Bible Strands
Amos 4:11
“Some of you I overthrew as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks through the prophet Amos to Israel, positioned between a catalog of past judgments and a final warning to prepare to meet God.
The words — הָפַ֣כְתִּי (ha.fakh.ti) translates literally as "I overthrew," paired with מַהְפֵּכָת (mah.pe.khat), meaning "the overthrow," which establishes the structural parallel to Sodom and Gomorrah.
The thread — The motif of divine destruction and selective rescue appears in Genesis 19:24, Isaiah 13:19, and Zechariah 3:2, where God’s overthrow of cities and snatching of survivors frame national judgment and deliverance.
Why it lands — The text states that survival from judgment does not guarantee repentance, and it demands that readers recognize repeated divine interventions as a call to return before facing direct confrontation with God.
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
I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 13:19 And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
- Zechariah 3:2 And the LORD said to Satan: “The LORD rebukes you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you! Is not this man a firebrand snatched from the fire?”
- Genesis 19:24 Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.
- Jeremiah 23:14 And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns his back on wickedness. They are all like Sodom to Me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.”
- Ezekiel 22:17 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
- Amos 4:6 “I afflicted all your cities with cleanness of teeth and all your towns with lack of bread, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.
- 2 Peter 2:6 if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly;
- Jude 1:7 In like manner, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who indulged in sexual immorality and pursued strange flesh, are on display as an example of those who sustain the punishment of eternal fire.
- Jude 1:23 save others by snatching them from the fire; and to still others show mercy tempered with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.
- Jeremiah 6:28 All are hardened rebels, walking around as slanderers. They are bronze and iron; all of them are corrupt.