Amos 9:9

Amplified Bible

"For behold, I am commanding, And I shall shake and sift the house of Israel among all nations [and cause it to tremble] Like grain is shaken in a sieve [removing the chaff], But not a kernel [of the faithful remnant] shall fall to the ground and be lost [from My sight].

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
for I am about to give the command,and I will shake the house of Israelamong all the nations,as one shakes a sieve,but not a pebble will fall to the ground.

Hebrew Names Version
"For, behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Yisra'el among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least kernel will fall on the eretz.

King James Version (1611)
For loe, I will commaund, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corne is sifted in a sieue, yet shall not the least graine fall vpon the earth.

King James Version
For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.

English Standard Version
"For behold, I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the earth.

New American Standard Bible
"For behold, I am commanding, And I will shake the house of Israel among all nations As grain is shaken in a sieve, But not a pebble will fall to the ground.

New Century Version
"I am giving the command to scatter the nation of Israel among all nations. It will be like someone shaking grain through a strainer, but not even a tiny stone falls through.

Geneva Bible (1587)
For loe, I will command and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corne is sifted in a sieue: yet shall not the least stone fall vpon the earth.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"For behold, I am commanding, And I will shake the house of Israel among all nations As grain is shaken in a sieve, But not a kernel will fall to the ground.

Legacy Standard Bible
"For behold, I am commanding,And I will shake the house of Israel among all nationsAs grain is shaken in a sieve,But not a kernel will fall to the ground.

Berean Standard Bible
"For surely I will give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, but not a pebble will reach the ground.

Contemporary English Version
At my command, all of you will be sifted like grain. Israelites who remain faithful will be scattered among the nations. And the others will be trapped like trash in a sifter.

Complete Jewish Bible
"For when I give the order, I will shake the house of Isra'el, there among all the Goyim, as one shakes with a sieve, letting no grain fall to the ground.

Darby Translation
For behold, I command, and I will shake the house of Israel to and fro among all the nations, like as one shaketh [corn] in a sieve; yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.

Easy-to-Read Version
I am giving the command to scatter the people of Israel among all nations. But it will be like someone sifting flour. A person shakes flour through a sifter. The good flour falls through, but the bad lumps are caught.

George Lamsa Translation
For behold, I will command, and I will scatter the house of Israel among all nations as they sift wheat in a sieve, but not even the smallest grain of it shall fall upon the ground.

Good News Translation
"I will give the command and shake the people of Israel like grain in a sieve. I will shake them among the nations to remove all who are worthless.

Lexham English Bible
"Yes, look, I am going to command and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations like one who shakes with a sieve, but not a pebble will fall to the ground.

Literal Translation
For, behold, I will command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations, as one shakes with a sieve; yet not a grain shall fall to the ground.

American Standard Version
For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, like as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least kernel fall upon the earth.

Bible in Basic English
For see, I will give orders, and I will have Israel moved about among all the nations, as grain is moved about by the shaking of the tray, but not the smallest seed will be dropped on the earth.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For lo, I will commaunde, and I will sifte the house of Israel among all nations, like as corne is sifted in a siue: yet shall not the least stone fall vpon the earth.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For I will give commandment, and sift the house of Israel among all the Gentiles, as corn is sifted in a sieve, and yet a fragment shall not in any wise fall upon the earth.

English Revised Version
For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.

World English Bible
"For, behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least kernel will fall on the earth.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For lo! Y schal comaunde, and schal schake the hous of Israel in alle folkis, as wheete is in a riddil, and a litil stoon schal not falle on erthe.

Update Bible Version
For, look, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, like [grain] is sifted in a sieve, yet the least kernel shall not fall on the earth.

Webster's Bible Translation
For lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as [corn] is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.

New English Translation
"For look, I am giving a command and I will shake the family of Israel together with all the nations. It will resemble a sieve being shaken, when not even a pebble falls to the ground.

New King James Version
"For surely I will command, And will sift the house of Israel among all nations, As grain is sifted in a sieve; Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.

New Living Translation
"For I will give the command and will shake Israel along with the other nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, yet not one true kernel will be lost.

New Life Bible
"I will say what must be done. I will shake the people of Jacob among all the nations, as grain is shaken on a fine net. But not the smallest seed will fall to the ground.

New Revised Standard
For lo, I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the ground.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For lo! I am giving command, and will sift, throughout all the nations, the house of Israel, - as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet shall there not fall a kernel, to the earth.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For behold I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as corn is sifted in a sleve: and there shall not a little stone fall to the ground.

Revised Standard Version
"For lo, I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall upon the earth.

Young's Literal Translation
For lo, I am commanding, And I have shaken among all the nations the house of Israel, As [one] doth shake with a sieve, And there falleth not a grain [to] the earth.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For lo, this I promyse: though I siffte ye house of Israel amonge all nacions (like as they vse to sifte in a syue) yet shall not ye smallest grauel stone fall vpo the earth:

THE MESSAGE
"I'm still giving the orders around here. I'm throwing Israel into a sieve among all the nations and shaking them good, shaking out all the sin, all the sinners. No real grain will be lost, but all the sinners will be sifted out and thrown away, the people who say, ‘Nothing bad will ever happen in our lifetime. It won't even come close.'

Contextual Overview

¹I saw [in a vision] the Lord standing at the altar, and He said, "Destroy the capitals (tops) of the pillars so that the thresholds will shake, And break them on the heads of all of the people! Then I will kill the rest of them with the sword; They will not have a fugitive who will get away, Or a survivor who will escape. ²"Though they dig into Sheol [to hide in the deepest pit], From there My hand will take them [for judgment]; And though they climb up to heaven [to hide in the realm of light], From there will I bring them down [for judgment]. ³"Though they hide on the summit of [Mount] Carmel, I will track them down and take them from there; And though they hide from My sight on the floor of the sea, From there I shall command the serpent and it will bite them. ⁴"And though they go into captivity before their enemies, From there I shall command the sword to kill them, And I will set My eyes against them for evil (judgment, punishment) and not for good [that is, not for correction leading to restoration]." ⁵The Lord GOD of hosts [the Omnipotent Ruler], It is He who touches the earth [in judgment] and it melts, And all who dwell on it mourn [in despair and fear], And all of it rises up like the Nile And subsides like the Nile of Egypt; ⁶It is He who builds His upper chambers in the heavens And has established His vaulted dome (the firmament of heaven) over the earth, He who calls to the waters of the sea And pours them out on the face of the earth— The LORD is His name. ⁷"Are you [degenerate ones] not as the [despised] sons of Ethiopia to Me, O sons of Israel?" says the LORD. "Have I not brought up Israel from the land of Egypt, And the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans (Syrians) from Kir? ⁸"Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful [northern] kingdom [of Israel's ten tribes] And I shall destroy it from the face of the earth; But I shall not totally destroy the house of Jacob [that is, the entire nation of Israel]," Says the LORD. ⁹"For behold, I am commanding, And I shall shake and sift the house of Israel among all nations [and cause it to tremble] Like grain is shaken in a sieve [removing the chaff], But not a kernel [of the faithful remnant] shall fall to the ground and be lost [from My sight]. ¹⁰"All the sinners among My people will die by the sword, Those who say [defiantly], 'The disaster will not overtake or confront us.'

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

Cross-References

Genesis 6:18
"But I will establish My covenant (solemn promise, formal agreement) with you; and you shall come into the ark—you and your [three] sons and your wife, and your sons' wives with you.

Genesis 9:7
"As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it."

Genesis 9:8
Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying,

Genesis 9:9
"Now behold, I am establishing My covenant (binding agreement, solemn promise) with you and with your descendants after you

Genesis 9:10
and with every living creature that is with you—the birds, the livestock, and the wild animals of the earth along with you, of everything that comes out of the ark—every living creature of the earth.

Genesis 9:11
"I will establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the water of a flood, nor shall there ever again be a flood to destroy and ruin the earth."

Genesis 9:17
And God said to Noah, "This [rainbow] is the sign of the covenant (solemn pledge, binding agreement) which I have established between Me and all living things on the earth."

Genesis 22:17
indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies [by conquering them].

Jeremiah 33:20
"Thus says the LORD, 'If you can break My covenant for the day and My covenant for the night, so that day and night do not take place at their appointed times,

Romans 1:3
[the good news] regarding His Son, who, as to the flesh [His human nature], was born a descendant of David [to fulfill the covenant promises],

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.