For, behold, the LORD commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts.
For, behold, the Lord commandeth, and he will smite. His word of command, when once given, cannot but be fulfilled (Isaiah 55:11). His mere word is enough to smite with destruction.
The great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts - He will spare none, great or small (Amos 3:15). Jerome interprets the great house as Israel and the small house as Judah; the former being reduced to breaches or ruins-literally, drops; the latter, though injured with clefts or rents, which threaten its fall, is yet still for a time permitted to stand.