Now as to these qualifications of the hitherto unmitigated judgments of the book, it is to be noted that there is nothing in their language to lead us to take them from Amos himself. On the contrary, the last clause describes what he has always called a characteristic sin of his day. Our only difficulties are that hitherto Amos has never qualified his sentences of doom, and that the change now appears so suddenly that the two halves of the verse in which it does so absolutely contradict each other. Read them again, ver. 8: _Lo, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are on the sinful nation, and I will destroy it from off the face of the ground--nevertheless destroying I shall not destroy the house of Jacob: 'tis the oracle of Jehovah._ Can we believe the same prophet to have uttered at the same time these two statements? And is it possible to believe that prophet to be the hitherto unwavering, unqualifying Amos? Noting these things, let us pass to the rest of the chapter. We break from all shadows; the verses are verses of pure hope. The judgment on Israel is not averted; but having taken place her ruin is regarded as not irreparable. _In that day_--the day Amos has threatened of overthrow and ruin--_I will raise again the fallen hut of David and will close up its breaches, and his ruins I will raise, and I will build it up as in the days of old_,[358] _that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations upon whom My Name has been called_--that is, as once their Possessor--_'tis the oracle of Jehovah, He who is about to do this_.