What Does Amos 3:3 Mean in the King James?
Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
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 makes agreement concrete: a shared walk begins at a meeting both have entered.
THE MEANING
This question speaks now: two lives move together when both have entered the same meeting and path. The word translated “agreed” carries the sense of being appointed to meet, making togetherness a shared point of arrival before it becomes shared movement. A common road can reveal whether that meeting is real.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being physically near someone means we are already moving together.
THE ROOT
נוֹעָדוּ
noʿadu
GROWS FROM
יעד
y-ʿ-d
to appoint, designate, or meet by appointment
English “agreed” can sound like matching opinions, but נוֹעָדוּ (noʿadu) points toward being appointed to meet or having met by arrangement. The verse locates togetherness at that common meeting point: the path can be shared because the encounter is shared.
ALSO GROWS
moʿed: an appointed time or meeting
מוֹעֵד
This noun shows the same root’s sense of a meeting set in advance.
yaʿad: to appoint, designate, or arrange to meet
יָעַד
The verb names the action beneath the translation: the two have met by arrangement.
יֵלְכוּ
yēlĕḵû
GROWS FROM
הלך
h-l-k
to walk, go, or proceed along a path
“walk” in this verse is yēlĕḵû. This root speaks of movement along a way, and its forms also describe conduct and leading. In Amos the feet move together; the same word family opens the image into a way of life and a direction one can be led along.
ALSO GROWS
hithallēkh: to walk about or conduct oneself
הִתְהַלֵּךְ
This form describes ongoing walking, as when Enoch walks with God, widening the image from steps to a way of life.
hōlîkh: to lead or cause to go
הוֹלִיךְ
The same root can describe guiding someone along a way, bringing direction into the image of shared movement.
THE PATTERN
A walk with another takes its meaning from the shared relation and direction that shape it.
And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.THE THREAD
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?Amos’s יֵלְכוּ (yēlĕḵû, “they walk/go”) and Micah’s לֶכֶת (lekhet, “to walk/go”) share הָלַךְ (halakh, “walk/go”). Micah gives that shared path a concrete shape: justice, mercy, and humility with God.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us