Amos 4:12

Bible in Basic English (1941)

So this is what I will do to you, O Israel: and because I will do this to you, be ready for a meeting with your God, O Israel.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

לָכֵ֕ן כֹּ֥ה אֶעֱשֶׂה־לְּךָ֖ יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל עֵ֚קֶב כִּֽי־זֹ֣את אֶֽעֱשֶׂה־לָּ֔ךְ הִכּ֥וֹן לִקְרַאת־אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

Transliteration

Lākēn thus ʾeʿĕśeh-to you Yiśrāʾēl ʿēqeb that-this ʾeʿĕśeh-to you, hikkôn to liqraʾt-ʾĕlōhêkā Yiśrāʾēl

Grammar Details

• *Lākēn*: adverb - therefore
• *ʾeʿĕśeh*: imperfect, 1st person singular - I will do
• *Yiśrāʾēl*: proper noun - Israel
• *ʿēqeb*: conjunction/preposition - because/as a result
• *hikkôn*: imperative, masculine singular, niphal - be prepared/ready
• *liqraʾt*: preposition + infinitive construct - to meet
• *ʾĕlōhêkā*: noun, masculine plural with 2nd person masculine singular suffix - your God

Word Meanings

• *lākēn*: therefore/thus/for this reason
• *ʿēqeb*: because/as a result of/consequence
• *hikkôn*: prepare yourself/be ready/stand prepared
• *liqraʾt*: to meet/to encounter/to confront

Referenced Verses

• 1 Thess 5:2-4 : 2 For you yourselves have the knowledge that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 When they say, There is peace and no danger, then sudden destruction will come on them, as birth-pains on a woman with child; and they will not be able to get away from it. 4 But you, my brothers, are not in the dark, for that day to overtake you like a thief:
• Jas 4:1-9 : 1 What is the cause of wars and fighting among you? is it not in your desires which are at war in your bodies? 2 You are burning with desire, and have not your desire, so you put men to death; you are full of envy, and you are not able to get your desire, so you are fighting and making war; you have not your desire, because you do not make request for it. 3 You make your request but you do not get it, because your request has been wrongly made, desiring the thing only so that you may make use of it for your pleasure. 4 O you who are false to God, do you not see that the friends of this world are not God's friends? Every man desiring to be a friend of this world makes himself a hater of God. 5 Or does it seem to you that it is for nothing that the holy Writings say, The spirit which God put into our hearts has a strong desire for us? 6 But he gives more grace. So that the Writings say, God is against the men of pride, but he gives grace to those who make themselves low before him. 7 For this cause be ruled by God; but make war on the Evil One and he will be put to flight before you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Make your hands clean, you evil-doers; put away deceit from your hearts, you false in mind. 9 Be troubled, with sorrow and weeping; let your laughing be turned to sorrow and your joy to grief. 10 Make yourselves low in the eyes of the Lord and you will be lifted up by him.
• Rev 3:3 : 3 Keep in mind, then, the teaching which was given to you, and be ruled by it and have a change of heart. If then you do not keep watch, I will come like a thief, and you will have no knowledge of the hour when I will come on you.
• Isa 47:3 : 3 The shame of your unclothed condition will be seen by all: I will give punishment without mercy,
• Ezek 13:5 : 5 You have not gone up into the broken places or made up the wall for the children of Israel to take your place in the fight in the day of the Lord.
• Ezek 22:30 : 30 And I was looking for a man among them who would make up the wall and take his station in the broken place before me for the land, so that I might not send destruction on it: but there was no one.
• Hos 13:8 : 8 I will come face to face with them like a bear whose young ones have been taken from her, and their inmost hearts will be broken; there the dogs will make a meal of them; they will be wounded by the beasts of the field.
• Amos 4:2-3 : 2 The Lord God has taken an oath by his holy name, that the days are coming when they will take you away with hooks, and the rest of you with fish-hooks. 3 And you will go out through the broken places, every one going straight before her, and you will be sent into Harmon, says the Lord.
• Amos 5:4-9 : 4 For these are the words of the Lord to the children of Israel: Let your hearts be turned to me, so that you may have life: 5 Do not be looking for help to Beth-el, and do not go to Gilgal, or make your way to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal will certainly be taken prisoner, and Beth-el will come to nothing. 6 Go to the Lord for help so that you may have life; for fear that he may come like fire bursting out in the family of Joseph, causing destruction, and there will be no one to put it out in Beth-el. 7 You who make the work of judging a bitter thing, crushing down righteousness to the earth; 8 Go for help to him who makes Orion and the Pleiades, by whom the deep dark is turned into morning, who makes the day black with night; whose voice goes out to the waters of the sea, sending them out over the face of the earth: the Lord is his name; 9 Who sends sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the walled town. 10 They have hate for him who makes protest against evil in the public place, and he whose words are upright is disgusting to them. 11 So because the poor man is crushed under your feet, and you take taxes from him of grain: you have made for yourselves houses of cut stone, but you will not take your rest in them; the fair vine-gardens planted by your hands will not give you wine. 12 For I have seen how your evil-doing is increased and how strong are your sins, you troublers of the upright, who take rewards and do wrong to the cause of the poor in the public place. 13 So the wise will say nothing in that time; for it is an evil time. 14 Go after good and not evil, so that life may be yours: and so the Lord, the God of armies, will be with you, as you say. 15 Be haters of evil and lovers of good, and let right be done in the public place: it may be that the Lord, the God of armies, will have mercy on the rest of Joseph.
• Amos 9:1-4 : 1 I saw the Lord stationed by the side of the altar, giving blows to the tops of the pillars so that the doorsteps were shaking: and he said, I will let all of them be broken with earth-shocks; I will put the last of them to the sword: if any one of them goes in flight he will not get away, not one of them will be safe. 2 Even if they go deep into the underworld, my hand will take them up from there; if they go up to heaven, I will get them down: 3 Though they take cover on the top of Carmel, I will go in search of them and get them out; though they keep themselves from my eyes in the bed of the sea, I will give orders to the great snake there and he will give them a bite: 4 And though they are taken away as prisoners by their attackers, even there will I give orders to the sword to put them to death: my eyes will be fixed on them for evil and not for good.
• Matt 5:25 : 25 Come to an agreement quickly with him who has a cause against you at law, while you are with him on the way, for fear that he may give you up to the judge and the judge may give you to the police and you may be put into prison.
• Matt 24:44-25:13 : 44 Be ready then; for at a time which you have no thought of the Son of man will come. 45 Who is the true and wise servant, whom his lord has put over those in his house, to give them their food at the right time? 46 A blessing on that servant, who will be doing so when his lord comes. 47 Truly, I say to you, he will put him over all he has. 48 But if that evil servant says in his heart, My lord is a long time in coming; 49 And is cruel to the other servants, taking his pleasure with those who are overcome with wine; 50 The lord of that servant will come in a day when he is not looking for him, and in an hour of which he has no knowledge, 51 And will have him cut in two, and will give him a part in the fate of the false ones: there will be weeping and cries of sorrow. 1 Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins, the friends of the bride, who took their lights, and went out with the purpose of meeting the husband. 2 And five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For the foolish, when they took their lights, took no oil with them. 4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lights. 5 Now the husband was a long time in coming, and they all went to sleep. 6 But in the middle of the night there is a cry, The husband comes! Go out to him. 7 Then all those virgins got up, and made ready their lights. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lights are going out. 9 But the wise made answer, saying, There may not be enough for us and you; it would be better for you to go to the traders and get oil for yourselves. 10 And while they went to get oil, the master came; and those who were ready went in with him to the feast: and the door was shut. 11 After that the other virgins came, saying, Lord, Lord, let us in. 12 But he made answer and said, Truly I say to you, I have no knowledge of you. 13 Keep watch, then, because you are not certain of the day or of the hour.
• Mark 13:32-37 : 32 But of that day or that hour no one has knowledge, not even the angels in heaven, or the Son, but the Father. 33 Take care, keep watch with prayer: for you are not certain when the time will be. 34 It is as when a man who is in another country for a time, having gone away from his house, and given authority to his servants and to everyone his work, gives the porter an order to keep watch. 35 So you are to keep watch: because you are not certain when the master of the house is coming, in the evening, or in the middle of the night, or at the cock's cry, or in the morning; 36 For fear that, coming suddenly, he sees you sleeping. 37 And what I say to you, I say to all, Keep watch.
• Luke 14:31-32 : 31 Or what king, going to war with another king, will not first take thought if he will be strong enough, with ten thousand men, to keep off him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or while the other is still a great distance away, he sends representatives requesting conditions of peace.
• Luke 21:3-9 : 3 And he said, Truly I say to you, This poor widow has given more than all of them: 4 For they gave out of their wealth, having more than enough for themselves: but she, even out of her need, has put in all her living. 5 And some were talking about the Temple, how it was made fair with beautiful stones and with offerings, but he said, 6 As for these things which you see, the days will come when not one stone will be resting on another, but all will be broken down. 7 And they said to him, Master, when will these things be? and what sign will there be when these events are to take place? 8 And he said, Take care that you are not tricked: for a number of people will come in my name, saying, I am he; and, The time is near: do not go after them. 9 And when news of wars and troubled times comes to your ears, have no fear; for these things have to be, but the end will not be now. 10 Then he said to them, Nation will be moved against nation and kingdom against kingdom: 11 There will be great earth-shocks and outbursts of disease in a number of places, and men will be without food; and there will be wonders and great signs from heaven. 12 But before all this, they will take you and be very cruel to you, giving you up to the Synagogues and to prisons, taking you before kings and rulers, because of my name. 13 And it will be turned to a witness for you. 14 So take care not to be troubled before the time comes, about what answers you will give: 15 For I will give you words and wisdom, so that not one of those who are against you will be able to get the better of you, or to put you in the wrong. 16 But you will be given up even by your fathers and mothers, your brothers and relations and friends; and some of you will be put to death. 17 And you will be hated by all men, because of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will come to destruction. 19 By going through all these things, you will keep your lives. 20 But when you see armies all round about Jerusalem, then be certain that her destruction is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judaea go in flight to the mountains; and those who are in the middle of the town go out; and let not those who are in the country come in. 22 For these are the days of punishment, in which all the things in the Writings will be put into effect. 23 It will be hard for women who are with child, and for her with a baby at the breast, in those days. For great trouble will come on the land, and wrath on this people. 24 And they will be put to death with the sword, and will be taken as prisoners into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be crushed under the feet of the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles are complete. 25 And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; and on the earth, fear among the nations and doubt because of the loud noise of the sea and the waves; 26 Men's strength will go from them in fear and in waiting for the things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of the heavens will be moved. 27 And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud, with power and great glory. 28 But when these things come about, let your heads be lifted up, because your salvation is near. 29 And he made a story for them: See the fig-tree, and all the trees; 30 When they put out their young leaves, you take note of it, and it is clear to you that summer is coming. 31 In the same way, when you see these things taking place you may be certain that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Truly I say to you, This generation will not come to an end till all things are complete. 33 Heaven and earth will come to an end, but my words will not come to an end. 34 But give attention to yourselves, for fear that your hearts become over-full of the pleasures of food and wine, and the cares of this life, and that day may come on you suddenly, and take you as in a net: 35 For so it will come on all those who are living on the face of all the earth. 36 But keep watch at all times with prayer, that you may be strong enough to come through all these things and take your place before the Son of man.
• Amos 2:14 : 14 And flight will be impossible for the quick-footed, and the force of the strong will become feeble, and the man of war will not get away safely: