19:1 The second lot belonged to the tribe of Simeon by its clans. 3
15:12 The western border was the Mediterranean Sea. 4 These were the borders of the tribe of Judah and its clans. 5
2:1 Joshua son of Nun sent two spies out from Shittim secretly and instructed them: 7 “Find out what you can about the land, especially Jericho.” 8 They stopped at the house of a prostitute named Rahab and spent the night there. 9
46:18 I the King, whose name is the Lord who rules over all, 10 swear this:
I swear as surely as I live that 11 a conqueror is coming.
He will be as imposing as Mount Tabor is among the mountains,
as Mount Carmel is against the backdrop of the sea. 12
1:2 Amos 13 said:
“The Lord comes roaring 14 out of Zion;
from Jerusalem 15 he comes bellowing! 16
The shepherds’ pastures wilt; 17
the summit of Carmel 18 withers.” 19
9:3 Even if they were to hide on the top of Mount Carmel,
I would hunt them down and take them from there.
Even if they tried to hide from me 20 at the bottom of the sea,
from there 21 I would command the Sea Serpent 22 to bite them.
1 sn So he went on up, looked, and reported, “There is nothing.” Several times in this chapter those addressed by Elijah obey his orders. In vv. 20 and 42 Ahab does as instructed, in vv. 26 and 28 the prophets follow Elijah’s advice, and in vv. 30, 34, 40 and 43 the people and servants do as they are told. By juxtaposing Elijah’s commands with accounts of those commands being obeyed, the narrator emphasizes the authority of the
2 tn Heb “He said, ‘Return,’ seven times.”
3 tn Heb “and the second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of the sons of Simeon by their clans.”
4 tn Heb “the Great Sea,” the typical designation for the Mediterranean Sea.
5 tn Heb “this was the border of the sons of Judah round about, by their clans.”
6 tn Heb “Their southern border was from the end of the Salt Sea, from the tongue that faces to the south.”
7 tn Heb “Joshua, son of Nun, sent from Shittim two men, spies, secretly, saying.”
8 tn Heb “go, see the land, and Jericho.”
9 tn Heb “they went and entered the house of a woman, a prostitute, and her name was Rahab, and they slept there.”
10 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” For the significance of this title see the note at 2:19.
11 tn Heb “As I live, oracle of the King, whose….” The indirect quote has been chosen to create a smoother English sentence and avoid embedding a quote within a quote.
12 tn Heb “Like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea he will come.” The addition of “conqueror” and “imposing” are implicit from the context and from the metaphor. They have been supplied in the translation to give the reader some idea of the meaning of the verse.
13 tn Heb “he;” the referent (Amos) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
14 sn The
15 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
16 tn Heb “gives his voice.”
17 tn Lexicographers debate whether there are two roots אָבַל (’aval), one signifying “mourn” and the other “be dry,” or simply one (“mourn”). The parallel verb (“withers”) might favor the first option and have the meaning “wilt away.” It is interesting to note, however, that the root appears later in the book in the context of lament (5:16; 8:8, 10; 9:5). Either 1:2 is a possible wordplay to alert the reader to the death that will accompany the judgment (the option of two roots), or perhaps the translation “mourns” is appropriate here as well (cf. KJV, NASB, NKJV, NJPS; see also D. J. A. Clines, “Was There an ’BL II ‘Be Dry’ in Classical Hebrew?” VT 42 [1992]: 1-10).
18 sn Carmel was a region known for its abundant plants and trees. See Isa 33:9; 35:2; Jer 50:19.
19 sn Loss of a land’s fertility is frequently associated with judgment in the OT and ancient Near Eastern literature.
20 tn Heb “from before my eyes.”
21 tn Or perhaps simply, “there,” if the מ (mem) prefixed to the adverb is dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem).
22 sn If the article indicates a definite serpent, then the mythological Sea Serpent, symbolic of the world’s chaotic forces, is probably in view. See Job 26:13 and Isa 27:1 (where it is also called Leviathan). Elsewhere in the OT this serpent is depicted as opposing the