What Does Amos 9:10 Mean in the King James?
All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
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
They insist evil neither comes near nor gets ahead of them, yet the sword still reaches them.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks now with the blunt force of its image: those who insist danger cannot reach or precede them die by the sword. Their confidence does not make them unreachable. The line holds denial and death together without softening either.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that declaring harm unable to reach me makes me safe from it. The verse sets that claim beside death by the sword.
THE ROOT
וְתַקְדִּים
ve-taqdim
GROWS FROM
קדם
q-d-m
to be in front; to precede or meet beforehand
The speakers deny evil two kinds of access: first that it will draw near, then that it will arrive ahead of them. “Prevent” carries its older sense of “precede,” so the sentence pictures danger’s nearness and timing.
ALSO GROWS
qadam: to precede, meet, or come before
קָדַם
The speakers say evil will not get in front of them or arrive first.
qedem: front, east, or what lies in the past
קֶדֶם
Its sense of “front” preserves the root’s image of what is ahead, opening the older meaning of “prevent.”
תַגִּישׁ
taggish
GROWS FROM
נגשׁ
n-g-sh
to approach or draw near
“overtake” in this verse is taggish. The first denial is that evil will come close at all; the second says it will not precede them. Together the verbs make their claim a refusal of both nearness and arrival.
ALSO GROWS
nagash: to approach or draw near
נָגַשׁ
This is the approach the speakers deny when they say evil will not overtake them.
higgish: to bring near or present
הִגִּישׁ
The same root can describe bringing something close, sharpening the force of their claim that evil will not come near.
חַטָּאֵי
chattāʾei
GROWS FROM
חטא
ḥ-ṭ-ʾ
to miss, err, or miss the mark
“sinners” in this verse is chattāʾei. The word names those people through the language of missing or going wrong. Amos places that name beside their assurance that evil cannot reach them, holding their condition and their claim in the same sentence.
ALSO GROWS
chata: to miss, err, or do wrong
חָטָא
This verb is the seed of the word translated “sinners” in Amos.
chet: a missing or wrongdoing
חֵטְא
The noun keeps the sense of a miss within the same word family as “sinners.”
chattaʾt: a missing, offense, or offering for missing
חַטָּאת
This branch carries the same root into both the naming of wrongdoing and the offering associated with it.
THE PATTERN
Declaring that danger or consequence cannot reach you does not prevent its arrival.
A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.THE THREAD
Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.“I have sinned” comes from חָטָא (chata), the same חטא root as Amos’s “sinners.” Amos places that root beside a claim that evil cannot reach its speakers; Psalm 51:4 lets the same word stand as an explicit acknowledgment.
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