Amos 9:8 - Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Behold the eyes of the Lord are upon the sinful kingdom - The sinful kingdom may mean each “sinful kingdom,” as Paul says, God “will render unto every man according to his deeds - unto them who do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile” Romans 2:6-9. His “Eyes” are “on the sinful kingdom,” whatsoever or wheresoever it be, and so on Israel also: “and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth.” In this case, the emphasis would be on the, “I will not “utterly” destroy.” God would destroy sinful kingdoms, yet Israel, although sinful, He would not “utterly” destroy, but would leave a remnant, as He had so often promised. Yet perhaps, and more probably, the contrast is between “the kingdom” and “the house of Israel. The kingdom,” being founded in sin, bound up inseparably with sin, God says, “I will destroy from off the face of the earth,” and it ceased forever. Only, with the kingdom, He says, “I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” to whom were the promises, and to whose seed, whosoever were the true Israel, those promises should be kept. So He explains;