阿摩司书 9:6

Chinese Union (Simplified)

那 在 天 上 建 造 楼 阁 、 在 地 上 安 定 穹 苍 、 命 海 水 浇 在 地 上 的 ─ 耶 和 华 是 他 的 名 。

Parallel Translations

Chinese NCV (Simplified)
他在天上建立樓閣，在大地之上奠立穹蒼；他召喚海水，把海水澆在地上；耶和華是他的名。

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

buildeth: Psalms 104:3, Psalms 104:13

stories: or, spheres, Heb. ascensions, Maaloth "upper chambers," which in eastern houses are the principal apartments. Perhaps there is a reference here to the various systems which God has created in illimitable space, transcending each other as the planets do in our system.

troop: or, bundle, Genesis 2:1, Aguddah probably is the same as the Arabic ijad "an arch, vault," and may here denote the vault of heaven, or atmosphere, which God "hath founded, or established, upon, or over, al the earth," and into which "he calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth."

calleth: Amos 5:8, Genesis 7:11-19, Jeremiah 5:22

The Lord: Amos 4:13, Exodus 3:14, Exodus 3:15

Reciprocal: Genesis 6:17 - bring Job 37:6 - great Psalms 135:6 - Whatsoever Psalms 148:5 - for he Isaiah 42:5 - he that created Isaiah 51:15 - that divided Jeremiah 33:2 - the Lord Jeremiah 47:2 - waters Nahum 1:8 - with Haggai 1:11 - I called

Gill's Notes on the Bible

[It is] he that buildeth his stories in the heaven,.... The three elements, according to Aben Ezra, fire, air, and water; the orbs, as Kimchi, one above another; a word near akin to this is rendered "his chambers", which are the clouds, Psalms 104:3; perhaps the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, which are three stories high, may be meant; we read of the third heaven, 2 Corinthians 12:2; and particularly the throne of God is in the highest heaven; and the "ascents" y to it, as it may be rendered. The Targum is,

"who causeth to dwell in a high fortress the Shechinah of his glory:''

and hath founded his troop in the earth; this Kimchi interprets of the three above elements. So the words are translated in the Bishops' Bible in Queen Elizabeth's time,

"he buildeth his spheres in the heaven, and hath laid the foundation of his globe of elements in the earth.''

Aben Ezra interprets it of animals; it may take in the whole compass of created beings on earth; so Jarchi explains it of the collection of his creatures; though he takes notice of another sense given, a collection of the righteous, which are the foundation of the earth, and for whose sake all things stand. Abarbinel interprets it of the whole of the tribe of Israel; and so the Targum paraphrases it of his congregation or church on earth: he beautifies his elect, which are "his bundle" z, as it may be rendered; who are bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord their God, and are closely knit and united, as to God and Christ, so to one another; and perhaps is the best sense of the words a:

he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth, the Lord [is] his name; either to drown it, as at the general deluge; or to water and refresh it, as he does by exhaling water from the sea, and then letting it down in plentiful showers upon the earth; 2 Corinthians 12:2- :; now all these things are observed to show the power of God, and that therefore there can be no hope of escaping out of his hands.

y מעלותיו "ascensiones suus", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Tigurine version, "gradus suo", Vatablus, Drusius, Cocceius. z אגדתו "fasciculum suum", Montanus, Munster, Mercerus, Vatablus, Drusius, Burkius. a Schultens in Observ. ad Genesin, p. 197, 198, observes, that

"agad", with the Arabs, signifies primarily to "bind", and is by them transferred to a building firmly bound, and compact together; and so may intend here in Amos the Lord's building, the church, which he hath founded in the earth; and so with Golius and Castellus is a building firmly compacted together.

אגדת is used for a bunch of hyssop, Exod. xii. 27. and in the Misnic language for a handful or bundle of anything; see Buxtorf. Lex. Talmud. rad. אגד.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He that buildeth His stories - The word commonly means “steps,” nor is there any reason to alter it. We read of “the third heavens 2 Corinthians 12:2, the heavens of heavens Deuteronomy 10:14; 1 Kings 8:27; Psalms 148:4; that is, heavens to which this heaven is as earth. They are different ways of expressing the vast unseen space which God has created, divided, as we know, through the distance of the fixed stars, into countless portions, of which the lower, or further removed, are but as “steps” to the presence of the Great King, where, “above all heavens” Ephesians 4:10, Christ sitteth at the Right Hand of God. It comes to the same, if we suppose the word to mean “upper chambers.” The metaphor would still signify heavens above our heavens.

And hath founded His troop - (literally, band in the earth Probably, “founded His arch upon the earth,” that is, His visible heaven, which seems, like an arch, to span the earth. The whole then describes” all things visible and invisible;” all of this our solar system, and all beyond it, the many gradations to the Throne of God. : “He daily “buildeth His stories in the heavens,” when He raiseth up His saints from things below to heavenly places, presiding over them, ascending in them. In devout wayfarers too, whose “conversation is in heaven Philippians 3:20, He ascendeth, sublimely and mercifully indwelling their hearts. In those who have the fruition of Himself in those heavens, He ascendeth by the glory of beatitude and the loftiest contemplation, as He walketh in those who walk, and resteth in those who rest in Him.”

To this description of His power, Amos, as before Amos 5:8, adds that signal instance of its exercise on the ungodly, the flood, the pattern and type of judgments which no sinner escapes. God then hath the power to do this. Why should He not?

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Amos 9:6. Buildeth his stories in the heaven — There is here an allusion to large houses, where there are cellars, or places dug in the ground as repositories for corn; middle apartments, or stories, for the families to live in; and the house-top for persons to take the air upon. There may be here a reference to the various systems which God has formed in illimitable space, transcending each other, as the planets do in our solar system: and thus we find Solomon speaking when addressing the Most High: "The heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, השמים ושמי השמים hashshamayim ushemey hashshamayim, 1 Kings 8:27. SIX heavens are necessarily implied in these three words. According to the points, the first and third are in the dual number, and the second is the contracted form of the plural. But how many more spheres may be intended who can tell? There may be millions of millions of stellar systems in unlimited space; and then what are all these to the VAST IMMENSITY of God!

Hath founded his troop in the earth — אגדיו aguddatho, from אגד agad, to bind or gather together, possibly meaning the seas and other collections of waters which he has gathered together and bound by his perpetual decree, that they cannot pass; yet when he calleth for these very waters, as in the general deluge, he "poureth them out upon the face of the earth."

The Lord is his name. — This points out his infinite essence. But what is that essence? and what is his nature? and what his immensity and eternity? What archangel can tell?