Text -- Amos 7:1-4 (NET)

Symbolic Visions of Judgment

7:1 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw him making locusts just as the crops planted late were beginning to sprout. (The crops planted late sprout after the royal harvest.) 7:2 When they had completely consumed the earth’s vegetation, I said, “Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! How can Jacob survive? He is too weak!” 7:3 The Lord decided not to do this. “It will not happen,” the Lord said. 7:4 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw the sovereign Lord summoning a shower of fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the fields.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Amo 7:1

¹ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

² sn The crops planted late (consisting of vegetables) were planted in late January-early March and sprouted in conjunction with the spring rains of March-April. For a discussion of the ancient Israelite agricultural calendar, see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 31-44.

³ tn Or “the mowings of the king.”

sn This royal harvest may refer to an initial mowing of crops collected as taxes by the royal authorities.

NET Notes: Amo 7:2

¹ tn “Israel” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “stand” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

³ tn Heb “small.”

NET Notes: Amo 7:3

¹ tn Or “changed his mind about this.”

NET Notes: Amo 7:4

¹ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

² tc The Hebrew appears to read, “summoning to contend with fire,” or “summoning fire to contend,” but both are problematic syntactically (H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos [Hermeneia], 292; S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 230-31). Many emend the text to לרבב אשׁ, “(calling) for a shower of fire,” though this interpretation is also problematic (see F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos [AB], 746-47).