What Does Amos 4:12 Mean in the King James?
Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
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 command to prepare is a warning that the encounter is certain while the action God will take remains unnamed.
THE MEANING
God’s stated action stands before you without being softened into something you can manage; the meeting is certain, while its form remains unstated. “Prepare” carries the sense of being set firm for that encounter, not controlling what comes.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that surviving repeated warnings means there will be no reckoning: the meeting still lies ahead.
THE ROOT
הִכּוֹן
hikkon
GROWS FROM
כון
kun
To be firm, established, or set in readiness.
“prepare” in this verse is hikkon. The command is more than making arrangements: hikkon is a form of kun, to be established or set firm. The same root gives words for what is firm and for a fixed place, so readiness here has the texture of standing prepared before an unavoidable encounter.
ALSO GROWS
nakhon: Firm, established, ready.
נָכוֹן
This branch shows the firmness carried inside the command to prepare.
makon: A fixed place or foundation.
מָכוֹן
The root’s sense of being set in place deepens the image of readiness as a settled stance.
לִקְרַאת
liqrat
GROWS FROM
קרא
qara
To call or summon; in this form, to meet or encounter.
“meet” in this verse is liqrat. The word for meeting belongs to the same root family as calling and gathering. The encounter is presented as a direct summons into God’s presence, not an abstract possibility.
ALSO GROWS
qara: To call or call out.
קָרָא
The shared root lets the meeting carry the force of a summons.
miqra: An assembly or convocation.
מִקְרָא
This branch connects the root with being called into a gathering or encounter.
THE PATTERN
When God’s arrival is near, scripture frames readiness as standing before an encounter that carries consequence.
And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.THE THREAD
My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.Amos uses hikkon, from kun, to call Israel to be set ready; the psalm uses the same root for a heart that is “fixed.” One faces an imminent encounter, while the other shows firmness as an inward stance before God.
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