Charles Ellicott Commentary Amos 3:6-7

"Shall the trumpet be blown in a city, and the people not be afraid? shall evil befall a city, and Jehovah hath not done it? Surely the Lord Jehovah will do nothing, except he reveal his secret unto his servants the prophets." — Amos 3:6-7 (ASV)

Surely the Lord ...—In this, and the preceding verse, the future tense should be replaced by a present. Render does nothing, and in Amos 3:6 is a trumpet sounded ... are not afraid ... is there evil; for the prophet intends to express a continually-recurring fact.

The word translated "evil" is commonly, but not universally, used for moral evil. (Genesis 44:34; Exodus 32:14.) "Evil which is sin the Lord has not done, evil which is punishment for evil the Lord brings." (Augustine.)

Compare, as illustrations of the truth of Amos 3:7, the revelation of the Divine purpose to Noah with reference to the Deluge, to Abraham with respect to Sodom, to Joseph about the famine in Egypt, and to Moses concerning Pharaoh. The prophets of the Lord have given full warning of the judgment of God upon all sin.