What Does Amos 7:15 Mean in the King James?

And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.

Amos 7:15 · 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 call begins in the middle of ordinary work: the LORD takes Amos from behind the flock and sends him to speak to a people.

THE MEANING

The verse meets you where work is already underway: the LORD can take you from that place and direct your voice toward a people. The sending originates in God’s initiative and names its destination, “my people Israel.”

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that a divine call requires a recognized religious title or professional pedigree.

THE ROOT

וַיִּקָּחֵנִי

wayyiqqaḥēnî

GROWS FROM

לקח

l-q-ḥ

to take, receive, fetch

The verb ⁨וַיִּקָּחֵנִי⁩ (wayyiqqaḥēnî) means “he took me,” from ⁨לָקַח⁩ (lāqaḥ), “to take or receive.” A related noun, ⁨לֶקַח⁩ (leqaḥ), means “teaching” or “instruction,” so the root lets the scene hold together being taken by the LORD and receiving a word to carry toward others.

ALSO GROWS

leqaḥ: teaching, instruction

לֶקַח

This related noun brings the spoken message into the same root family as the LORD’s taking of Amos.

lāqûaḥ: taken, received

לָקוּחַ

This passive form echoes Amos’s position in the scene: he is taken before he is sent.

יִשְׂרָאֵל

Yiśrāʾēl

GROWS FROM

שׂרה

to strive, contend; the Genesis name-explanation uses this sense

Genesis 32:28 explains Israel through ⁨שָׂרִיתָ⁩ (śārîtā), “you have striven” or “contended,” connecting the name with struggle with God. The LORD calls this people “my people” while sending Amos directly to them, holding belonging and struggle together.

ALSO GROWS

śārāh: to strive, contend

שָׂרָה

This is the verbal root that Genesis 32:28 invokes in its explanation of Israel’s name.

śārîtā: you have striven, contended

שָׂרִיתָ

This form in Genesis 32:28 keeps the struggle with God inside the name Israel.

THE PATTERN

A divine commission takes a person from ordinary tending and redirects that care toward a people.

And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

Exodus 3:4 · KJVThe LORD calls Moses in the midst of a scene where he is tending a flock, so ordinary work is already the place where sending begins.

He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds: From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

Psalm 78:70-71 · KJVDavid is taken from sheep tending and set to care for Israel, carrying the movement from flock to people.

And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Matthew 4:19 · KJVThe fishermen are addressed in the midst of their work, and their vocation is redirected toward people.

THE THREAD

He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:

Psalm 78:70 · KJV

The Hebrew verb for “took” shares the root ⁨לָקַח⁩ (lāqaḥ) with Amos 7:15. Both verses show someone taken from tending a flock; the next verse makes David’s new direction explicit: he is brought to feed Israel.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us