Amos 9:11–12

The Residue of Men

Quoted by the apostles in Acts 15:16–17, in the older Greek wording

Side by Side

The Older Text

Septuagint, translated before Messiah

That the remnant of men, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, may earnestly seek me, saith the Lord who does all these things.

The Later Text

Masoretic, finished about 1,000 years after the cross

That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith Yahuah that doeth this.

Quoted in Acts 15:17

James at the Jerusalem council

That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.

Your KJV reads: “possess the remnant of Edom” in Amos, then has James quote “the residue of men might seek” in Acts.

See what changed and why ↓

What Your Bible Says

After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.
Acts 15:16–17 KJV

In Acts 15 the apostles met in Jerusalem to settle one question: how do Gentiles come in among the people of Elohim? James answered from the prophet Amos. David’s fallen tent would be rebuilt so that the rest of mankind would seek Yahuah, along with the Gentiles called by His name.

What the Jewish Bible Says

That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith Yahuah that doeth this.
Amos 9:12 KJV

Here nobody is seeking. Israel takes possession. The rest of mankind has become the leftovers of Edom, Israel’s old enemy, to be conquered rather than gathered.

What Changed

Two tiny differences in the Hebrew letters turn the verse around. “Adam,” meaning mankind, and “Edom” are the same word except for one small letter. “Seek” and “possess” also differ by a single letter.

Read one way, the nations come looking for Yahuah. Read the other way, the nations are taken as spoil. The Gentiles called by His name are still in both texts, but in the later one they are property, not seekers.

Which One Is Right?

The Greek Bible, translated before Messiah, reads “men” and “seek.”

James quoted that reading before the apostles and elders, and the whole assembly agreed with his judgment (Acts 15:22).

Isaiah uses the same Hebrew word for “seek” when he says of the root of Jesse, “to it shall the Gentiles seek” (Isaiah 11:10). Nations seeking Yahuah is a Hebrew hope, not a Greek invention.

The Masoretic text reads “Edom” and “possess.”

Purpose of the Change

The effect of the later reading is to turn a promise of Gentiles seeking Yahuah into a promise of Israel conquering its neighbor. Whether the letters slipped or were steered, the Gentiles drop out of the seeking and are left as spoil.

The Bottom Line

James quoted the older reading: the nations come seeking, as people called by His name, not as plunder.

The rebuilt tabernacle stands at the end of the Book: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people” (Revelation 21:3).

Dig Deeper The evidence, for anyone who wants it

The Letters Side by Side

“Possess” is yirshu. “Seek” is yidreshu. Written in Hebrew, the two words differ by one letter in the second place: the small yod in one, a dalet in the other.

“Edom” and “adam” share the same three letters, alef, dalet, mem. The Masoretic spells Edom with one more letter, a vav, used here only as a vowel. Older Hebrew often left that vav out, and then the two words are written exactly alike. Only the vowel marks, added centuries later, tell them apart. So part of this difference is how the same letters were read.

Others Seek Him Too

The prophets often speak of nations seeking Yahuah: “many people and strong nations shall come to seek Yahuah of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before Yahuah” (Zechariah 8:22). The older reading of Amos fits the voice of the prophets.

Moses Every Sabbath

James did not stop at Amos. He gave the Gentiles a few first things to keep, then added:

For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.
Acts 15:21 KJV

The Gentiles came in by seeking Yahuah, not by works. Then they would hear Moses read every Sabbath. Entry first, then the Law. The Torah was never set aside; it was where the new believers were headed.

An Honest Note

The Greek translators may have read the same letters differently rather than copied from a different Hebrew text. No Hebrew scroll is known that reads “men” and “seek.” A Hebrew scroll of the twelve prophets found at Wadi Murabba’at, copied in the first or second century AD, already reads “Edom” and “possess.” Most Greek copies also lack “the Lord” after “seek”; Luke supplies it in Acts. What stands beyond doubt is that James chose the reading in which the nations seek.