Amos 1:3

1:3 This is what the Lord says:

“Because Damascus has committed three crimes ¹  –

make that four! ²  – I will not revoke my

decree of judgment. ³ 

They ripped through Gilead like threshing sledges with iron teeth. ⁴ 

Amos 2:9-10

2:9 For Israel’s sake I destroyed the Amorites. ⁵ 

They were as tall as cedars ⁶ 

and as strong as oaks,

but I destroyed the fruit on their branches ⁷ 

and their roots in the ground. ⁸ 

2:10 I brought you up from the land of Egypt;

I led you through the wilderness for forty years

so you could take the Amorites’ land as your own.

Amos 3:1-2

Every Effect has its Cause

3:1 Listen, you Israelites, to this message which the Lord is proclaiming against ⁹  you! This message is for the entire clan I brought up ¹⁰  from the land of Egypt: 3:2 “I have chosen ¹¹  you alone from all the clans of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all your sins.”

Amos 4:11

4:11 “I overthrew some of you the way God ¹²  overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. ¹³ 

You were like a burning stick ¹⁴  snatched from the flames.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 5:6

5:6 Seek the Lord so you can live!

Otherwise he will break out ¹⁵  like fire against Joseph’s ¹⁶  family; ¹⁷ 

the fire ¹⁸  will consume

and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. ¹⁹ 

Amos 5:18

The Lord Demands Justice

5:18 Woe ²⁰  to those who wish for the day of the Lord!

Why do you want the Lord’s day of judgment to come?

It will bring darkness, not light.

Amos 6:8

6:8 The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his very own life. ²¹ 

The Lord, the God who commands armies, is speaking:

“I despise Jacob’s arrogance;

I hate their ²²  fortresses.

I will hand over to their enemies ²³  the city of Samaria ²⁴  and everything in it.”

Amos 7:2

7:2 When they had completely consumed the earth’s vegetation, I said,

“Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! ²⁵ 

How can Jacob survive? ²⁶ 

He is too weak!” ²⁷ 

Amos 8:12

8:12 People ²⁸  will stagger from sea to sea, ²⁹ 

and from the north around to the east.

They will wander about looking for a revelation from ³⁰  the Lord,

but they will not find any. ³¹ 

Amos 9:3-4

9:3 Even if they were to hide on the top of Mount Carmel,

I would hunt them down and take them from there.

Even if they tried to hide from me ³²  at the bottom of the sea,

from there ³³  I would command the Sea Serpent ³⁴  to bite them.

9:4 Even when their enemies drive them into captivity, ³⁵ 

from there ³⁶  I will command the sword to kill them.

I will not let them out of my sight;

they will experience disaster, not prosperity.” ³⁷ 

Amos 9:9

9:9 “For look, I am giving a command

and I will shake the family of Israel together with all the nations.

It will resemble a sieve being shaken,

when not even a pebble falls to the ground. ³⁸ 

Amos 9:12

9:12 As a result they ³⁹  will conquer those left in Edom ⁴⁰ 

and all the nations subject to my rule.” ⁴¹ 

The Lord, who is about to do this, is speaking!

[1:3]  ¹ tn Traditionally, “transgressions” or “sins.” The word refers to rebellion against authority and is used in the international political realm (see 1 Kgs 12:19; 2 Kgs 1:1; 3:5, 7; 8:22). There is debate over its significance in this context. Some relate the “rebellion” of the foreign nations to God’s mandate to Noah (Gen 9:5-7). This mandate is viewed as a treaty between God and humankind, whereby God holds humans accountable to populate the earth and respect his image as it is revealed in all people. While this option is a possible theological explanation of the message in light of the Old Testament as a whole, nothing in these oracles alludes to that Genesis passage. J. Barton suggests that the prophet is appealing to a common morality shared across the ancient Near East regarding the conduct of war since all of the oracles can be related to activities and atrocities committed in warfare (Amos’s Oracles against the Nations [SOTSMS], 39-61). The “transgression” then would be a violation of what all cultures would take as fundamental human decency. Some argue that the nations cited in Amos 1-2 had been members of the Davidic empire. Their crime would consist of violating the mutual agreements that all should have exhibited toward one another (cf. M. E. Polley, Amos and the Davidic Empire). This interpretation is connected to the notion that Amos envisions a reconstituted Davidic empire for Israel and the world (9:11-15). Ultimately, we can only speculate what lay behind Amos’ thinking. He does not specify the theological foundation of his universal moral vision, but it is clear that Amos believes that all nations are responsible before the Lord for their cruelty toward other human beings. He also assumes that even those who did not know his God would recognize their inhumane treatment of others as inherently wrong. The translation “crimes” is general enough to communicate that a standard (whether human or divine) has been breached. For a survey of the possible historical events behind each oracle, see S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia).

[1:3]  ² tn Heb “Because of three violations of Damascus, even because of four.”

[1:3]  ³ tn Heb “I will not bring it [or “him”] back.” The pronominal object (1) refers to the decree of judgment that follows; the referent (the decree) has been specified in the translation for clarity. See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 46-47. Another option (2) is to understand the suffix as referring to the particular nation mentioned in the oracle and to translate, “I will not take him [i.e., that particular nation] back.” In this case the Lord makes it clear that he does not intend to resume treaty relations with the nation in view. See M. L. Barré, “The Meaning of lá ásŒybnw in Amos 1:3-2:6,” JBL 105 (1986): 622.

[1:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “they threshed [or “trampled down”] Gilead with sharp iron implements” (NASB similar).

[2:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “I destroyed the Amorites from before them.” The translation takes מִפְּנֵי (mippÿney) in the sense of “for the sake of.” See BDB 818 s.v. פָּנֻה II.6.a and H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos (Hermeneia), 134. Another option is to take the phrase in a spatial sense, “I destroyed the Amorites, [clearing them out] from before them [i.e., Israel]” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[2:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “whose height was like the height of cedars.”

[2:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “his fruit from above.”

[2:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “and his roots from below.”

[3:1]  ⁹ tn Or “about.”

[3:1]  ¹⁰ tn One might expect a third person verb form (“he brought up”), since the Lord apparently refers to himself in the third person in the preceding sentence. This first person form, however, serves to connect this message to the earlier indictment (2:10) and anticipates the words of the following verse.

[3:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “You only have I known.” The Hebrew verb יָדַע (yada’) is used here in its covenantal sense of “recognize in a special way.”

[4:11]  ¹⁷ tn Several English versions substitute the first person pronoun (“I”) here for stylistic reasons (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[4:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “like God’s overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.” The divine name may be used in an idiomatic superlative sense here, in which case one might translate, “like the great [or “disastrous”] overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.”

[4:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “like that which is burning.”

[5:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “rush.” The verb depicts swift movement.

[5:6]  ²² sn Here Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.

[5:6]  ²³ tn Heb “house.”

[5:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:6]  ²⁵ 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.”

[5:18]  ²⁵ tn The term הוֹי (hoy, “woe”) was used when mourning the dead (see the note on the word “dead” in 5:16). The prophet here either engages in role playing and mourns the death of the nation in advance or sarcastically taunts those who hold to this misplaced belief.

[6:8]  ²⁹ tn Heb “swears by his life”; or “swears by himself.”

[6:8]  ³⁰ tn Heb “his,” referring to Jacob, which stands here for the nation of Israel.

[6:8]  ³¹ tn The words “to their enemies” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[6:8]  ³² tn Heb “the city”; this probably refers to the city of Samaria (cf. 6:1), which in turn, by metonymy, represents the entire northern kingdom.

[7:2]  ³³ tn “Israel” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:2]  ³⁴ tn Heb “stand” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[7:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “small.”

[8:12]  ³⁷ tn Heb “they”; the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:12]  ³⁸ tn That is, from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Dead Sea in the east – that is, across the whole land.

[8:12]  ³⁹ tn Heb “looking for the word of.”

[8:12]  ⁴⁰ tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.

[9:3]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “from before my eyes.”

[9:3]  ⁴² tn Or perhaps simply, “there,” if the מ (mem) prefixed to the adverb is dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem).

[9:3]  ⁴³ sn If the article indicates a definite serpent, then the mythological Sea Serpent, symbolic of the world’s chaotic forces, is probably in view. See Job 26:13 and Isa 27:1 (where it is also called Leviathan). Elsewhere in the OT this serpent is depicted as opposing the Lord, but this text implies that even this powerful enemy of God is ultimately subject to his sovereign will.

[9:4]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “Even if they go into captivity before their enemies.”

[9:4]  ⁴⁶ tn Or perhaps simply, “there,” if the מ (mem) prefixed to the adverb is dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem).

[9:4]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “I will set my eye on them for disaster, not good.”

[9:9]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “like being shaken with a sieve, and a pebble does not fall to the ground.” The meaning of the Hebrew word צְרוֹר (tsÿror), translated “pebble,” is unclear here. In 2 Sam 17:13 it appears to refer to a stone. If it means “pebble,” then the sieve described in v. 6 allows the grain to fall into a basket while retaining the debris and pebbles. However, if one interprets צְרוֹר as a “kernel of grain” (cf. NASB, NIV, NKJV, NLT) then the sieve is constructed to retain the grain and allow the refuse and pebbles to fall to the ground. In either case, the simile supports the last statement in v. 8 by making it clear that God will distinguish between the righteous (the grain) and the wicked (the pebbles) when he judges, and will thereby preserve a remnant in Israel. Only the sinners will be destroyed (v. 10).

[9:12]  ⁵³ sn They probably refers to the Israelites or to the Davidic rulers of the future.

[9:12]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “take possession of the remnant of Edom”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “possess the remnant of Edom.”

[9:12]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “nations over whom my name is proclaimed.” The Hebrew idiom indicates ownership, sometimes as a result of conquest. See 2 Sam 12:28.