9:15 I will plant them on their land
and they will never again be uprooted from the 1 land I have given them,”
says the Lord your God.
6:11 Indeed, look! The Lord is giving the command. 2
He will smash the large house to bits,
and the small house into little pieces.
4:6 “But surely I gave 3 you no food to eat in any of your cities;
you lacked food everywhere you live. 4
Still you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking!
1:1 The following is a record of what Amos prophesied. 5 He 6 was one of the herdsmen from Tekoa. These prophecies about Israel were revealed to him 7 during the time of 8 King Uzziah of Judah and 9 King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake. 10
2:6 This is what the Lord says:
“Because Israel has committed three covenant transgressions 11 –
make that four! 12 – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. 13
They sold the innocent 14 for silver,
the needy for a pair of sandals. 15
4:5 Burn a thank offering of bread made with yeast! 16
Make a public display of your voluntary offerings! 17
For you love to do this, you Israelites.”
The sovereign Lord is speaking!
9:5 The sovereign Lord who commands armies will do this. 18
He touches the earth and it dissolves; 19
all who live on it mourn.
The whole earth 20 rises like the River Nile, 21
and then grows calm 22 like the Nile in Egypt. 23
2:4 This is what the Lord says:
“Because Judah has committed three covenant transgressions 24 –
make that four! 25 – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. 26
They rejected the Lord’s law; 27
they did not obey his commands.
Their false gods, 28
to which their fathers were loyal, 29
led them astray.
7:17 “Therefore this is what the Lord says:
‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the streets 30
and your sons and daughters will die violently. 31
Your land will be given to others 32
and you will die in a foreign 33 land.
Israel will certainly be carried into exile 34 away from its land.’”
1 tn Heb “their.” The pronoun was replaced by the English definite article in the translation for stylistic reasons.
2 tn Or “is issuing the decree.”
3 tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic (pronoun + verb). It underscores the stark contrast between the judgments that the Lord had been sending with the God of blessing Israel was celebrating in its worship (4:4-5).
4 tn Heb “But I gave to you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of food in all your places.” The phrase “cleanness of teeth” is a vivid way of picturing the famine Israel experienced.
4 tn Heb “The words of Amos.” Among the prophetic books this opening phrase finds a parallel only at Jer 1:1 but is not that uncommon in other genres (note, e.g., Prov 30:1; 31:1; Eccl 1:1; Neh 1:1).
5 tn Heb “who.” Here a new sentence has been started in the translation for stylistic reasons.
6 tn Heb “which he saw concerning Israel.”
7 tn Heb “in the days of.”
8 tn The Hebrew text repeats, “and in the days of.” This phrase has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.
9 sn This refers to a well-known earthquake that occurred during the first half of the 8th century
5 tn For this translation see the note at 2:4.
6 tn Heb “Because of three violations of Israel, even because of four.”
7 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.
8 tn Or “honest” (CEV, NLT). The Hebrew word sometimes has a moral-ethical connotation, “righteous, godly,” but the parallelism (note “poor”) suggests a socio-economic or legal sense here. The practice of selling debtors as slaves is in view (Exod 21:2-11; Lev 25:35-55; Deut 15:12-18) See the note at Exod 21:8 and G. C. Chirichigno, Debt-Slavery in Israel and the Ancient Near East (JSOTSup). Probably the only “crime” the victim had committed was being unable to pay back a loan or an exorbitant interest rate on a loan. Some have suggested that this verse refers to bribery in legal proceedings: The innocent are “sold” in the sense that those in power pay off the elders or judges for favorable decisions (5:12; cf. Exod 23:6-7).
9 tn Perhaps the expression “for a pair of sandals” indicates a relatively small price or debt. Some suggest that the sandals may have been an outward token of a more substantial purchase price. Others relate the sandals to a ritual attached to the transfer of property, signifying here that the poor would be losing their inherited family lands because of debt (Ruth 4:7; cf. Deut 25:8-10). Still others emend the Hebrew form slightly to נֶעְלָם (ne’lam, “hidden thing”; from the root עָלַם, ’alam, “to hide”) and understand this as referring to a bribe.
6 sn For the background of the thank offering of bread made with yeast, see Lev 7:13.
7 tn Heb “proclaim voluntary offerings, announce.”
7 tn The words “will do this” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
8 tn Or “melts.” The verb probably depicts earthquakes and landslides. See v. 5b.
9 tn Heb “all of it.”
10 tn Heb “the Nile.” The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
11 tn Or “sinks back down.”
12 sn See Amos 8:8, which is very similar to this verse.
8 tn This is the same Hebrew term that is translated “crimes” in the previous oracles (see at 1:3). The change to “covenant transgressions” reflects the probability that the prophet is condemning the nation of Israel for violating stipulations of the Mosaic Law.
9 tn Heb “Because of three violations of Judah, even because of four.”
10 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.
11 tn Or “instruction”; NCV “teachings.”
12 tn Heb “lies.” This may very well be a derogatory term for idols (perhaps also at Ps. 40:4 [Heb 40:5]). Elsewhere false gods are called “vanities” (Deut 32:21; 1 Kgs 16:13, 26) and a delusion (Isa 66:3). In no other prophetic passages, however, are they called “lies.” The term could refer to the deceptions of false prophets (note Ezek 13:6-9; cf. Hab 2:3). See F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos (AB), 301-6.
13 tn Heb “after which their fathers walked.” The expression “to walk after” is an idiom meaning “to be loyal to.” See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 75-76.
9 tn Heb “in the city,” that is, “in public.”
10 tn Heb “will fall by the sword.”
11 tn Heb “will be divided up with a [surveyor’s] measuring line.”
12 tn Heb “[an] unclean”; or “[an] impure.” This fate would be especially humiliating for a priest, who was to distinguish between the ritually clean and unclean (see Lev 10:10).
13 tn See the note on the word “exile” in 5:5.