Amos 7:16 meaning summary explained with word-by-word analysis enriched with context, commentary and Cross References from KJV, NIV, ESV and NLT.
Amos 7:16 kjv
Now therefore hear thou the word of the LORD: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac.
Amos 7:16 nkjv
Now therefore, hear the word of the LORD: You say, 'Do not prophesy against Israel, And do not spout against the house of Isaac.'
Amos 7:16 niv
Now then, hear the word of the LORD. You say, "?'Do not prophesy against Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.'
Amos 7:16 esv
Now therefore hear the word of the LORD. "You say, 'Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.'
Amos 7:16 nlt
Now then, listen to this message from the LORD: "You say,
'Don't prophesy against Israel.
Stop preaching against my people. '
Amos 7 16 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Matt 5:12 | "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." | Persecution of prophets a divine expectation |
| Matt 23:37 | "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you..." | Jerusalem's history of rejecting prophets |
| Luke 11:49 | "...I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute..." | God sending messengers despite rejection |
| Acts 7:52 | "Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?" | Historical pattern of prophet persecution |
| Heb 11:36-38 | "Others suffered mocking and flogging...they were sawn in two..." | Various forms of suffering by prophets |
| 1 Kgs 19:10 | "I have been very jealous for the LORD...the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant...and murdered your prophets." | Elijah's complaint about murdered prophets |
| Jer 20:2 | "Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks..." | Jeremiah's persecution by religious authorities |
| Jer 26:20-23 | "Uriah...who prophesied in the name of the LORD...was put to death." | Example of a prophet killed for his message |
| Luke 6:23 | "Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets." | Blessings for persecuted prophets |
| Jer 1:7 | "But the LORD said to me, 'Do not say, 'I am only a youth'; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go...'" | Divine commission for prophetic ministry |
| Isa 6:9-10 | "Go, and say to this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand...'" | God's sovereign command despite resistance |
| Ezek 2:7 | "And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear..." | Prophets must deliver God's message regardless |
| John 3:34 | "For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure." | Christ as the ultimate spokesman for God |
| Heb 1:1 | "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets..." | God's historical use of prophets |
| Acts 4:18-20 | "But Peter and John answered them, 'Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge...'" | Prioritizing God's command over human prohibition |
| Acts 5:29 | "But Peter and the apostles answered, 'We must obey God rather than men.'" | Disobedience to human authority for God's will |
| Isa 55:11 | "So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty..." | Invincible power and efficacy of God's word |
| Psa 33:9 | "For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm." | God's word as creative and authoritative |
| Jer 23:29 | "Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?" | Power and destructiveness of God's word |
| 1 Thes 2:13 | "...you received the word of God...not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God..." | Recognizing the divine nature of God's message |
| Gen 21:12 | "But God said to Abraham, 'Do not be distressed...Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.'" | God's promise tied to Isaac and his descendants |
| Rom 9:7-8 | "Neither is it all the children of Abraham who are children of God...but 'Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.'" | Spiritual lineage defined through Isaac |
| Isa 7:17 | "The LORD will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah..." | Judah's connection to Israel's lineage |
| Jer 1:5 | "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." | God's pre-ordained calling of prophets |
| Prov 28:1 | "The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion." | Courage needed to speak truth |
| Mic 2:6 | "'Do not preach,' they say; 'do not preach of such things...'" | Parallel to silencing prophetic warnings |
Amos 7 verses
Amos 7 16 meaning
Amos 7:16 serves as a direct and authoritative response from God, delivered through the prophet Amos, to Amaziah's command to cease prophesying against the Northern Kingdom of Israel. It explicitly states the divine origin of Amos's message, counteracting Amaziah's human prohibition. The verse underscores the clash between human religious and political authority (represented by Amaziah, the priest of the king's sanctuary) and God's sovereign right to speak through His chosen messengers. It essentially repeats Amaziah's silencing command back to him, but in the context of divine instruction, setting the stage for God's judgment upon Amaziah for his impious act of obstructing the Lord's word.
Amos 7 16 Context
Amos 7:16 is a pivotal verse within the dramatic confrontation between Amos, God's prophet from Judah, and Amaziah, the chief priest of the royal sanctuary at Bethel in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Prior to this, Amos had delivered a series of visions portraying God's imminent judgment on Israel. In Amos 7:10-13, Amaziah accuses Amos of conspiring against King Jeroboam II and disrupting the national order by his prophecies of doom, specifically identifying Bethel as "the king's sanctuary, and a royal house." He instructs Amos to leave Israel, go back to Judah, and earn his living by prophesying there.
Amos responds in Amos 7:14-15 by clearly stating his humble background as a shepherd and dresser of sycamore figs, and emphasizing that his prophetic ministry was not a self-chosen career but a direct, unsolicited command from the Lord. He was not sent by men or any institution but directly by YHWH. This sets the stage for Amos 7:16, where Amos, speaking with divine authority, echoes Amaziah's attempt to silence him back at the priest, directly from the Lord's perspective. The historical context is a period of outward prosperity for Israel under Jeroboam II, but beneath this facade was rampant social injustice, moral corruption, and deep-seated idolatry, which Amos was called to expose and condemn. Amaziah represents the religious establishment that had become complicit in, and profited from, this spiritual decay.