Amos 5:6

5:6 Seek the Lord so you can live!

Otherwise he will break out like fire against Joseph’s family;

the fire will consume

and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel.

Amos 9:8

9:8 Look, the sovereign Lord is watching the sinful nation,

and I will destroy it from the face of the earth.

But I will not completely destroy the family of Jacob,” says the Lord.


tn Heb “rush.” The verb depicts swift movement.

sn Here Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.

tn Heb “house.”

tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

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.”

tn Heb “the eyes of the sovereign Lord are on.”

tn Or “kingdom.”

tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).