Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Amos 8:11 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 11. 11Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse announces a famine not of bread or water but of hearing the LORD's words.
Read It With
- Amos 8:11-14
Read Amos 8:11 with 8:11-14. This verse announces a famine not of bread or water but of hearing the LORD's words. The complete unit establishes this movement: After prophetic speech has been rejected, access to the LORD's word becomes unavailable: desperate searching fails, vulnerable young people faint, and rival sacred allegiances cannot prevent final collapse.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The attempted silencing of prophets reaches its consequence: not freedom from warning, but inability to find the word when crisis arrives. Within that movement, this verse announces a famine not of bread or water but of hearing the LORD's words.
Follow the Context
- The Lord GOD sends a famine unlike hunger or thirst.
- People wander across the land seeking the LORD's word without finding it.
- Young women and men faint from thirst.
- Oaths by Samaria's guilt, Dan's cultic deity, and Beersheba's way end in irreversible fall.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“a famine of hearing the words of the LORD”
In plain language: The scarcity concerns access to the divine word, not physical food.
announces a famine not of bread or water but of hearing the LORD's words. Rejected correction can lead to an inability to recover the guidance once suppressed.
Why it matters: The wording carries interpretive or ethical risk that requires the complete unit and stated limits.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
The verse does not prove Scripture or divine care is absent from a modern person, ethnicity, church, or nation.
What Remains True
Rejected correction can lead to an inability to recover the guidance once suppressed.
How It Can Shape Life
- Preserve accessible records and truthful teaching.
Teach It Back
Explain Amos 8:11's contribution to Amos 8:11-14: announces a famine not of bread or water but of hearing the LORD's words. Include what the surrounding verses add, the stated uncertainty, and what this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Amos 8:11-14 — A Famine of Hearing the LORD's WordsSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Its relationship to prophetic silence, written Scripture, and later revelation is interpreted differently.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
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 8:11-14, 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, 8:11-14
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. 1719-1720, translation and notes on 8:11-14
Open source ↗