2:14 Fast runners will find no place to hide; 1
strong men will have no strength left; 2
warriors will not be able to save their lives.
2:15 Archers 3 will not hold their ground; 4
fast runners will not save their lives,
nor will those who ride horses. 5
6:8 The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his very own life. 6
The Lord, the God who commands armies, is speaking:
“I despise Jacob’s arrogance;
I hate their 7 fortresses.
I will hand over to their enemies 8 the city of Samaria 9 and everything in it.”
1 tn Heb “and a place of refuge will perish from the swift.”
2 tn Heb “the strong will not increase his strength.”
3 tn Heb “the one who holds the bow.”
4 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.”
5 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.
5 tn Heb “swears by his life”; or “swears by himself.”
6 tn Heb “his,” referring to Jacob, which stands here for the nation of Israel.
7 tn The words “to their enemies” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
8 tn Heb “the city”; this probably refers to the city of Samaria (cf. 6:1), which in turn, by metonymy, represents the entire northern kingdom.