The Meaning of Amos 2:11 Explained

Amos 2:11

KJV: And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD.

YLT: And I raise of your sons for prophets, And of your choice ones for Nazarites, Is not this true, O sons of Israel? An affirmation of Jehovah.

Darby: And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, ye children of Israel? saith Jehovah.

ASV: And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazirites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith Jehovah.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And I raised up  of your sons  for prophets,  and of your young men  for Nazarites.  [Is it] not even thus, O ye children  of Israel?  saith  the LORD. 

What does Amos 2:11 Mean?

Verse Meaning

In the land, God had raised up prophets and godly Nazirites from among the Israelites" sons. Prophets relayed God"s messages to them, and Nazirites were examples of ordinary citizens who dedicated themselves completely to the Lord. These individuals were blessings to the nation because by their words and deeds they encouraged the people to follow the Lord faithfully. Yahweh asked rhetorically if this was not indeed what He had done.
The order of these blessings is not chronological. Evidently Amos arranged them in this order to highlight the Exodus , the central of the three blessings mentioned and the single most important event in Israel"s history.

Context Summary

Amos 2:6-16 - Neither Shall Israel Escape
First the prophet enumerates Israel's sins. They were unjust to the poor, carrying their extortions to such lengths as to goad the poor to desperation. They were unchaste. They held their idolatrous festivities in idol shrines while they unjustly detained and confiscated the pledges of the poor. They perpetrated shamelessly the enormous crimes for which the Amorites were dispossessed by Joshua and their fathers. But notice nothing is said of that great general and his valiant soldiers; our mind is carried beyond all human agency to the Eternal. I destroyed, etc. Amos 2:9.
The ripple of the ocean on the beach which you hear and see is due to the action of the sun or moon; so the changes that men attribute to political combinations must ultimately be traced back to the divine will in its permissive or decretive energy. One of the most graphic pictures is in Amos 2:13. We can almost see the heavily laden wagon dragged from the harvest field. The wheels creak and groan; the oxen advance with difficulty; the timbers threaten to succumb. So God bears up the world; and thus did Jesus stoop and sweat great drops of blood under the sins of the whole world. [source]

Chapter Summary: Amos 2

1  God's judgments upon Moab,
4  upon Judah,
6  and upon Israel
9  God complains of their ingratitude

What do the individual words in Amos 2:11 mean?

And I raised up some of your sons as prophets and some of your young men as Nazirites [Is [it] not this you sons of Israel says Yahweh
וָאָקִ֤ים מִבְּנֵיכֶם֙ לִנְבִיאִ֔ים וּמִבַּחוּרֵיכֶ֖ם לִנְזִרִ֑ים הַאַ֥ף אֵֽין־ זֹ֛את בְּנֵ֥י ؟ יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל נְאֻם־ יְהוָֽה

וָאָקִ֤ים  And  I  raised  up 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Hifil, Consecutive imperfect, first person common singular
Root: קוּם 
Sense: to rise, arise, stand, rise up, stand up.
מִבְּנֵיכֶם֙  some  of  your  sons 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, masculine plural construct, second person masculine plural
Root: בֵּן 
Sense: son, grandson, child, member of a group.
לִנְבִיאִ֔ים  as  prophets 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine plural
Root: נָבִיא  
Sense: spokesman, speaker, prophet.
וּמִבַּחוּרֵיכֶ֖ם  and  some  of  your  young  men 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition-m, Noun, masculine plural construct, second person masculine plural
Root: בָּחוּר 
Sense: youth, young man.
לִנְזִרִ֑ים  as  Nazirites 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine plural
Root: נָזִיר  
Sense: consecrated or devoted one, Nazarite.
אֵֽין־  [it]  not 
Parse: Adverb
Root: אַיִן 
Sense: nothing, not, nought n.
זֹ֛את  this 
Parse: Pronoun, feminine singular
Root: זׄאת  
Sense: this, this one, here, which, this … that, the one … the other, such.
בְּנֵ֥י  you  sons 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct
Root: בֵּן 
Sense: son, grandson, child, member of a group.
؟ יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל  of  Israel 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יִשְׂרָאֵל  
Sense: the second name for Jacob given to him by God after his wrestling with the angel at Peniel.
נְאֻם־  says 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: נְאֻם  
Sense: (Qal) utterance, declaration (of prophet).
יְהוָֽה  Yahweh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: the proper name of the one true God.