Text -- Amos 4:2 (NET)

4:2 The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his own holy character: “Certainly the time is approaching when you will be carried away in baskets, every last one of you in fishermen’s pots.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Amo 4:2

¹ tn Heb “swears by his holiness.”

sn The message that follows is an unconditional oath, the fulfillment of which is just as certain as the Lord’s own holy character.

² tn Heb “Look, certainly days are coming upon you”; NRSV “the time is surely coming upon you.”

³ tn Heb “one will carry you away”; NASB “they will take you away.”

⁴ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word translated “baskets” is uncertain. The translation follows the suggestion of S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 128), who discusses the various options (130-32): “shields” (cf. NEB); “ropes”; “thorns,” which leads to the most favored interpretation, “hooks” (cf. NASB “meat hooks”; NIV, NRSV “hooks”); “baskets,” and (derived from “baskets”) “boats.” Against the latter, it is unlikely that Amos envisioned a deportation by boat for the inhabitants of Samaria! See also the note on the expression “fishermen’s pots” later in this verse.

⁵ tn Or “your children”; KJV “your posterity.”

⁶ tn The meaning of the Hebrew expression translated “in fishermen’s pots” is uncertain. The translation follows that of S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 128), who discusses the various options (132-33): “thorns,” understood by most modern interpreters to mean (by extension) “fishhooks” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV); “boats,” but as mentioned in the previous note on the word “baskets,” a deportation of the Samaritans by boat is geographically unlikely; and “pots,” referring to a container used for packing fish (cf. NEB “fish-baskets”). Paul (p. 134) argues that the imagery comes from the ancient fishing industry. When hauled away into exile, the women of Samaria will be like fish packed and transported to market.

sn The imagery of catching fish in connection with the captivity of Israel is also found in Jer 16:16 and Hab 1:14.