Amos 6:13-14

Amos 6:13-14 . Ye which rejoice in a thing of naught Ye who place confidence in your strength, which will avail you nothing when God withdraws his blessing from you; which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our strength? Have we not, by our strength, been victors over our neighbours? This boast seems chiefly founded upon the success which Jeroboam II. had in restoring the ancient dominion of Israel, and recovering it from the Syrians, who had brought them very low: see 2 Kings 13:3; 2Ki 13:7 ; 2 Kings 14:15. But behold, I will raise up against you a nation, &c. The Assyrians were the nation here spoken of, who, it is here denounced, should afflict them from one end of the land to the other; which they accordingly did some time after, making an entire conquest of the country. Hamath was the boundary of the land of Israel to the north: see Numbers 34:8; 2 Kings 14:25: and the river of the wilderness, by which is meant the river Nile, or, as it is called, Joshua 15:47, the river of Egypt, was the southern boundary.