阿摩司书 9:9

Chinese Union (Simplified)

我 必 出 令 ， 将 以 色 列 家 分 散 在 列 国 中 ， 好 像 用 筛 子 筛 谷 ， 连 一 粒 也 不 落 在 地 上 。

Parallel Translations

Chinese NCV (Simplified)
耶和華說：“看哪！我必下令，我必在列國中篩以色列家，好像人用篩子篩穀，但穀粒不會落在地上。

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

and I: Leviticus 26:33, Deuteronomy 28:64

sift: Heb. cause to move

grain: Heb. stone

Reciprocal: Numbers 23:9 - shall not Deuteronomy 28:65 - shalt thou Esther 4:14 - then shall Isaiah 27:12 - ye shall be Isaiah 28:28 - Bread Isaiah 30:28 - to sift Isaiah 43:2 - passest Isaiah 65:8 - General Jeremiah 3:16 - when Jeremiah 4:27 - yet Jeremiah 29:18 - will deliver Jeremiah 30:11 - though Jeremiah 31:17 - General Jeremiah 31:36 - cease Jeremiah 46:28 - but I will not Jeremiah 49:36 - scatter Jeremiah 51:5 - Israel Ezekiel 5:10 - the whole Ezekiel 12:16 - I will Ezekiel 17:21 - all his fugitives Ezekiel 20:34 - General Ezekiel 20:38 - I will purge Ezekiel 36:19 - I scattered Ezekiel 39:28 - and have Daniel 9:7 - near Hosea 9:17 - and Amos 6:11 - the Lord Habakkuk 1:12 - we Zechariah 2:6 - spread Zechariah 10:9 - sow Zechariah 13:8 - but Matthew 3:12 - and gather Luke 22:31 - sift Acts 27:44 - that Romans 11:1 - Hath God

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For, lo, I will command,.... What follows; which is expressive of afflictive and trying dispensations of Providence, which are according to the will of God, by his appointment and order, and overruled for his glory, and the good of his people:

and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as [corn] is sifted in a sieve; this is to be understood of spiritual Israel, of those who are Israelites indeed, who are like to corns of wheat, first die before they live; die unto sin, and live unto righteousness; grow up gradually, and produce much fruit; or like to wheat for their choiceness and excellency, being the chosen of God and precious, and the excellent in the earth; and their whiteness and purity, as clothed with Christ's righteousness washed in his blood, and sanctified by his Spirit; and for their substance and fulness, being filled out of Christ's fulness, and with all the fulness of God, with the Spirit and his graces, and with all the fruits of righteousness; and for weight and solidity, not as chaff driven to and fro, but are firm and constant, settled and established, in divine things; and yet have the chaff of sin cleaving to them, and have need of the flail and fan of affliction; and this is the sieve the Lord takes into his hands, and sifts them with; whereby sometimes they are greatly unsettled, and tossed to and fro, have no rest and ease, but are greatly distressed on all sides, and are thoroughly searched and tried, and the chaff loosened and separated from them; and sometimes the Lord suffers them to be sifted by the temptations of Satan, whereby they are brought into doubts and fears, and are very wavering and uncomfortable, are sadly harassed and buffeted, and in great danger, were it not for the grace of God, and the intercession of the Mediator, Luke 22:31;

yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth; or, "the least stone" p; which is in the spiritual building, and laid on the rock and foundation Christ; or the least corn of wheat, so called because of its weight, solidity, and substance. The meaning is, that the least true Israelite, or child of God, who is the least in the kingdom of heaven, and has the least share of grace and spiritual knowledge, that is even less than the least of all saints, shall not be lost and perish; though they fall in Adam, yet they are preserved in Christ; though they fall into actual sins and transgressions, and sometimes into gross ones, and from a degree of steadfastness in the faith, yet not totally and finally, or so as to perish for ever; no, not a hair of their head shall fall to the ground, or they be hurt and ruined; see

1 Samuel 14:45; for they are beloved of God with an everlasting love, ordained, by him to eternal life, adopted into his family, justified by his grace, and are kept by his power, according to his promise, which never fails; they are Christ's property, given him of his Father, to whom he stands in the relation of Head and Husband; are the purchase of his blood, closely united to him, and for whom he intercedes, and makes preparations in heaven. The Spirit of God is their sanctifier and sealer; he dwells in them as their earnest of heaven; and the glory of all the divine Persons is concerned in their salvation; hence it is that not one of them shall ever perish.

p צרור "lapillus", Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Munster, Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Cocceius so Ben Melech.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For lo! I will command! - Literally, “lo! see, I am commanding.” He draws their attention to it, as something which shall shortly be; and inculcates that He is the secret disposer of all which shall befall them. “And I will sift the house of Israel among all nations.” Amos enlarges the prophecy of Hosea, “they shall be wanderers among the nations.” He adds two thoughts; the violence with which they shall be shaken, and that this their unsettled life, to and fro, shall be not “among the nations” only, but “in all” nations. In every quarter of the world, and in well-nigh every nation in every quarter, Jews have been found. The whole earth is, as it were, one vast sieve in the Hands of God, in which Israel is shaken from one end to the other. There has been one ceaseless tossing to and fro, as the grain in the sieve is tossed from side to side, and rests nowhere, until all is sifted.

Each nation in whom they have been found has been an instrument of their being shaken, sifted, severed, the grain from the dirt and chaff; And yet in their whole compass, “not the least grain,” no solid grain, not one grain, should “fall to the earth.” The chaff and dust would be blown away by the air; the dirt which clave to it would fall through; but “no one grain.” God, in all these centuries, has had an eye on each soul of His people in their dispersion throughout all lands. The righteous too have been shaken up and down, through and through; yet not one soul has been lost, which, by the help of God’s Holy Spirit, willed truly and earnestly to be saved. Before Christ came, they who were His, believed in Him who should come; when He came, they who were His were converted to Him; as Paul saith, “Hath God cast away His people? God forbid! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin - God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew - At this present time also there is a remnant, according to the election of grace” Romans 11:1-2, Romans 11:5.

Rib.: “What is here said of all, God doth daily in each of the elect. For they are ‘the wheat” of God, which, in order to be “laid up in” the heavenly “garner,” must be pure from chaff and dust. To this end He sifts them by afflictions and troubles, in youth, manhood, old age, wheresoever they are, in whatsoever occupied, and proves them again and again. At one time the elect enjoyeth tranquility of mind, is bedewed by heavenly refreshments, prayeth as he wills, loveth, gloweth, hath no taste for ought except God. Then again he is dry, experienceth the heaven to be as brass, his prayer is hindered by distracting thoughts, his feet are as lead to deeds of virtue, his “hands bang down,” his “knees” are “feeble” Hebrews 12:12, he dreads death; he sticks fast, languishes. He is shaken in a sieve, that he may mistrust self, place his hope in God, and the dust of vain-glory may be shaken off. He is proved, that it may appear whether he cleave to God for the reward of present enjoyment, or for the hope of future, for longing for the glory of God and for love of Himself. God suffereth him also to be sifted by the devil through various temptations to sin, as he said to the Apostle, “Simon, lo! Satan hath desired you, to sift you as wheat” Luke 22:31. But this is the power of God, this His grace to the elect, this the devil attaineth by his sifting, that the dust of immoderate self love, of vain confidence, of love of the world, should fall off: this Satan effecteth not, that the least deed which pertaineth to the inward house and the dwelling which they prepare in their souls for God, should perish. Rather, as we see in holy Job, virtues will increase, grow, be strengthened.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Amos 9:9. I will sift the house of Israel among all nations — I will disperse them over the face of the earth; and yet I will so order it that the good shall not be lost; for though they shall be mixed among distant nations, yet there shall be a general restoration of them to their own land.

The least grain — צרור tseror, little stone, pebble, or gravel. Not one of them, howsoever little or contemptible, when the time comes, shall be left behind. All shall be collected in Christ, and brought into their own land.