Amos 2:13-16, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Amos 2:13-16
No Speed, Strength, Weapon, Horse, or Courage Can Escape
The cart that cannot be outrun
Judgment is pictured as a loaded cart: pressing, crushing, splitting, or shaking. The Hebrew verb is unusually difficult, and ancient versions divide the image differently. What follows is not difficult. Flight, force, the mighty, the bow, swift feet, the horse, and courage all fail.
The sevenfold collapse answers Israel's trust in capability. The unnamed army is not supplied for modern identification. Defeat does not prove that every casualty personally committed the listed crimes. The naked flight of the courageous man is humiliation of a system, not a permit to strip prisoners.
Why military advantages close the nations sequence
Israel has sold the poor, profaned worship, and silenced correction. Now every celebrated escape route is closed. Speed, weapons, and nerve cannot secure a society that has made itself answerable for exploitation.
Later the book will mock claimed gains at Lo-debar and Karnaim (6:13-14) and deny hiding places (9:1-4). This verdict is the first no-escape scene. It does not identify a modern invader or turn casualties into a morality play.
How this should shape us
Do not let performance, technology, or force replace ethical audit and repair. Ask whether impressive response capacity is masking harm the institution itself created. Protect dignity in defeat; do not celebrate the stripping of the frightened.
Teach it back
Explain Amos 2:13-16 in your own words. Include its place in Amos's judgment-restoration movement, one material uncertainty, and one use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Verse 13's grammar and image are materially uncertain, and the historical army is unnamed; the repeated failure of escape is clear.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Amos 2:13-16, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, wordplays, names, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Amos.xml, 2:13-16
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
NET Bible Amos PDF, printed pp. 1708-1710, translation and notes on 2:13-16
Supports: Whole-book movement, eighth-century horizon, literary boundaries, composition, and verse-level alternatives.
Dines, 'Amos,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 583-584, discussion of 2:13-16
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Amos 2:13-16, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Amos
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, wordplays, names, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Amos.xml, 2:13-16
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Amos with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Amos PDF, printed pp. 1708-1710, translation and notes on 2:13-16
Open source ↗modern critical commentary
Amos
Jennifer M. Dines
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001
Supports: Whole-book movement, eighth-century horizon, literary boundaries, composition, and verse-level alternatives.
Exact location: Dines, 'Amos,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 583-584, discussion of 2:13-16
Open source ↗