Bible Strands
Amos 3:6
If a ram’s horn sounds in a city, do the people not tremble? If calamity comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Amos addresses Israel, positioning this verse between rhetorical questions about snares and the promise of divine revelation to prophets. The words — The Hebrew שׁוֹפָר (shofar) and יֶחֱרָדוּ (yekheradu) literally denote a ram’s horn blast and the people’s trembling. These terms ground the verse’s rhetorical structure in observable cause and effect. The thread — The text’s claim that the LORD causes calamity runs directly to Isaiah 45:7 and Isaiah 14:24, while the horn blast as a warning signal aligns with Zephaniah 1:16. These references trace a consistent scriptural pattern linking divine action to prophetic warning. Why it lands — The text explicitly states that a horn blast triggers trembling and that calamity reaches a city only after the LORD’s action. It requires the reader to acknowledge that judgment follows declared warning and sovereign purpose, not accident.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?
Cross-references
- Isaiah 45:7 I form the light and create the darkness; I bring prosperity and create calamity. I, the LORD, do all these things.
- Isaiah 14:24 The LORD of Hosts has sworn: “Surely, as I have planned, so will it be; as I have purposed, so will it stand.
- Zephaniah 1:16 a day of horn blast and battle cry against the fortified cities, and against the high corner towers.
- Genesis 50:20 As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people.
- 2 Corinthians 5:11 Therefore, since we know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is clear to God, and I hope it is clear to your conscience as well.
- Jeremiah 10:7 Who would not fear You, O King of nations? This is Your due. For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.
- Jeremiah 4:5 Announce in Judah, proclaim in Jerusalem, and say: “Blow the ram’s horn throughout the land. Cry aloud and say, ‘Assemble yourselves and let us flee to the fortified cities.’
- Jeremiah 6:1 “Run for cover, O sons of Benjamin; flee from Jerusalem! Sound the ram’s horn in Tekoa; send up a signal over Beth-haccherem, for disaster looms from the north, even great destruction.
- Acts 2:23 He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.
- Jeremiah 5:22 Do you not fear Me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot cross it.