Amos 3:14

3:14 “Certainly when ¹  I punish Israel for their ²  covenant transgressions, ³ 

I will destroy ⁴  Bethel’s ⁵  altars.

The horns ⁶  of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.

Ezekiel 9:2

9:2 Next, I noticed ⁷  six men ⁸  coming from the direction of the upper gate ⁹  which faces north, each with his war club in his hand. Among them was a man dressed in linen with a writing kit ¹⁰  at his side. They came and stood beside the bronze altar.

Ezekiel 10:4

10:4 Then the glory of the Lord arose from the cherub and moved to the threshold of the temple. The temple was filled with the cloud while the court was filled with the brightness of the Lord’s glory.

¹ tn Heb “in the day.”

² tn Heb “his.” With the referent “Israel” here, this amounts to a collective singular.

³ tn Traditionally, “transgressions, sins,” but see the note on the word “crimes” in 1:3.

⁴ tn Heb “punish” (so NASB, NRSV).

⁵ map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

⁶ sn The horns of an ancient altar projected upwards from the four corners and resembled an animal’s horns in appearance. Fugitives could seek asylum by grabbing hold of these corners (see Exod 21:14; 1 Kgs 1:50; 2:28). When the altar’s horns were cut off, there would be no place of asylum left for the Lord’s enemies.

⁷ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

⁸ sn The six men plus the scribe would equal seven, which was believed by the Babylonians to be the number of planetary deities.

⁹ sn The upper gate was built by Jotham (2 Kgs 15:35).

¹⁰ tn Or “a scribe’s inkhorn.” The Hebrew term occurs in the OT only in Ezek 9 and is believed to be an Egyptian loanword.