Bible Strands
Amos 9:7
“Are you not like the Cushites to Me, O children of Israel?” declares the LORD. “Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Arameans from Kir?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD addresses the children of Israel in Amos 9, positioned between a declaration of His power over the heavens and a warning of destruction upon the sinful kingdom.
The words — הֲ/ל֣וֹא (ha./Lo') translates as "not," and כֻשִׁיִּ֨ים (khu.shi.Yim) means "Cushites," forming the rhetorical comparison that places Israel on equal footing with a distant foreign nation.
The thread — The text explicitly lists God's role in relocating Israel from Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Arameans from Kir, paralleling historical migration records in Deuteronomy 2:23 and 2 Kings 16:9.
Why it lands — The verse states that God exercises sovereign control over all peoples, demanding that the reader reject any assumption of inherent ethnic privilege before divine judgment.
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
Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the Lord. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 47:4 For the day has come to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every remaining ally. Indeed, the LORD is about to destroy the Philistines, the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.
- Deuteronomy 2:23 And the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, were destroyed by the Caphtorites, who came out of Caphtor and settled in their place.)
- 2 Kings 16:9 So the king of Assyria responded to him, marched up to Damascus, and captured it. He took its people to Kir as captives and put Rezin to death.
- Jeremiah 9:25 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh—
- Jeremiah 13:23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Neither are you able to do good—you who are accustomed to doing evil.
- Amos 1:5 I will break down the gates of Damascus; I will cut off the ruler from the Valley of Aven and the one who wields the scepter in Beth-eden. The people of Aram will be exiled to Kir,” says the LORD.
- Amos 2:10 And I brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness, that you might take possession of the land of the Amorite.
- Isaiah 20:4 so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, naked and barefoot, with bared buttocks—to Egypt’s shame.
- Isaiah 22:6 Elam takes up a quiver, with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovers the shield.
- Hosea 12:13 But by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved.