There are actually 2 different words used in quoting God or referring to something He shares with His prophets. The best way to see this is in the New International Version where one word is translated “said” or “saith” and the other is translated “declared.” (I am told this is also true in the ESV.) Somethings God says and other things He declares. The dictionary of Hebrew words implies that the word “declare” [coming from a root word to groan] carries the idea of a prophetic utterance because often prophets speak with exuberant or excited utterance. Even the word to prophecy may be a form of the idea “to bubble or pour forth” words “under excitement of inspiration,” according to the Hebrew dictionary. ( See Numbers 24:4). For most scholars this probably is explanation enough but it doesn’t explain, however, why prophets would ever use the other word “saith.” Is there a difference between the terms? In Amos 2:3 NIV we read “saith The Lord” while in Amos 2:11 NIV he writes, “declares the Lord.” This is very common.
This word “declares” is, also, not exclusively used of the Lord. In Psalm 36:1 NLT “Sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts.” Even here, the thought seems to be: sinful thoughts bubble up from deep in the heart. The Psalmist goes on to describe someone whose conscience is silent, who has no fear of God and who flatters himself wise as he transgresses.
But I have wondered if at times the word “declared” raises a certain emphasis over the simpler “saith.” The word declared begins to take on the characteristic of a divine edict, as Professor C. F. Keil points out in Genesis 22:16 NIV where it is associated with an oath. It seems to suggest covenantal language. In Jeremiah 22:16 NIV God is promising to judge the cause of the poor and, therefore, He declares His intentions. In Jeremiah 22:11 NIV He is only foretelling future events and therefore uses “saith” instead.
(It might be worth mentioning here that the word “to promise” is simply the word “to speak” [another word] in the Old Testament. God’s promises are not like ours. He simply says it and we know He won’t lie, whereas we need to “promise” we are telling the truth about what we are telling someone. Anyway, this word is not our word “to declare.”)
What about Amos 2? I would have expected to read “declares” in verse 3 because God is telling us what He is going to do. But verse 3 uses “saith.” This led me to wonder if the prophet declares in direct discourse where a prophetic utterance is represented as ongoing or in the act of being delivered. The prophet might use “saith the Lord” in a more indirect form of simple narration, when the prophet is relating to us what God had told him earlier, perhaps, in the prophet’s own words—more or less. This is prima facie but if we are suggesting a difference between direct discourse [the prophet quoting God] and indirect discourse [the prophet interpreting what God said] I have not seen this syntactical distinction in the Old Testament.
Maybe “to declare” implies “to whisper” [as we noted in Psalm 36:1 NLT]. In Gesenius’ dictionary “whispering” is included as etymological. This might suggest God is whispering somethings in the ear of the prophet when He “declares it” But in 1 Samuel 9:15 KJV God said [not declared] to Samuel “in his ear” that Saul was to become Israel’s first king. [See also Isaiah 22:14 KJV]. The word declared is never used this way.
Perhaps, instead of “to declare” we should translate this word: “to reveal.” This is an acceptable English equivalent in many verses where it is used. Perhaps, there are somethings the Lord says of a more intimate and revealing nature as to His desires and will [Isaiah 66:2]. Gesenius in his grammar book translates this “the whispering of the Lord.”
For those who like grammar, it might be important to add that the phrase “declares the Lord” is more a grammatical formula or construct. It is also passive which grammarians don’t even try to explain. It is only thought to derive from an ancient form. But why passive? I suggest it might signify “to reveal one’s self.” If correct, perhaps, God is saying that what He declares is always self-revealing. A revelation from God is a revelation of God?
Somethings are simply said, simply narrated, perhaps because, they are obvious like putting an end to evil [Amos 2:3] but a deeper and more intimate look inside God’s heart perhaps is best described as a whisper revealing something of Himself. Jeremiah 31:33-34, which is the prophecy of the New Covenant through Christ, is declared by the Lord. In Amos 6:8 we read [NIV] “The Sovereign LORD has sworn by himself—the LORD God Almighty declares:” God reveals His absolute abhorrence of what Jacob has been doing!
When Dr. Lange read Isaiah 43:25 “I, even I, am he that blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and will not remember your sins.” He remarked about God, “There is that in Himself that impels Him …. Love.”
