Bible Strands
Amos 6:2
Cross over to Calneh and see; go from there to the great Hamath; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Is their territory larger than yours?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Amos addresses the self-assured leaders of Israel and Judah who feel secure in Zion and Samaria. He delivers this warning during a period of national complacency before impending judgment.
The words — The imperative עִבְרוּ ('ivru) commands the audience to "pass over" or travel to distant cities like Calneh and Hamath. The rhetorical question relies on the comparative concept of being "better" to challenge their sense of superiority.
The thread — This rhetorical challenge echoes Nahum 3:8, which asks if Nineveh is superior to Thebes, and recalls Calneh’s fall as recorded in Genesis 10:10. The reference to Hamath and Gath also aligns with the failed deliverance of Samaria noted in 2 Kings 18:34.
Why it lands — The text demands an honest assessment of Israel’s standing against fallen or powerful neighboring kingdoms. It requires the reader to abandon complacency and recognize that historical precedents of destruction apply to their own situation.
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
Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?
Cross-references
- Nahum 3:8 Are you better than Thebes, stationed by the Nile with water around her, whose rampart was the sea, whose wall was the water?
- Genesis 10:10 His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
- 2 Kings 18:34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?
- 2 Chronicles 26:6 Uzziah went out to wage war against the Philistines, and he tore down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. Then he built cities near Ashdod and among the Philistines.
- 1 Samuel 17:4 Then a champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was six cubits and a span in height,
- Isaiah 10:9 “Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?
- 1 Samuel 17:23 And as he was speaking with them, suddenly the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, came forward from the ranks of the Philistines and shouted his usual words, which David also heard.
- 1 Kings 8:65 So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him—a great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt—kept the feast before the LORD our God for seven days and seven more days—fourteen days in all.
- 2 Kings 17:24 Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its towns.
- 2 Kings 17:30 The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima,