Amos 5:27

“Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, etc.] The chief city of Syria; and which, as Aben Ezra says, lay to the east of the land of Israel, and was a very strong and fortified place: and Syria being in alliance with Israel, the Israelites might think of fleeing thither for refuge, in the time of their distress; but they are here told that they should be taken captive, and be carried to places far more remote than that: Stephen says, “beyond Babylon”; as they were, for they were carried into Media, to Halah and Habor by the river of Gozan, to the cities of the Medes; their way to which lay through Syria and Babylon; (see Gill on “<440743>Acts 7:43”); saith the Lord,…”

“beyond Damascus--In Act 7:43 it is "beyond Babylon," which includes beyond Damascus. In Amos time, Damascus was the object of Israel's fear because of the Syrian wars. Babylon was not yet named as the place of their captivity. Stephen supplies this name. Their place of exile was in fact, as he states, "beyond Babylon," in Halah and Habor by the river Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes (Kg2 17:6; compare here Amo 1:5; Amo 4:3; Amo 6:14). The road to Assyria lay through "Damascus." It is therefore specified, that not merely shall they be carried captives to Damascus, as they had been by Syrian kings (Kg2 10:32-33; Kg2 13:7), but, beyond that, to a region whence a return was not so possible…”

“Therefore - (And) this being so, such having been their way from the beginning until now, will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus Syria was the most powerful enemy by whom God had heretofore chastened them 2 Kings 13:7. From Syria He had recently, for the time, delivered them, and had given Damascus into their hands 2 Kings 14:25, 2 Kings 14:28. That day of grace had been wasted, and they were still rebellious. Now God would bring against them a mightier enemy. Damascus, the scene of their triumph, should be their pathway to captivity. God would “cause” them “to go into captivity,” not to “Damascus,” from where they might have easily returned, but “beyond” it, as He did, “into…”

“Therefore - For all your idolatry and other sins, in which you have obstinately continued. Next: Amos Chapter 6”

“beyond: Kg2 15:29, Kg2 17:6; Act 7:43 whose: Amo 4:13 Next: Amos Chapter 6”