What Does Amos 2:9 Mean in the King James?
Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
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
Height is no shield when destruction reaches both the fruit above and the roots beneath.
THE MEANING
The verse sets the Amorite’s towering height and strength beside its destruction. Its fruit above and roots beneath are both removed, reaching what it produces and what holds it in place.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that visible height and deep roots make a power untouchable.
THE ROOT
שָׁרָשָׁיו
shorashav
GROWS FROM
שרש
root; take root or strike root
The Hebrew image reaches beneath what can be seen: the roots are the tree’s hidden hold. In this verse, even that hold is destroyed, so the tree has no unseen foundation left to preserve it.
ALSO GROWS
shoresh: root
שֹׁרֶשׁ
The noun names the hidden foundation that the verse says is removed.
sharash: take root, strike root
שָׁרַשׁ
The verb shows a root as the tree’s act of anchoring itself; that anchoring does not protect it here.
פְּרִיו
piryō
GROWS FROM
פרה
bear fruit, be fruitful, increase
The fruit is the tree’s visible yield, connected to the action of bearing fruit. Paired with the roots beneath, its removal reaches both what the tree produces and what allows it to continue.
ALSO GROWS
peri: fruit, produce
פְּרִי
This noun names the yield removed from above.
parah: bear fruit, be fruitful
פָּרָה
The verb reveals fruit as the result of growth and increase, not merely decoration on the tree.
הִשְׁמַדְתִּי
hishmadti
GROWS FROM
שמד
destroy, annihilate
“destroyed” in this verse is hishmadti. The verse uses this root first for destroying the Amorite, then again for destroying his fruit. The repeated verb joins the fall of the figure to the removal of what grows from him.
ALSO GROWS
hishmid: destroy, exterminate
הִשְׁמִיד
This active form names the destruction carried through the verse.
nishmad: be destroyed
נִשְׁמַד
The passive form shows the same root from the side of what undergoes destruction.
THE PATTERN
A tree’s apparent power is answered by reaching both the hidden root beneath and the visible growth above.
His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.THE THREAD
His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.Amos and Job use forms of שׁרשׁ (sh-r-sh) for the roots beneath. Job adds the branch above, making the tree’s whole reach visible: its hidden foundation and its growth overhead are both exposed.
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