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Selected Verse: Amos 2:14 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Am 2:14 |
King James |
Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself: |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
flight shall perish from . . . swift--Even the swift shall not be able to escape.
strong shall not strengthen his force--that is, shall not be able to use his strength.
himself--literally, "his life." |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Israel relied, against God, on his own strength. "Have we not," they said, "taken to us horns by our own strength?" Amo 6:13. Amos tells them then, that every means of strength, resistance, flight, swiftness of foot, of horse, place of refuge, should fail them. Three times he repeats, as a sort of dirge, "he shall not deliver himself."
Therefore the flight shall perish - (Probably place of flight Job 11:20; Psa 142:5; Jer 25:35). They had despised God, as their "place of refuge" , so "the place of refuge, should perish from the swift," as though it were not. He should flee amain, but there would be no "place to flee unto." God alone "renews strength;" therefore "the strong" man should not "strengthen his force or might," should not be able to gather or "collect his strength" as we say. Fear should disable him. "The handler of the bow" (as in Jer 46:9), and who by habit is a skilled archer, although himself out of the immediate reach of the enemy, and able, unharmed, to annoy him and protect the fugitives, "shall not stand" (as in Jer 46:21; Nah 2:8). Panic should overtake him. The "mighty" man, the "fleet of foot" should "not deliver," yea, "the horseman" should not "deliver himself;" yea, he who, "among the mighty," was "strongest of his heart," firm-souled among those of mightiest prowess, "shall flee away naked," that is, bared of all, armor or dress, which might encumber his flight "in that day" which the Lord made a day of terror His own day.
Saith the Lord - Probably literally, "the secret utterance of the Lord." Amos, more than Hosea, uses this special authentication of his words , which is so common in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah. He claims a knowledge, which those around him had not, and ratifies it by the express appeal to the direct, though secret, revelation of God; what those who were not of God, would deny; what they who were of God, would believe. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| The swift - For their enemies shall be swifter than they. The strong - Natural strength of body shall not deliver. The mighty - The valiant man, the man of the greatest courage. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| The flight shall perish from the swift - The swiftest shall not be able to save himself from a swifter destruction. None, by might, by counsel, or by fleetness, shall be able to escape from the impending ruin. In a word, God has so fully determined to avenge the quarrel of his broken covenant, that all attempts to escape from his judgments shall be useless. |
8 But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back.
21 Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation.
9 Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.
35 And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.
5 I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.
20 But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost.
13 Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?