2:11 I made some of your sons prophets
and some of your young men Nazirites. 1
Is this not true, you Israelites?”
The Lord is speaking!
2:12 “But you made the Nazirites drink wine; 2
you commanded the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy!’
2:13 Look! I will press you down,
like a cart loaded down with grain presses down. 3
2:14 Fast runners will find no place to hide; 4
strong men will have no strength left; 5
warriors will not be able to save their lives.
2:15 Archers 6 will not hold their ground; 7
fast runners will not save their lives,
nor will those who ride horses. 8
2:16 Bravehearted 9 warriors will run away naked in that day.”
The Lord is speaking!
1 tn Or perhaps “religious devotees” (also in the following verse). The Hebrew term נָזִיר (nazir) refers to one who “consecrated” or “devoted” to God (see Num 6:1-21).
2 sn Nazirites were strictly forbidden to drink wine (Num 6:2-3).
3 tn The precise meaning of this verse is unclear. Various suggested meanings have been proposed (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 94): (1) One option is to relate the verb to an Arabic verb, meaning “to hinder; to hamper,” and translate, “I am making you immobile, like a cart filled with grain is immobile.” In this case, the
4 tn Heb “and a place of refuge will perish from the swift.”
5 tn Heb “the strong will not increase his strength.”
6 tn Heb “the one who holds the bow.”
7 tn For the idiom of “holding [or “standing”] one’s ground” in battle, there is a similar phrase in Ezek 13:5; also related is the expression “to hold one’s own against” (or “to withstand”) in Judg 2:14; 2 Kgs 10:4; Dan 8:7 (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 97). Other options include “will not endure” or “will not survive.”
8 tn The last two lines read literally, “The one fast in his feet will not rescue [his life], and the rider of the horse will not rescue his life.” The phrase “his life” does double duty in the parallelism and should be understood in both lines.
9 tn Or “the most stouthearted” (NAB); NRSV “those who are stout of heart.”