5:11 Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops 1
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 2 vineyards you planted. 3
6:1 Woe 4 to those who live in ease in Zion, 5
to those who feel secure on Mount Samaria.
They think of themselves as 6 the elite class of the best nation.
The family 7 of Israel looks to them for leadership. 8
9:8 Look, the sovereign Lord is watching 9 the sinful nation, 10
and I will destroy it from the face of the earth.
But I will not completely destroy the family 11 of Jacob,” says the Lord.
1 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).
2 tn Or “lovely”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “pleasant”; NAB “choice”; NIV “lush.”
3 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.”
4 tn On the Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy; “ah, woe”) as a term of mourning, see the notes in 5:16, 18.
5 sn Zion is a reference to Jerusalem.
6 tn The words “They think of themselves as” are supplied in the translation for clarification. In the Hebrew text the term נְקֻבֵי (nÿquvey; “distinguished ones, elite”) is in apposition to the substantival participles in the first line.
7 tn Heb “house.”
8 tn Heb “comes to them.”
7 tn Heb “the eyes of the sovereign
8 tn Or “kingdom.”
9 tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).