Amos 7:4-6, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Amos 7:4-6
The Fire Vision and a Second Reprieve
Judgment by fire on the great deep
The Lord GOD called to contend by fire. It devoured the great deep and was eating up a part, the land or allotted portion. The threat is larger than locusts: cosmic water and territory are in the flame. The vision is symbolic and need not record a literal wildfire.
The fire does not identify a modern blaze, weapon, climate event, nation, or final-judgment date. The great deep is not a scientific cross-section of the earth. Drought, invasion, and uncreation readings remain possible; the plea still matters.
Cease, I beseech thee
Again Amos asks the Lord GOD to stop because Jacob is small. Again the LORD relents: This also shall not be. Two accepted pleas make the next vision's limit more solemn. They do not prove that intercession is useless later, and they do not make the intercessor morally superior.
The scale of the threat deepens advocacy rather than silencing it. Mercy is repeated without turning God into a technique. The book holds warning and restraint together before the measuring object is placed among Israel.
How this should shape us
Treat catastrophic scenarios as reasons for prevention and care, not as branding opportunities. Keep praying and acting for vulnerable people even when the picture is overwhelming. Do not claim that repeated prayer forces a preferred answer, and do not explain every fire as this vision come due.
Teach it back
Explain Amos 7:4-6 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: Literal, drought, invasion, and cosmic readings of the fire and differing senses of 'portion' remain open; the repeated plea and reprieve are 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 7:4-6, 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, 7:4-6
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
NET Bible Amos PDF, printed pp. 1718-1719, translation and notes on 7:4-6
Supports: Whole-book movement, eighth-century horizon, literary boundaries, composition, and verse-level alternatives.
Dines, 'Amos,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 587-588, discussion of 7:4-6
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 7:4-6, 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, 7:4-6
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. 1718-1719, translation and notes on 7:4-6
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. 587-588, discussion of 7:4-6
Open source ↗