Amos 3:11 - Exposition

An adversary. The Hebrew is forcible, the Lord speaking as though he saw the fee present: "an enemy and around the land." Ewald and Hitzig take tsar as an abstract noun, "distress;" the LXX . and Aquila, pointing it differently, read, τύρος , but the continuation of the sentence is scarcely to be deemed a translation, κυκλόθεν ἡ γῆ σου ἐρημωθήσεται "Thy land shall be made desolate round about thee" The adversary meant is Shalmaneser, who attacked Israel more than once and besieged Samaria; or his successor, Sargon, who claims to have reduced the city and removed the inhabitants ( 2 Kings 17:1-41 and 2 Kings 18:9 , etc.; see Introduction to Micah). Thy strength. All wherein thou trustedst shall be brought down to the ground ( Obadiah 1:3 ). Palaces , in which were stored the fruits of injustice and rapine ( Amos 3:10 ).