Amos 3:14 - Exposition

That in the day, etc. This verse is rightly joined to the preceding, as it particularizes the threats which the heathen are summoned to testify. Visit upon; equivalent to "punish" ( Zephaniah 1:8 ). Altars of Bethal. We read of one altar being set up by Jeroboam I ( 1 Kings 12:29 , 1 Kings 12:33 ), but doubtless others had been added in the course of time. The denunciation of 1 Kings 13:2 , 1 Kings 13:3 is here repeated. The horns of the altar. These were certain projections at the four angles of the altar, perhaps in the form of an ox's horn, on which the blood of the sin offering was smeared, and which therefore were considered the holiest part of the altar (see Exodus 27:2 ; Exodus 29:12 ; Le Exodus 16:18 ). The instruments of idolatry or impure worship should share the destruction of the idolaters.