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Selected Verse: Amos 8:9 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Am 8:9	Strong Concordance	And it shall come to pass in that day [03117], saith [05002] the Lord [0136] GOD [03069], that I will cause the sun [08121] to go down [0935] at noon [06672], and I will darken [02821] the earth [0776] in the clear [0216] day [03117]:
	King James	And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
"Darkness" made to rise "at noon" is the emblem of great calamities (Jer 15:9; Eze 32:7-10).

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

"Darkness" made to rise "at noon" is the emblem of great calamities (Jer 15:9; Eze 32:7-10).

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
I will cause the sun to go down - Darkness is heaviest and blackest in contrast with the brightest light; sorrow is saddest, when it comes upon fearless joy. God commonly, in His mercy, sends heralds of coming sorrow; very few burst suddenly on man. Now, in the meridian brightness of the day of Israel, the blackness of night should fall at once upon him. Not only was light to be displaced by darkness, but "then," when it was most opposite to the course of nature. Not by gradual decay, but by a sudden unlooked-for crash, was Israel to perish. Pekah was a military chief; he had reigned more than seventeen years over Israel in peace, when, together with Rezin king of Damascus, he attempted to extirpate the line of David, and to set a Syrian, one "on of Tabea" Isa 7:6, on his throne. Ahaz was weak, with no human power to resist; his "heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest are moved with the wind" Isa 7:2. Tiglath-pileser came upon Pekah and carried off the tribes beyond Jordan Kg2 15:29. Pekah's sun set, and all was night with no dawn. Shortly after, Pekah himself was murdered by Hoshea Kg2 15:30, as he had himself murdered Pekahiah. After an anarchy of nine years, Hoshea established himself on the throne; the nine remaining years were spent in the last convulsive efforts of an expiring monarchy, subdual to Shalmaneser, rebellious alliance with So, king of Egypt, a three years' siege, and the lamp went out Kg2 17:1-9. And I will darken the earth at noon-day - To the mourner "all nature seems to mourn." "Not the ground only," says Chrysostom in the troubles at Antioch , "but the very substance of the air, and the orb of the solar rays itself seems to me now in a manner to mourn and to shew a duller light. Not that the elements change their nature, but that our eyes, confused by a cloud of sorrow, cannot receive the light from it's rays purely, nor are they alike impressible. This is what the prophet of old said mourning, 'Their sun shall set to them at noon, and the day shall be darkened.' Not that the sun was hidden, or the day disappeared, but that tile mourners could see no light even in mid-day, for the darkness of their grief." No eclipse of the sun, in which the sun might seem to be shrouded in darkness at mid-day, has been calculated which should have suggested this image to the prophet's mind. It had been thought, however, that there might be reference to an eclipse of the sun which took place a few years after this prophecy, namely, Feb. 9. 784, b.c. the year of the death of Jeroboam II. This eclipse did reach its height at Jerusalem a little before mid-day, at 11:24 a.m.. An accurate calculation, however, shows that, although total in southern latitudes, the line of totality was, at the longitude of Jerusalem or Samaria, about 11 degrees south Latitude, and so above 43 degrees south of Samaria, and that it did not reach the same latitude as Samaria until near the close of the eclipse, about 64 degrees west of Samaria in the easternmost part of Thibet . : "The central eclipse commenced in the southern Atlantic Ocean, passed nearly exactly over Helena , reached the continent of Africa in Lower Guinea, traversed the interior of Africa, and left it near Zanzibar, went through the Indian Ocean and entered India in the Gulf of Gambay, passed between Agra and Allahabad into Tibet and reached its end on the frontiers of China." The eclipse then would hardly have been noticeable at Samaria, certainly very far indeed from being an eclipse of such magnitude, as could in any degree correspond with the expression, "I will cause the sun to go down at noon." Ussher suggests, if true, a different coincidence. "There was an eclipse of the sun of about 10 digits in the Julian year 3923 (791 b.c.,) June 24, in the Feast of Pentecost; another, of about 12 digits, 20 years afterward, 3943, 771 b.c., Nov. 8, on the Day of the Feast of Tabernacles; and a third of more than 11 digits, on the following year 3944, May 5, on the Feast of the Passover. Consider whether that prophecy of Amos does not relate to it, "I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day, and I will turn your feasts into mourning." Which, as the Christian fathers have adapted in an allegorical sense to the darkness at the time of our Lord's Passion in the Feast of the Passover, so it may have been fulfilled, in the letter, in these three great eclipses, which darkened the day of the three festivals in which all the males were bound to appear before the Lord. So that as, among the Greeks, Thales, first, by astronomical science, predicted eclipses of the sun , so, among the Hebrews, Amos first seems to have foretold them by inspiration of the Holy Spirit." The eclipses, pointed out by Ussher, must have been the one total, the others very considerable . Beforehand, one should not have expected that an eclipsc of the sun, being itself a regular natural phaenomenon, and having no connection with the moral government of God, should have been the subject of the prophet's prediction. Still it had a religious impressiveness then, above what it has now, on account of that wide-prevailing idolatry of the sun. It exhibited the object of their false worship, shorn of its light and passive. If Ussher is right as to the magnitude of those eclipses in the latitude of Jerusalem, and as to the correspondence of the days of the solar year, June 24, Nov. 8, May 5, in those years, with the days of the lunar year upon which the respective feasts fell, it would be a remarkable correspondence. Still the years are somewhat arbitrarily chosen, the second only 771 b.c., (on which the house of Jehu came to an end through the murder of the weak and sottish Zechariah,) corresponding with any marked event in the kingdom of Israel. On the other hand, it is the more likely that the words, "I will cause the sun to go down at noon," are an image of a sudden reverse, in that Micah also uses the words as an image, "the sun shall go down upon the prophets and the day shall be dark upon" (or, "over") "them" Mic 2:6.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

I will cause the sun to go down - Darkness is heaviest and blackest in contrast with the brightest light; sorrow is saddest, when it comes upon fearless joy. God commonly, in His mercy, sends heralds of coming sorrow; very few burst suddenly on man. Now, in the meridian brightness of the day of Israel, the blackness of night should fall at once upon him. Not only was light to be displaced by darkness, but "then," when it was most opposite to the course of nature. Not by gradual decay, but by a sudden unlooked-for crash, was Israel to perish. Pekah was a military chief; he had reigned more than seventeen years over Israel in peace, when, together with Rezin king of Damascus, he attempted to extirpate the line of David, and to set a Syrian, one "on of Tabea" Isa 7:6, on his throne. Ahaz was weak, with no human power to resist; his "heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest are moved with the wind" Isa 7:2. Tiglath-pileser came upon Pekah and carried off the tribes beyond Jordan Kg2 15:29. Pekah's sun set, and all was night with no dawn. Shortly after, Pekah himself was murdered by Hoshea Kg2 15:30, as he had himself murdered Pekahiah. After an anarchy of nine years, Hoshea established himself on the throne; the nine remaining years were spent in the last convulsive efforts of an expiring monarchy, subdual to Shalmaneser, rebellious alliance with So, king of Egypt, a three years' siege, and the lamp went out Kg2 17:1-9.

And I will darken the earth at noon-day - To the mourner "all nature seems to mourn." "Not the ground only," says Chrysostom in the troubles at Antioch , "but the very substance of the air, and the orb of the solar rays itself seems to me now in a manner to mourn and to shew a duller light. Not that the elements change their nature, but that our eyes, confused by a cloud of sorrow, cannot receive the light from it's rays purely, nor are they alike impressible. This is what the prophet of old said mourning, 'Their sun shall set to them at noon, and the day shall be darkened.' Not that the sun was hidden, or the day disappeared, but that tile mourners could see no light even in mid-day, for the darkness of their grief." No eclipse of the sun, in which the sun might seem to be shrouded in darkness at mid-day, has been calculated which should have suggested this image to the prophet's mind.

It had been thought, however, that there might be reference to an eclipse of the sun which took place a few years after this prophecy, namely, Feb. 9. 784, b.c. the year of the death of Jeroboam II. This eclipse did reach its height at Jerusalem a little before mid-day, at 11:24 a.m..

An accurate calculation, however, shows that, although total in southern latitudes, the line of totality was, at the longitude of Jerusalem or Samaria, about 11 degrees south Latitude, and so above 43 degrees south of Samaria, and that it did not reach the same latitude as Samaria until near the close of the eclipse, about 64 degrees west of Samaria in the easternmost part of Thibet . : "The central eclipse commenced in the southern Atlantic Ocean, passed nearly exactly over Helena , reached the continent of Africa in Lower Guinea, traversed the interior of Africa, and left it near Zanzibar, went through the Indian Ocean and entered India in the Gulf of Gambay, passed between Agra and Allahabad into Tibet and reached its end on the frontiers of China." The eclipse then would hardly have been noticeable at Samaria, certainly very far indeed from being an eclipse of such magnitude, as could in any degree correspond with the expression, "I will cause the sun to go down at noon."

Ussher suggests, if true, a different coincidence. "There was an eclipse of the sun of about 10 digits in the Julian year 3923 (791 b.c.,) June 24, in the Feast of Pentecost; another, of about 12 digits, 20 years afterward, 3943, 771 b.c., Nov. 8, on the Day of the Feast of Tabernacles; and a third of more than 11 digits, on the following year 3944, May 5, on the Feast of the Passover. Consider whether that prophecy of Amos does not relate to it, "I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day, and I will turn your feasts into mourning."

Which, as the Christian fathers have adapted in an allegorical sense to the darkness at the time of our Lord's Passion in the Feast of the Passover, so it may have been fulfilled, in the letter, in these three great eclipses, which darkened the day of the three festivals in which all the males were bound to appear before the Lord. So that as, among the Greeks, Thales, first, by astronomical science, predicted eclipses of the sun , so, among the Hebrews, Amos first seems to have foretold them by inspiration of the Holy Spirit." The eclipses, pointed out by Ussher, must have been the one total, the others very considerable . Beforehand, one should not have expected that an eclipsc of the sun, being itself a regular natural phaenomenon, and having no connection with the moral government of God, should have been the subject of the prophet's prediction.

Still it had a religious impressiveness then, above what it has now, on account of that wide-prevailing idolatry of the sun. It exhibited the object of their false worship, shorn of its light and passive. If Ussher is right as to the magnitude of those eclipses in the latitude of Jerusalem, and as to the correspondence of the days of the solar year, June 24, Nov. 8, May 5, in those years, with the days of the lunar year upon which the respective feasts fell, it would be a remarkable correspondence. Still the years are somewhat arbitrarily chosen, the second only 771 b.c., (on which the house of Jehu came to an end through the murder of the weak and sottish Zechariah,) corresponding with any marked event in the kingdom of Israel. On the other hand, it is the more likely that the words, "I will cause the sun to go down at noon," are an image of a sudden reverse, in that Micah also uses the words as an image, "the sun shall go down upon the prophets and the day shall be dark upon" (or, "over") "them" Mic 2:6.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
"And it will come to pass on that day, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, I cause the sun to set at noon, and make it dark to the earth in clear day. Amo 8:10. And turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation: and bring mourning clothes upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and make it like mourning for an only one, and the end thereof like a bitter day." The effect of the divine judgment upon the Israelites is depicted here. Just as the wicked overturn the moral order of the universe, so will the Lord, with His judgment, break through the order of nature, cause the sun to go down at noon, and envelope the earth in darkness in clear day. The words of the ninth verse are not founded upon the idea of an eclipse of the sun, though Michaelis and Hitzig not only assume that they are, but actually attempt to determine the time of its occurrence. An eclipse of the sun is not the setting of the sun (כּוא). But to any man the sun sets at noon, when he is suddenly snatched away by death, in the very midst of his life. And this also applies to a nation when it is suddenly destroyed in the midst of its earthly prosperity. But it has a still wider application. When the Lord shall come to judgment, at a time when the world, in its self-security, looketh not for Him (cf. Mat 24:37.), this earth's sun will set at noon, and the earth be covered with darkness in bright daylight. And every judgment that falls upon an ungodly people or kingdom, as the ages roll away, is a harbinger of the approach of the final judgment. Amo 8:10. When the judgment shall burst upon Israel, then will all the joyous feasts give way to mourning and lamentation (compare Amo 8:3 and Amo 5:16; Hos 2:13). On the shaving of a bald place as a sign of mourning, see Isa 3:24. This mourning will be very deep, like the mourning for the death of an only son (cf. Jer 6:26 and Zac 12:10). The suffix in שׂמתּיה (I make it) does not refer to אבל (mourning), but to all that has been previously mentioned as done upon that day, to their weeping and lamenting (Hitzig). אחריתהּ, the end thereof, namely, of this mourning and lamentation, will be a bitter day (כ is caph verit.; see at Joe 1:15). This implies that the judgment will not be a passing one, but will continue.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

"And it will come to pass on that day, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, I cause the sun to set at noon, and make it dark to the earth in clear day. Amo 8:10. And turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation: and bring mourning clothes upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and make it like mourning for an only one, and the end thereof like a bitter day." The effect of the divine judgment upon the Israelites is depicted here. Just as the wicked overturn the moral order of the universe, so will the Lord, with His judgment, break through the order of nature, cause the sun to go down at noon, and envelope the earth in darkness in clear day. The words of the ninth verse are not founded upon the idea of an eclipse of the sun, though Michaelis and Hitzig not only assume that they are, but actually attempt to determine the time of its occurrence. An eclipse of the sun is not the setting of the sun (כּוא). But to any man the sun sets at noon, when he is suddenly snatched away by death, in the very midst of his life. And this also applies to a nation when it is suddenly destroyed in the midst of its earthly prosperity. But it has a still wider application. When the Lord shall come to judgment, at a time when the world, in its self-security, looketh not for Him (cf. Mat 24:37.), this earth's sun will set at noon, and the earth be covered with darkness in bright daylight. And every judgment that falls upon an ungodly people or kingdom, as the ages roll away, is a harbinger of the approach of the final judgment. Amo 8:10. When the judgment shall burst upon Israel, then will all the joyous feasts give way to mourning and lamentation (compare Amo 8:3 and Amo 5:16; Hos 2:13). On the shaving of a bald place as a sign of mourning, see Isa 3:24. This mourning will be very deep, like the mourning for the death of an only son (cf. Jer 6:26 and Zac 12:10). The suffix in שׂמתּיה (I make it) does not refer to אבל (mourning), but to all that has been previously mentioned as done upon that day, to their weeping and lamenting (Hitzig). אחריתהּ, the end thereof, namely, of this mourning and lamentation, will be a bitter day (כ is caph verit.; see at Joe 1:15). This implies that the judgment will not be a passing one, but will continue.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
At noon - So Israel's sun did as at noon set under the dark cloud of conspiracies and civil wars by Shallum, Menahem, Pekah, and Hosea, 'till the midnight darkness drew on by Pul, Tiglath - Pilneser, and Salmaneser. Darken - Bring a thick cloud of troubles and afflictions. In the clear day - When they think all is safe, sure, and well settled.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
I will cause the sun to go down at noon - This may either refer to that darkness which often precedes and accompanies earthquakes, or to an eclipse. Abp. Usher has shown that about eleven years after Amos prophesied there were two great eclipses of the sun; one at the feast of tabernacles, and the other some time before the passover. The prophet may refer to the darkness occasioned by those eclipses; yet I rather think the whole may refer to the earthquake.

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⁷ And when I shall put thee out [03518], I will cover [03680] the heaven [08064], and make [06937] the stars [03556] thereof dark [06937]; I will cover [03680] the sun [08121] with a cloud [06051], and the moon [03394] shall not give [0215] her light [0216].
⁸ All the bright [03974] lights [0216] of heaven [08064] will I make dark [06937] over thee, and set [05414] darkness [02822] upon thy land [0776], saith [05002] the Lord [0136] GOD [03069].
⁹ I will also vex [03707] the hearts [03820] of many [07227] people [05971], when I shall bring [0935] thy destruction [07667] among the nations [01471], into the countries [0776] which thou hast not known [03045].
¹⁰ Yea, I will make many [07227] people [05971] amazed [08074] at thee, and their kings [04428] shall be horribly [08178] afraid [08175] for thee, when I shall brandish [05774] my sword [02719] before them [06440]; and they shall tremble [02729] at every moment [07281], every man [0376] for his own life [05315], in the day [03117] of thy fall [04658].

⁹ She that hath borne [03205] seven [07651] languisheth [0535]: she hath given up [05301] the ghost [05315]; her sun [08121] is gone [0935] down while it was yet day [03119] [03117]: she hath been ashamed [0954] and confounded [02659]: and the residue [07611] of them will I deliver [05414] to the sword [02719] before [06440] their enemies [0341], saith [05002] the LORD [03068].

⁶ Prophesy [05197] ye not, say they to them that prophesy [05197]: they shall not prophesy [05197] to them, that they shall not take [05253] shame [03639].

¹ In the twelfth [08147] [06240] year [08141] of Ahaz [0271] king [04428] of Judah [03063] began Hoshea [01954] the son [01121] of Elah [0425] to reign [04427] in Samaria [08111] over Israel [03478] nine [08672] years [08141].
² And he did [06213] that which was evil [07451] in the sight [05869] of the LORD [03068], but not as the kings [04428] of Israel [03478] that were before [06440] him.
³ Against him came up [05927] Shalmaneser [08022] king [04428] of Assyria [0804]; and Hoshea [01954] became his servant [05650], and gave [07725] him presents [04503].
⁴ And the king [04428] of Assyria [0804] found [04672] conspiracy [07195] in Hoshea [01954]: for he had sent [07971] messengers [04397] to So [05471] king [04428] of Egypt [04714], and brought [05927] no present [04503] to the king [04428] of Assyria [0804], as he had done year [08141] by year [08141]: therefore the king [04428] of Assyria [0804] shut him up [06113], and bound [0631] him in prison [01004] [03608].
⁵ Then the king [04428] of Assyria [0804] came up [05927] throughout all the land [0776], and went up [05927] to Samaria [08111], and besieged [06696] it three [07969] years [08141].
⁶ In the ninth [08671] year [08141] of Hoshea [01954] the king [04428] of Assyria [0804] took [03920] Samaria [08111], and carried [01540] Israel [03478] away [01540] into Assyria [0804], and placed [03427] them in Halah [02477] and in Habor [02249] by the river [05104] of Gozan [01470], and in the cities [05892] of the Medes [04074].
⁷ For so it was, that the children [01121] of Israel [03478] had sinned [02398] against the LORD [03068] their God [0430], which had brought them up [05927] out of the land [0776] of Egypt [04714], from under the hand [03027] of Pharaoh [06547] king [04428] of Egypt [04714], and had feared [03372] other [0312] gods [0430],
⁸ And walked [03212] in the statutes [02708] of the heathen [01471], whom the LORD [03068] cast out [03423] from before [06440] the children [01121] of Israel [03478], and of the kings [04428] of Israel [03478], which they had made [06213].
⁹ And the children [01121] of Israel [03478] did secretly [02644] those things [01697] that were not right against the LORD [03068] their God [0430], and they built [01129] them high places [01116] in all their cities [05892], from the tower [04026] of the watchmen [05341] to the fenced [04013] city [05892].

³⁰ And Hoshea [01954] the son [01121] of Elah [0425] made [07194] a conspiracy [07195] against Pekah [06492] the son [01121] of Remaliah [07425], and smote [05221] him, and slew [04191] him, and reigned [04427] in his stead, in the twentieth [06242] year [08141] of Jotham [03147] the son [01121] of Uzziah [05818].

²⁹ In the days [03117] of Pekah [06492] king [04428] of Israel [03478] came [0935] Tiglathpileser [08407] king [04428] of Assyria [0804], and took [03947] Ijon [05859], and Abelbethmaachah [062], and Janoah [03239], and Kedesh [06943], and Hazor [02674], and Gilead [01568], and Galilee [01551], all the land [0776] of Naphtali [05321], and carried them captive [01540] to Assyria [0804].

² And it was told [05046] the house [01004] of David [01732], saying [0559], Syria [0758] is confederate [05117] with Ephraim [0669]. And his heart [03824] was moved [05128], and the heart [03824] of his people [05971], as the trees [06086] of the wood [03293] are moved [05128] with [06440] the wind [07307].

⁶ Let us go up [05927] against Judah [03063], and vex [06973] it, and let us make a breach [01234] therein for us, and set [04427] a king [04428] in the midst [08432] of it, even the son [01121] of Tabeal [02870]:

¹⁵ Alas [0162] for the day [03117]! for the day [03117] of the LORD [03068] is at hand [07138], and as a destruction [07701] from the Almighty [07706] shall it come [0935].

¹⁰ And I will pour [08210] upon the house [01004] of David [01732], and upon the inhabitants [03427] of Jerusalem [03389], the spirit [07307] of grace [02580] and of supplications [08469]: and they shall look [05027] upon me whom they have pierced [01856], and they shall mourn [04553] for him, as one mourneth [05594] for his only [03173] son, and shall be in bitterness [04843] for him, as one that is in bitterness [04843] for his firstborn [01060].

²⁶ O daughter [01323] of my people [05971], gird [02296] thee with sackcloth [08242], and wallow [06428] thyself in ashes [0665]: make [06213] thee mourning [060], as for an only son [03173], most bitter [08563] lamentation [04553]: for the spoiler [07703] shall suddenly [06597] come [0935] upon us.

²⁴ And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell [01314] there shall be stink [04716]; and instead of a girdle [02290] a rent [05364]; and instead of well set [04639] hair [04748] baldness [07144]; and instead of a stomacher [06614] a girding [04228] of sackcloth [08242]; and burning [03587] instead of beauty [03308].

¹³ And I will visit [06485] upon her the days [03117] of Baalim [01168], wherein she burned incense [06999] to them, and she decked [05710] herself with her earrings [05141] and her jewels [02484], and she went [03212] after [0310] her lovers [0157], and forgat [07911] me, saith [05002] the LORD [03068].

¹⁶ Therefore the LORD [03068], the God [0430] of hosts [06635], the Lord [0136], saith [0559] thus; Wailing [04553] shall be in all streets [07339]; and they shall say [0559] in all the highways [02351], Alas [01930]! alas [01930]! and they shall call [07121] the husbandman [0406] to mourning [060], and such as are skilful [03045] of lamentation [05092] to wailing [04553].

³ And the songs [07892] of the temple [01964] shall be howlings [03213] in that day [03117], saith [05002] the Lord [0136] GOD [03069]: there shall be many [07227] dead bodies [06297] in every place [04725]; they shall cast them forth [07993] with silence [02013].

¹⁰ And I will turn [02015] your feasts [02282] into mourning [060], and all your songs [07892] into lamentation [07015]; and I will bring up [05927] sackcloth [08242] upon all loins [04975], and baldness [07144] upon every head [07218]; and I will make [07760] it as the mourning [060] of an only [03173] son, and the end [0319] thereof as a bitter [04751] day [03117].

³⁷ But [1161] as [5618] the days [2250] of Noe [3575] were, so [3779] shall [2071] also [2532] the coming [3952] of the Son [5207] of man [444] be [2071].