5:1 Listen to this funeral song I am ready to sing about you, 1 family 2 of Israel:
5:2 “The virgin 3 Israel has fallen down and will not get up again.
She is abandoned on her own land
with no one to help her get up.” 4
5:3 The sovereign Lord says this:
“The city that marches out with a thousand soldiers 5 will have only a hundred left;
the town 6 that marches out with a hundred soldiers 7 will have only ten left for the family of Israel.” 8
5:4 The Lord says this to the family 9 of Israel:
“Seek me 10 so you can live!
5:5 Do not seek Bethel! 11
Do not visit Gilgal!
Do not journey down 12 to Beer Sheba!
For the people of Gilgal 13 will certainly be carried into exile; 14
and Bethel will become a place where disaster abounds.” 15
5:6 Seek the Lord so you can live!
Otherwise he will break out 16 like fire against Joseph’s 17 family; 18
the fire 19 will consume
and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. 20
5:7 The Israelites 21 turn justice into bitterness; 22
they throw what is fair and right 23 to the ground. 24
5:8 (But there is one who made the constellations Pleiades and Orion;
he can turn the darkness into morning
and daylight 25 into night.
He summons the water of the seas
and pours it out on the earth’s surface.
The Lord is his name!
5:9 He flashes 26 destruction down upon the strong
so that destruction overwhelms 27 the fortified places.)
5:10 The Israelites 28 hate anyone who arbitrates at the city gate; 29
they despise anyone who speaks honestly.
5:11 Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops 30
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 31 vineyards you planted. 32
5:12 Certainly 33 I am aware of 34 your many rebellious acts 35
and your numerous sins.
You 36 torment the innocent, you take bribes,
and you deny justice to 37 the needy at the city gate. 38
5:13 For this reason whoever is smart 39 keeps quiet 40 in such a time,
for it is an evil 41 time.
5:14 Seek good and not evil so you can live!
Then the Lord, the God who commands armies, just might be with you,
as you claim he is.
5:15 Hate what is wrong, love what is right!
Promote 42 justice at the city gate! 43
Maybe the Lord, the God who commands armies, will have mercy on 44 those who are left from 45 Joseph. 46
1 tn Heb “Listen to this word which I am about to take up against you, a funeral song.”
2 tn Heb “house.”
3 tn Or “young lady.” The term “Israel” is an appositional genitive.
4 tn Or “with no one to lift her up.”
5 tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
6 tn Heb “The one.” The word “town” has been used in the translation in keeping with the relative sizes of the armed contingents sent out by each. It is also possible that this line is speaking of the same city of the previous line. In other words, the contingent sent by that one city would have suffered a ninety-nine percent casualty loss.
7 tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
8 tn Heb “for/to the house of Israel.” The translation assumes that this is a graphic picture of what is left over for the defense of the nation (NEB, NJB, NASB, NKJV). Others suggest that this phrase completes the introductory formula (“The sovereign
9 tn Heb “house.”
10 sn The following verses explain what it meant to seek the
11 sn Ironically, Israel was to seek after the Lord, but not at Bethel (the name Bethel means “the house of God” in Hebrew).
12 tn Heb “cross over.”
13 tn Heb “For Gilgal.” By metonymy the place name “Gilgal” is used instead of referring directly to the inhabitants. The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
14 tn In the Hebrew text the statement is emphasized by sound play. The name “Gilgal” sounds like the verb גָּלָה (galah, “to go into exile”), which occurs here in the infinitival + finite verb construction (גָּלֹה יִגְלֶה, galoh yigleh). The repetition of the “ג” (g) and “ל” (l) sounds draws attention to the announcement and suggests that Gilgal’s destiny is inherent in its very name.
15 tn Heb “disaster,” or “nothing”; NIV “Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”
16 tn Heb “rush.” The verb depicts swift movement.
17 sn Here Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.
18 tn Heb “house.”
19 tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
20 tn Heb “to/for Bethel.” The translation assumes that the preposition indicates advantage, “on behalf of.” Another option is to take the preposition as vocative, “O Bethel.”
21 tn Heb “Those who”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity. In light of vv. 11-13, it is also possible that the words are directed at a more limited group within the nation – those with social and economic power.
22 tn There is an interesting wordplay here with the verb הָפַךְ (hafakh, “overturn, turn”). Israel “turns” justice into wormwood (cf. 6:12), while the Lord “turns” darkness into morning (v. 8; cf. 4:11; 8:10). Israel’s turning is for evil, whereas the Lord’s is to demonstrate his absolute power and sovereignty.
23 tn Heb “they throw righteousness.”
24 sn In v. 7 the prophet begins to describe the guilty Israelites, but then interrupts his word picture with a parenthetical, but powerful, description of the judge they must face (vv. 8-9). He resumes his description of the sinners in v. 10.
25 tn Heb “darkens the day into night.”
26 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew verb בָּלַג (balag, translated here “flashes”) is uncertain.
27 tn Heb “comes upon.” Many prefer to repoint the verb as Hiphil and translate, “he brings destruction upon the fortified places.”
28 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
29 sn In ancient Israelite culture, legal disputes were resolved in the city gate, where the town elders met.
30 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).
31 tn Or “lovely”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “pleasant”; NAB “choice”; NIV “lush.”
32 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.”
33 tn Or “for.”
34 tn Or “I know” (so most English versions).
35 tn Or “transgressions,” “sins.” See the note on the word “crimes” in 1:3 and on the phrase “covenant violations” in 2:4.
36 tn Heb “Those who.”
37 tn Heb “turn aside.” They “turn aside” the needy by denying them the justice they deserve at the city gate (where legal decisions were made, and therefore where justice should be done).
38 sn Legal disputes were resolved in the city gate, where the town elders met.
39 tn Or “the wise”; or “the prudent.” Another option is to translate “the successful, prosperous” and understand this as a reference to the rich oppressors. See G. V. Smith, Amos, 169-70. In this case the following verb will also have a different nuance, that is, the wealthy remain silent before the abuses they perpetuate. See the note on the verb translated “keeps quiet” later in this verse.
40 tn Or “moans, laments,” from a homonymic verbal root. If the rich oppressors are in view, then the verb (whether translated “will be silenced” or “will lament”) describes the result of God’s judgment upon them. See G. V. Smith, Amos, 170.
41 tn If this is a judgment announcement against the rich, then the Hebrew phrase עֵת רָעָה (’et ra’ah) must be translated, “[a] disastrous time.” See G. V. Smith, Amos, 170.
42 tn Heb “set up, establish.” In the ancient Near East it was the responsibility especially of the king to establish justice. Here the prophet extends that demand to local leaders and to the nation as a whole (cf. 5:24).
43 sn Legal disputes were resolved in the city gate (see the note in v. 12). This repetition of this phrase serves to highlight a deliberate contrast to the injustices cited in vv. 11-13.
44 tn Or “will show favor to.”
45 tn Or “the remnant of” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “what’s left of your people.”
46 sn Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.