1:1 The following is a record of what Amos prophesied. 1 He 2 was one of the herdsmen from Tekoa. These prophecies about Israel were revealed to him 3 during the time of 4 King Uzziah of Judah and 5 King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake. 6
2:7 They trample 7 on the dirt-covered heads of the poor; 8
they push the destitute away. 9
A man and his father go to the same girl; 10
in this way they show disrespect 11 for my moral purity. 12
4:7 “I withheld rain from you three months before the harvest. 13
I gave rain to one city, but not to another.
One field 14 would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up.
4:13 For here he is!
He 15 formed the mountains and created the wind.
He reveals 16 his plans 17 to men.
He turns the dawn into darkness 18
and marches on the heights of the earth.
The Lord, the God who commands armies, 19 is his name!”
5:11 Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops 20
and exact a grain tax from them,
you will not live in the houses you built with chiseled stone,
nor will you drink the wine from the fine 21 vineyards you planted. 22
7:17 “Therefore this is what the Lord says:
‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the streets 23
and your sons and daughters will die violently. 24
Your land will be given to others 25
and you will die in a foreign 26 land.
Israel will certainly be carried into exile 27 away from its land.’”
8:10 I will turn your festivals into funerals, 28
and all your songs into funeral dirges.
I will make everyone wear funeral clothes 29
and cause every head to be shaved bald. 30
I will make you mourn as if you had lost your only son; 31
when it ends it will indeed have been a bitter day. 32
9:1 I saw the sovereign One 33 standing by the altar 34 and he said, “Strike the tops of the support pillars, 35 so the thresholds shake!
Knock them down on the heads of all the people, 36
and I will kill the survivors 37 with the sword.
No one will be able to run away; 38
no one will be able to escape. 39
1 tn Heb “The words of Amos.” Among the prophetic books this opening phrase finds a parallel only at Jer 1:1 but is not that uncommon in other genres (note, e.g., Prov 30:1; 31:1; Eccl 1:1; Neh 1:1).
2 tn Heb “who.” Here a new sentence has been started in the translation for stylistic reasons.
3 tn Heb “which he saw concerning Israel.”
4 tn Heb “in the days of.”
5 tn The Hebrew text repeats, “and in the days of.” This phrase has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.
6 sn This refers to a well-known earthquake that occurred during the first half of the 8th century
7 tn Most scholars now understand this verb as derived from the root II שָׁאַף (sha’af, “to crush; to trample”), an alternate form of שׁוּף (shuf), rather than from I שָׁאַף (sha’af, “to pant, to gasp”; cf. KJV, ASV, NASB).
8 tn Heb “those who stomp on the dirt of the ground on the head of the poor.” It is possible to render the line as “they trample the heads of the poor into the dust of the ground,” thereby communicating that the poor are being stepped on in utter contempt (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 79-80). The participial form הַשֹּׁאֲפִים (hasho’afim) is substantival and stands in apposition to the pronominal suffix on מִכְרָם (mikhram, v. 6b).
9 tn Heb “they turn aside the way of the destitute.” Many interpreters take “way” to mean “just cause” and understand this as a direct reference to the rights of the destitute being ignored. The injustice done to the poor is certainly in view, but the statement is better taken as a word picture depicting the powerful rich pushing the “way of the poor” (i.e., their attempt to be treated justly) to the side. An even more vivid picture is given in Amos 5:12, where the rich are pictured as turning the poor away from the city gate (where legal decisions were made, and therefore where justice should be done).
10 sn Most interpreters see some type of sexual immorality here (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT), even though the Hebrew phrase הָלַךְ אֶל (halakh ’el, “go to”) never refers elsewhere to sexual intercourse. (The usual idiom is בוֹא אֶל [bo’ ’el]. However, S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 82) attempts to develop a linguistic case for a sexual connotation here.) The precise identification of the “girl” in question is not clear. Some see the referent as a cultic prostitute (cf. NAB; v. 8 suggests a cultic setting), but the term נַעֲרָה (na’arah) nowhere else refers to a prostitute. Because of the contextual emphasis on social oppression, some suggest the exploitation of a slave girl is in view. H. Barstad argues that the “girl” is the hostess at a pagan מַרְזֵחַ (marzeakh) banquet (described at some length in 6:4-7). In his view the sin described here is not sexual immorality, but idolatry (see H. Barstad, The Religious Polemics of Amos [VTSup], 33-36). In this case, one might translate, “Father and son go together to a pagan banquet.” In light of this cultic context, F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman argue that this is a reference to a specific female deity (“the Girl”) and correlate this verse with 8:14 (Amos [AB], 318-19).
11 tn Or “pollute”; “desecrate”; “dishonor.”
12 tn Heb “my holy name.” Here “name” is used metonymically for God’s moral character or reputation, while “holy” has a moral and ethical connotation.
13 sn Rain…three months before the harvest refers to the rains of late March-early April.
14 tn Heb “portion”; KJV, ASV “piece”; NASB “part.” The same word occurs a second time later in this verse.
19 tn Heb “For look, the one who.” This verse is considered to be the first hymnic passage in the book. The others appear at 5:8-9 and 9:5-6. Scholars debate whether these verses were originally part of a single hymn or three distinct pieces deliberately placed in each context for particular effect.
20 tn Or “declares” (NAB, NASB).
21 tn Or “his thoughts.” The translation assumes that the pronominal suffix refers to God and that divine self-revelation is in view (see 3:7). If the suffix refers to the following term אָדַם (’adam, “men”), then the expression refers to God’s ability to read men’s minds.
22 tn Heb “he who makes dawn, darkness.” The meaning of the statement is unclear. The present translation assumes that allusion is made to God’s approaching judgment, when the light of day will be turned to darkness (see 5:20). Other options include: (1) “He makes the dawn [and] the darkness.” A few Hebrew
23 tn Traditionally, “God of hosts.”
25 tn Traditionally, “because you trample on the poor” (cf. KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). The traditional view derives the verb from בּוּס (bus, “to trample”; cf. Isa. 14:25), but more likely it is cognate to an Akkadian verb meaning “to exact an agricultural tax” (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 49; S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 172-73).
26 tn Or “lovely”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “pleasant”; NAB “choice”; NIV “lush.”
27 tn Heb “Houses of chiseled stone you built, but you will not live in them. Fine vineyards you planted, but you will not drink their wine.”
31 tn Heb “in the city,” that is, “in public.”
32 tn Heb “will fall by the sword.”
33 tn Heb “will be divided up with a [surveyor’s] measuring line.”
34 tn Heb “[an] unclean”; or “[an] impure.” This fate would be especially humiliating for a priest, who was to distinguish between the ritually clean and unclean (see Lev 10:10).
35 tn See the note on the word “exile” in 5:5.
37 tn Heb “mourning.”
38 tn Heb “I will place sackcloth on all waists.”
39 tn Heb “and make every head bald.” This could be understood in a variety of ways, while the ritual act of mourning typically involved shaving the head (although occasionally the hair could be torn out as a sign of mourning).
40 tn Heb “I will make it like the mourning for an only son.”
41 tn Heb “and its end will be like a bitter day.” The Hebrew preposition כְּ (kaf) sometimes carries the force of “in every respect,” indicating identity rather than mere comparison.
43 tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
44 sn The altar is perhaps the altar at Bethel.
45 tn Or “the capitals.” The Hebrew singular form is collective.
46 tn Heb “cut them off on the head of all of them.” The translation assumes the objective suffix on the verb refers to the tops of the pillars and that the following prepositional phrase refers to the people standing beneath. Another option is to take this phrase as referring to the pillars, in which case one could translate, “Knock all the tops of the pillars off.”
47 tn Heb “the remnant of them.” One could possibly translate, “every last one of them” (cf. NEB “to the last man”). This probably refers to those who survive the collapse of the temple, which may symbolize the northern kingdom.
48 tn Heb “a fugitive belonging to them will not run away.”
49 tn Heb “a survivor belonging to them will not escape.”