Amos 5:3

5:3 The sovereign Lord says this:

“The city that marches out with a thousand soldiers ¹  will have only a hundred left;

the town ²  that marches out with a hundred soldiers ³  will have only ten left for the family of Israel.” ⁴ 

Amos 5:1

Death is Imminent

5:1 Listen to this funeral song I am ready to sing about you, ⁵  family ⁶  of Israel:

Amos 2:1

2:1 This is what the Lord says:

“Because Moab has committed three crimes ⁷  –

make that four! ⁸  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ⁹ 

They burned the bones of Edom’s king into lime. ¹⁰ 

Esther 5:11

5:11 Haman then recounted to them his fabulous wealth, ¹¹  his many sons, ¹²  and how the king had magnified him and exalted him over the king’s other officials and servants.

Esther 9:10

9:10 the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not confiscate their property.

Job 1:2

1:2 Seven ¹³  sons and three daughters were born to him. ¹⁴ 

Job 1:19

1:19 and suddenly ¹⁵  a great wind ¹⁶  swept across ¹⁷  the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they died! And I – only I alone – escaped to tell you!”

Job 20:28

20:28 A flood will carry off his house,

rushing waters on the day of God’s wrath.

Psalms 109:13

109:13 May his descendants ¹⁸  be cut off! ¹⁹ 

May the memory of them be wiped out by the time the next generation arrives! ²⁰ 

Isaiah 14:21

14:21 Prepare to execute ²¹  his sons

for the sins their ancestors have committed. ²² 

They must not rise up and take possession of the earth,

or fill the surface of the world with cities.” ²³ 

¹ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

² 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.

³ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁴ 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 Lord says this…”; see v. 4a; NJPS). Another option is that the preposition has a vocative force, “O house of Israel” (F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos [AB], 476). Some simply delete the phrase as dittography from the following line (NIV).

⁵ tn Heb “Listen to this word which I am about to take up against you, a funeral song.”

⁶ tn Heb “house.”

⁷ tn Traditionally, “transgressions” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) or “sins” (NIV). For an explanation of the atrocities outlined in this oracle as treaty violations of God’s mandate to Noah in Gen 9:5-7, see the note on the word “violations” in 1:3.

⁸ tn Heb “Because of three violations of Moab, even because of four.”

⁹ tn Heb “I will not bring it [or “him”] back.” The translation understands the pronominal object to refer to the decree of judgment that follows; the referent (the decree) has been specified in the translation for clarity. For another option see the note on the word “judgment” in 1:3.

¹⁰ sn The Moabites apparently desecrated the tomb of an Edomite king and burned his bones into a calcined substance which they then used as plaster (cf. Deut 27:2, 4). See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 72. Receiving a proper burial was very important in this culture. Desecrating a tomb or a deceased individual’s bones was considered an especially heinous act.

¹¹ tn Heb “the glory of his riches” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “the splendor of his riches.”

¹² sn According to Esth 9:10 Haman had ten sons.

¹³ sn The numbers used in the chapter, seven, three, and five, carry the symbolism in the Bible of perfection and completeness (see J. J. Davis, Biblical Numerology). Job’s “seven sons” are listed first because in the East sons were considered more valuable than daughters (recall Ruth, who is “better than seven sons” [Ruth 4:15]).

¹⁴ tn The verb begins the sentence: “and there were born.” This use of the preterite with vav (ו) consecutive, especially after the verb הָיָה (hayah, “to be”), is explanatory: there was a man…and there was born to him…” (IBHS 551-52 §33.2.2b).

¹⁵ tn The use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “behold”) in this sentence is deictic, pointing out with excitement the events that happened as if the listener was there.

¹⁶ sn Both wind and lightning (v. 16) were employed by Satan as his tools. God can permit him such control over factors of the weather when it suits the divine purpose, but God retains ultimate control (see 28:23-27; Prov 3:4; Luke 8:24-25).

¹⁷ tn The word מֵעֵבֶר (me’ever) is simply “from the direction of”; the word עֵבֶר (’ever) indicates the area the whirlwind came across.

¹⁸ tn Or “offspring.”

¹⁹ sn On the expression cut off see Ps 37:28.

²⁰ tn Heb “in another generation may their name be wiped out.”

²¹ tn Or “the place of slaughter for.”

²² tn Heb “for the sin of their fathers.”

²³ sn J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:320, n. 10) suggests that the garrison cities of the mighty empire are in view here.