What Does Amos 1:15 Mean in the King James?

And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith the LORD.

Amos 1:15 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The Hebrew word for captivity belongs to a root that also means uncover, so the king’s exile lays bare the limits of his power.

THE MEANING

Here and now, the verse shows political authority as temporary: the king and his princes can be carried into captivity together. The LORD’s declaration reaches the ruling circle as a whole, leaving no rank outside the announced displacement.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A crown and title cannot guarantee that a ruler remains free; king and princes share captivity.

THE ROOT

גּוֹלָה

golah

GROWS FROM

גלה

Uncover, reveal; in another sense, go into exile or carry away into exile.

“captivity” in this verse is golah. The word ⁨גּוֹלָה⁩ names exile, while the same root ⁨גלה⁩ also carries the sense of uncovering or revealing. That shared root places exposure alongside removal: the king is taken from his place, and the limits of royal power are laid bare.

ALSO GROWS

galah: Uncover or reveal; also go into exile.

גָּלָה

This form shares the root’s consonants and its paired senses, bringing the image of exposure into view beside the verse’s captivity.

niglah: Was revealed or became visible.

נִגְלָה

This form shares ⁨גלה⁩ and makes the root’s sense of being uncovered explicit.

higlah: He carried away into exile; he deported.

הִגְלָה

This causative form shares the root and names the act of sending someone away, as the verse’s king is sent into captivity.

THE PATTERN

When a people is overcome, displacement can reach rulers and the people under their rule alike.

The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.

Deuteronomy 28:36 · KJVThe threatened removal reaches both the people and the king who rules them.

Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together.

Jeremiah 49:3 · KJVThe king, priests, and princes are swept into captivity together, just as Amos names the king and his princes.

And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

Luke 21:24 · KJVCaptivity reaches beyond a ruler’s circle to a whole people scattered among the nations.

THE THREAD

And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

Genesis 9:21 · KJV

The Hebrew verb translated “was uncovered” comes from ⁨גלה⁩, the same root as Amos’s word for captivity. In Amos, exile carries the root’s echo of exposure: the king is removed from his place, and the protection of rank is laid bare.

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