Amos 3:5

Amo 3:5 Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin [is] for him? shall [one] take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?

Ver. 5. Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth? &c.] Think you that all things are carried here by blind fortune, and not by a particular providence, as if

“ mundo nullus inesset

Rector, et incerto fluerent mortalia casu? ”

Will you say of the evils you have suffered, in the language of Ashdod, "It is a chance?" 1Sa 6:9. Is that heathen idol fortune anything in the world, 1Co 10:19, more than a blasphemy, spued out by the devil against the Divine providence? Can a sparrow fall to the ground, or any the least bird into a snare upon the earth, without your heavenly Father? Mat 10:29. Birds flying seem to be at liberty, yet are guided by an overruling hand. They fall sometimes into a gin; and do not you thereupon conclude that some fowler’s hand is in it? Lo, you are ensnared and ensnarled by your enemies; and can you not discern that it is the Lord who hath done it? Lam 3:37-38 Act 17:25; Act 17:28 Ecc 9:12, "For man knoweth not his time" (nor his chance, Amo 3:11): "as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly" (but providentially) "upon them."

Or shall one take up a snare from the earth, &c.] No wise fowler will take up his nets till he have gotten his prey; no more will God withdraw his hand, or call off the enemy and the avenger, till he have his design; till he hath either reformed or ruined you.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3:5 The trap pictures the consequences of Israel’s sin. Israel fully deserved the judgment that Amos proclaimed.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Can anything come without God’s providence?

Shall his threatenings be in vain?

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

When a bird trying to fly upwards is made to fall upon the earth snare, it is a plain proof that the snare is there; so, Israel, now that thou art falling, infer thence, that it is in the snare of the divine judgment that thou art entangled [LUDOVICUS DE DIEU].

shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing--The bird-catcher does not remove his snare off the ground till he has caught some prey; so God will not withdraw the Assyrians, &c., the instruments of punishment, until they have had the success against you which God gives them. The foe corresponds to the "snare," suddenly springing from the ground and enclosing the bird on the latter touching it; the Hebrew is literally, "Shall the snare spring from the earth?" Israel entangled in judgments answers to the bird "taken."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 5. Can a bird fall in a snare] Can ye, as a sinful people, fall into calamities which I have not appointed?

Shall one take up a snare - and have taken nothing] Will the snare be removed before it has caught the expected prey? - shall I remove my judgments till they are fully accomplished? This is a curious passage, and deserves farther consideration. The original, literally translated, is nearly as follows: "Shall the trap arise from the ground; and catching, shall it not catch?" Here is a plain allusion to such traps as we employ to catch rats, foxes, c. The jaws of the trap opening backward, press strongly upon a spring so as to keep it down and a key passing over one jaw, and hooking on a table in the centre, the trap continues with expanded jaws, till any thing touch the table, when the key, by the motion of the table, being loosened, the spring recovers all its elastic power, and throws up the jaws of the trap, and their serrated edges either close in each other, or on the prey that has moved the table of the trap. Will then the jaws of such a trap suddenly spring up from the ground, on which before they were lying flat, and catch nothing? Shall they let the prey that was within them escape? Certainly not. So my trap is laid for these offenders; and when it springs up, (and they themselves will soon by their transgressions free the key,) shall not the whole family of Israel be inclosed in it? Most certainly they shall. This is a singular and very remarkable passage, and, when properly understood, is beautifully expressive.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The third similitude now follows, Will a bird fall on the earth, he says, without a fowler? The Prophet means here that nothing happens without being foreseen by God; for as nets are laid for birds, so God ensnares men by his hidden punishments. Unexpectedly indeed calamity comes, and it is commonly ascribed to chance; but the Prophet here reminds us that God stretches his nets, in which men are caught, though they think that chance rules, and observe not the hand of God. They are deceived, he says; for the bird foresees not the ensnaring prepared for him; but yet he falls not on the earth without the fowler: for nets weave not themselves by chance, but they are made by the industry of the man who catches birds. So also calamities do not happen by chance, but proceed from the secret purpose of God. But we must observe, that similitudes ought not to be too strictly applied to the subject in hand. Were one to asks how God could compare himself here to a fowler, as there is craft and artifice employed in catching innocent birds, when nets are laid for them, it would be a frivolous question; for it is evident enough what the Prophet meant, and that the design of his words was to show, that punishments fall on men, and that they are ensnared through the secret purpose of God; for God has long ago foreseen what he will do, though men act heedlessly, as the birds who foresee nothing.

Then it follows in the fourth place, Will the fowler remove his snare before he has made a capture? In this second clause the Prophet intimates that the threatening of God would not be without effect; for he will execute whatever he declares. It is indeed certain, that fowlers often return home empty, and gather their nets though they have taken nothing; but the Prophet, as I have said, in using these similitudes, only states what fowlers usually do, when they are in hope of some prey. As for instance, when one spreads his nets, he will wait, and will not gather his nets until he takes some prey, if so be that a prey should come; he may indeed wait in vain all night. Then as fowlers are not wearied, and wish not to lose their labor after they have spread their nets, so also the Prophet says that God does not in vain proclaim his threatenings to serve as empty bugbears, but that his nets remain until he has taken his prey; which means, that God will really execute what he has threatened by his Prophets. The meaning then is, that God’s word is not ineffectual, but when God declares any thing, it is sure to be accomplished: and hence he reproves the Israelites for receiving so heedlessly and with deaf ears all God’s threatening, as though he was only trifling with them. “It will not be,” he says, “as you expect; for God will take his prey before he takes up his nets.”

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(5) Can a bird.—Better, Does the snare rise up from the ground, and take nothing at all?” E.V. “take up” is due to ambiguity of the Hebrew. The idea is that Israel “like a silly dove” is falling into snares. The snare, even now, may be seen springing from the earth. The armies and politics of the nation that will enclose Israel are already in motion.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. Will a bird fall into a net upon the earth, when there is no bait for it?] The paḥ must have been a kind of net; not improbably like the bird-traps figured in Wilkinson-Birch, Ancient Egyptians, ed. 1878, ii. 103, consisting of network strained over two semicircular flaps, moving on a common axis: this was laid upon the ground, and when the bait in the middle was touched by a bird, the two flaps, by a mechanical contrivance, flew up and closed, entrapping the bird.

gin] bait. The môḳçsh (lit. a fowling-instrument) is shewn by the present passage to have been something connected with the paḥ, without which the latter was useless: elsewhere it often denotes metaphorically that which allures a person to destruction (e.g. Exo_23:33; Deu_7:16; 1Sa_18:21): hence it must have been something more definite than gin, and probably corresponded nearly to what we should term the bait.

will a net spring up from the ground without taking (something)?] The construction of the paḥ was such that the flaps would not start up from the ground without a bird being there for the net to enclose.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Shall a trumpet be blown in the city,.... Meaning not any trumpet blown, as the silver trumpet for the gathering of the people to worship, or the jubilee trumpet, which proclaimed liberty to them, or any other, expressive of joy and gladness; but the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war, or what is blown by the watchmen on the walls, descrying an enemy, or some danger, near:

and the people not be afraid? they must, they usually are, lest their lives, and their children's, should be taken away, and their substance become a prey to the enemy: or, "and the people not run together" (f); into some one place for shelter, or to consult together how to provide for their safety, and secure themselves from danger. So when the prophets of the Lord, by his order, lift up their voice like a trumpet, to show his people their transgressions; or when, as watchmen, they blow the trumpet, to give notice of approaching danger; can they hear such denunciations of his wrath for their sins, and not tremble at them, or not take some ways and methods to escape it?

shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? which is not to be understood of the evil of sin, of which God is not the author, it being contrary to his nature and will; and though he permits it to be done by others, yet he never does it himself, nor so much as tempts men to it, Jam 1:13; unless the words should be rendered, as they may be, "shall there be evil in a city, and shall not the Lord do" or "work" (g)? shall sin be committed in a city, all sorts of sin, in the most bold and extravagant manner, and will not the Lord do something to show his resentment of it? is it not time for him to arise and work for his name's sake? will he not visit for these things, and be avenged on such a city, and the inhabitants of it? but this may be interpreted of the evil of affliction or judgment; which, wherever it comes, is by the order and appointment of God, and is inflicted by him; thus evil, as well as good, comes out of the mouth and hand of the most High; and he creates the evil of adversity, as well as makes peace and prosperity; see Job 2:10.

(f) "non accurrit", Drusius, Tarnovius. (g) "and shall not the Lord do somewhat?" margin of our Bibles.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Can a bird fall in a snare - Again, the bird taken in the snare is the image of those drawn down from heaven, where ‘our conversation is Phi 3:20 and the soul may rise free toward its God , “drawn up by the Spirit to high and heavenly things.” Such souls being allured by the things of earth, are entangled and taken by Satan; as, on the other hand, “the soul, escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler Psa 124:7, is a soul, set free by Christ and restored to heaven.

In the last likeness, the prophet comes nearer to the people themselves, and the trumpet is, at once, the well-known token of alarm among people, and of the loud voice of God, wakening them to repentance Isa 58:1; Joe 2:15 and still oftener, warning them of the approach of judgment Isa 18:3; Jer 4:5; Jer 6:1; Eze 33:2-6; Hos 5:8; Hos 8:1; Rev 8:1-13, or summoning man before Him 1Co 15:52; 1Th 4:16. Rup.: “God’s Voice will not always be ‘a still small voice,’ or whispered only among the Angels, or heard as from the ground. It will be heard terribly in the whole world.” Jerome: “Whatever is said in Holy Scripture is a trumpet threatening, and with loud voice sinking into the hearts of believers. If we are righteous, we are called by the trumpet of Christ to bliss. If we are sinners, we know that we are to suffer torment.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Somewhat? When the prophet speaks, has he no reason? God shews that he has sent him, by inflicting the punishments which he denounces.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

A bird; a sparrow properly, one kind put for all sorts.

Fall in a snare: these are taken by nets spread on the earth for that end, and these nets are watched by the fowler, attending till the birds are within the shrape, then he draws the net over them: so here, For your sins, O Israel, God will spread his net, he will as a watchful fowler attend and keep his eye upon you, and cast the net over you.

Shall one take up a snare, and have taken nothing at all? flatter not yourselves as if you should finally escape because you have so long been safe and prosperous; though the fowler doth long wait, he will not take up the snare before all the prey, or some of it at least, be taken in it: so the Lord, against whom you have sinned, and who hath spread his net for you, will certainly let it lie till you are taken in it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The thought here is that the punishment is deserved as well as certain. A bird is not caught unless a trap is set for it. The trap which the sinner sets for himself is sin. Can a bird fall in a snare (pach) upon the earth, where no gin (moqesh) is for him? i.e. is set for him? The "gin" is a net with a stick for a spring, which flew up when touched, carrying part of the net with it, and thus the bird was enclosed and caught (see Kitto, "Cyclop.," s.v. "Fowling," 2:36). The LXX probably read yoqesh, as they translate, aneu ejxeutou, "without a fowler." So the Vulgate, absque aucupe. The second clause should be, Shall a snare (pach) spring up from the ground without taking anything? The snare, or trap stick, would not rise if it had not caught something. The sin is there, and the sinners shall surely not escape. When God appoints retributive punishments for the guilty, and announces the same by his prophets, they may be expected with absolute certainty.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Can a bird fall - So here for your sins, God will cast the net over you. Shall one take up a snare - The fowler will not take up the snare, before the prey be taken in it.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

Amos uses the questions in verses 3-6 to present examples of things that people already know about what causes things to happen and what are the results of things that happen. (See: Rhetorical Question)

Can a bird fall in a trap on the ground when no bait is set for him?

Amos uses this question to remind people of what they already know about what causes a bird to fall into a trap. This can be translated as a statement. AT: "A bird can fall into a trap on the ground only when bait has been set for him." (See: Rhetorical Question)

Will a trap spring up from the ground when it has not caught anything?

Amos uses this question to remind people of what they already know about what causes a trap to spring up. This question can be translated as a statement. AT: "A trap will spring up from the ground only when it has caught something." (See: Rhetorical Question)

Will a trap spring up from the ground

This refers to a trap closing. When an animal steps on a trap, the trap closes and the animal cannot get out of it. AT: "Will a trap close"

If a trumpet sounds in a city, will the people not tremble?

Amos uses this question to remind people of what they already know about what happens when a trumpet sounds. This question can be translated as a statement. AT: "When the trumpet sounds in the city, the people will tremble." or "When the trumpet sounds in the city, we expect that people will tremble." (See: Rhetorical Question)

If a trumpet sounds in a city

The purpose of sounding the trumpet is to warn people that enemies are about to attack the city. AT: "If someone blows the trumpet in the city to warn the people about an enemy attack" or "If the warning trumpet is blown in the city" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

tremble

The reason for trembling can be stated clearly. AT: "tremble because they are afraid" or "be afraid of the enemy and tremble" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

If disaster overtakes a city, has Yahweh not sent it?

Amos uses this question to remind the people of what they should already know about what causes a disaster. This question can be translated as a statement. AT: "If disaster overtakes a city, Yahweh has sent it." or "If disaster overtakes a city, we know that Yahweh has sent it." (See: Rhetorical Question)

If disaster overtakes a city,

Something terrible happening to a city is spoken of as if disaster overtakes it. (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

trumpet

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Will a bird fall on a net upon the ground unless it has a snare—in the net which has fallen upon it?

Will a net ascend from the ground—from the place it was laid unless a bird was caught in it? When it wishes to escape, it pulls up the net and lifts it from its place a little, and at that time it is caught.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.