go through, and burn up quickly: or else they are seriously addressed, and exhorted to meet the Lord in the way of his judgments, by humiliation, repentance, and reformation; not knowing but that after all he may be gracious and merciful to them, and turn away the fierceness of his anger from them; see Amos 5:15; but I rather think the words are a promise or intimation of doing something to Israel in a way of special grace and kindness, notwithstanding their conduct and behaviour, and the ineffectualness both of judgments and providential mercies; for the words may be rendered, as the same particle should be in Hosea 2:14; "notwithstanding", or "nevertheless, thus will I do unto thee" w; what I have from all eternity purposed and resolved to do, and what I have promised again and again, by the mouth of all the holy prophets, from the beginning of the world, I would do; namely, send my Son to be thy Saviour and Redeemer:
[and] because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel; the Messiah that was then to come was God, and so equal to the work of redemption and salvation he was to do; and the God of spiritual and mystical Israel, even all the elect, Jews and Gentiles, to be redeemed by him; was to be their Immanuel, God in their nature, and therefore to be met with the utmost joy and pleasure; see Zechariah 9:9; for this meeting him is not to be understood in a hostile way, and as spoken ironically to the enemies of Christ to oppose him, encounter with him, and mark the issue of it, who in time would cause them to be brought before him and slain, as some interpret the words; but in a friendly manner, as he was met by those that were waiting for his coming, such as Simeon and others; and by those John the Baptist called upon to prepare the way of the Lord; and as he was by his own disciples, who embraced him by faith, received him with joy, and left all and followed him; and as all such are prepared to meet him who are made truly sensible of sin, and of their own righteousness as insufficient to justify from it, and have seen the glory, fulness, and suitableness of his salvation. Christ is to be met with in his house and ordinances; and men are prepared for it when the desires of their hearts are towards him, and their graces are exercised on him; which preparation is from himself: he will be met at his second coming by his spiritual Israel; and they will be prepared for it who believe it, love it, and long for it; have their loins girt, and their lights burning, and they waiting for their Lord's coming; see Matthew 25:1; and so at the hour of death, which is the day of the Lord; a preparation and readiness for which lies not in external humiliation, outward reformation, a moral righteousness, or a bare profession of religion, and submission to ordinances; but in regeneration, in faith in Christ, and spiritual knowledge of him; in a being washed in his blood, and clothed with his righteousness; for which readiness all truly sensible sinners will be concerned, and which is all from the grace of God; see
Matthew 24:43. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, read it, "prepare to call upon thy God"; and the Targum paraphrases it,
"to receive the doctrine of the law of thy God;''
rather the doctrine of the Gospel; but the former sense is best; for the confirmation of which it may be observed, that when God is said to do a thing to any, it is usually in a way of grace; and that when preparation is made to meet a divine Person, it is always meant of the Son of God; and that it is a common thing in prophecy, that when the Lord is threatening men with his judgments, to throw in a promise or prophecy of the Messiah, for the comfort of his people.
w לכן "nihilominus tamen". Vid. Noldium, p. 507.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Therefore thus will I do unto thee - God says more by His silence. He had enumerated successive scourges. Now, with His hand uplifted to strike, He mentions none, but says, “thus.” Rib.: “So men too, loth to name evils, which they fear and detest, say, “God do so to me, and more also.” God using the language of people” Jerome, “having said, ‘thus will I do unto thee,’ is silent as to what He will do; that so, Israel hanging in suspense, as having before him each sort of punishment (which are the more terrible, because he imagines them one by one), may indeed repent, that God inflict not what He threatens.”
Prepare to meet thy God - In judgment, face to face, final to them. All the judgments which had been sent hitherto were but heralds, forerunners of the judgment to come. He Himself was not in them. In them, He passed no sentence upon Israel. They were medicinal, corrective; they were not His final sentence. Now, having tried all ways of recovering them in vain, God summons them before His tribunal. But although the judgment of the ten tribes, as a whole, was final, to individuals there was place for repentance. God never, in this life, bids people or individuals “prepare to meet Him,” without a purpose of good to those who do prepare to receive His sentence aright. He saith not then, “come and hear your doom,” but “prepare to meet thy God.” It has hope in it, to be bidden to “prepare;” yet more, that He whom they were to prepare to meet, was “their God.” It must have recurred full often to the mind of the ten tribes during their unrestored captivity of above seven centuries before the Coming of our Lord; a period as long as the whole existence of Rome from its foundation to its decay; as long as our history from our king Stephen until now.
Full oft must they have thought, “we have not met Him yet,” and the thought must have dawned upon them; “It is because He willed to “do thus” with us, that He bid us “prepare to meet” Him. He met us not, when He did it. It was then something further on; it is in the Messiah that we arc to meet and to see Him.” Jerome: “Prepare to meet thy God,” receiving with all eagerness the Lord coming unto thee.” So then, is this further sense which lay in a the words , “he (as did Hosea at the end) exhorts the ten tribes, after they had been led captive by the Assyrians, not to despond, but to “prepare to meet their God,” that is, to acknowledge and receive Christ their God, when the Gospel should be preached to them by the Apostles.” Rib.: “God punisheth, not in cruelty, but in love. He warns then those whom He strikes, to understand what He means by these punishments, not thinking themselves abandoned by God, but, even when they seem most cast away and reprobate, rousing themselves, in the hope of God’s mercy through Christ, to call upon God, and “prepare to meet their God.” For no one’s salvation is so desperate, no one is so stained with every kind of sin, but that God cometh to him by holy inspirations, to bring back the wanderer to Himself. Thou therefore, O Israel, whoever thou art, who didst once serve God, and now servest vilest pleasures, when thou feelest God coming to thee, prepare to meet Him. Open the door of thy heart to that most kind and benevolent Guest, and, when thou hearest His Voice, deafen not thyself: flee not, like Adam. For He seeketh thee, not to judge, but to save thee.”
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Amos 4:12. Therefore thus will I do unto thee — I will continue my judgments, I will fight against you; and, because I am thus determined,-
Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. — This is a military phrase, and is to be understood as a challenge to come out to battle. As if the Lord had said, I will attack you immediately. Throw yourselves into a posture of defense, summon your idols to your help: and try how far your strength, and that of your gods, will avail you against the unconquerable arm of the Lord of hosts! This verse has been often painfully misapplied by public teachers; it has no particular relation to the day of judgment, nor to the hour of death. These constructions are impositions on the text.
