Discovery BoxAmos 1:8
Context1:8 I will remove 1 the ruler 2 from Ashdod, 3
the one who holds the royal scepter from Ashkelon. 4
I will strike Ekron 5 with my hand; 6
the rest of the Philistines will also die.” 7
The sovereign Lord has spoken!
Amos 4:9
Context4:9 “I destroyed your crops 8 with blight and disease.
Locusts kept 9 devouring your orchards, 10 vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees.
Still you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking!
Amos 4:11
Context4:11 “I overthrew some of you the way God 11 overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 12
You were like a burning stick 13 snatched from the flames.
Still you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking!
Amos 7:10
Context7:10 Amaziah the priest of Bethel 14 sent this message 15 to King Jeroboam of Israel: “Amos is conspiring against you in the very heart of the kingdom of Israel! 16 The land cannot endure all his prophecies. 17
Amos 8:5
Context8:5 You say,
“When will the new moon festival 18 be over, 19 so we can sell grain?
When will the Sabbath end, 20 so we can open up the grain bins? 21
We’re eager 22 to sell less for a higher price, 23
and to cheat the buyer with rigged scales! 24
Amos 9:5
Context9:5 The sovereign Lord who commands armies will do this. 25
He touches the earth and it dissolves; 26
all who live on it mourn.
The whole earth 27 rises like the River Nile, 28
and then grows calm 29 like the Nile in Egypt. 30
Amos 9:9
Context9:9 “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. 31
Amos 9:13
Context9:13 “Be sure of this, 32 the time is 33 coming,” says the Lord,
“when the plowman will catch up to the reaper 34
and the one who stomps the grapes 35 will overtake 36 the planter. 37
Juice will run down the slopes, 38
it will flow down all the hillsides. 39
[1:8] 2 tn Heb “the one who sits.” Some translations take this expression as a collective singular referring to the inhabitants rather than the ruler (e.g., NAB, NRSV, NLT).
[1:8] 3 sn Ashdod was one of the five major Philistine cities (along with Ashkelon, Ekron, Gaza, and Gath).
[1:8] 4 sn Ashkelon was one of the five major Philistine cities (along with Ashdod, Ekron, Gaza, and Gath).
[1:8] 5 sn Ekron was one of the five major Philistine cities (along with Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gaza, and Gath).
[1:8] 6 tn Heb “I will turn my hand against Ekron.” For other uses of the idiom, “turn the hand against,” see Ps 81:14; Isa 1:25; Jer 6:9; Zech 13:7.
[1:8] 7 tn Heb “and the remnant of the Philistines will perish.” The translation above assumes that reference is made to other Philistines beside those living in the cities mentioned. Another option is to translate, “Every last Philistine will die.”
[4:9] 8 tn Heb “you.” By metonymy the crops belonging to these people are meant. See the remainder of this verse, which describes the agricultural devastation caused by locusts.
[4:9] 9 tn The Hiphil infinitive construct is taken adverbially (“kept”) and connected to the activity of the locusts (NJPS). It also could be taken with the preceding sentence and related to the Lord’s interventions (“I kept destroying,” cf. NEB, NJB, NIV, NRSV), or it could be understood substantivally in construct with the following nouns (“Locusts devoured your many orchards,” cf. NASB; cf. also KJV, NKJV).
[4:11] 15 tn Several English versions substitute the first person pronoun (“I”) here for stylistic reasons (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
[4:11] 16 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] 17 tn Heb “like that which is burning.”
[7:10] 22 map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.
[7:10] 23 tn The direct object of the verb translated “sent” is elided in the Hebrew text. The words “this message” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
[7:10] 24 tn Heb “in the middle of the house of Israel.”
[8:5] 29 sn Apparently work was prohibited during the new moon festival, just as it was on the Sabbath.
[8:5] 31 tn The verb, though omitted in the Hebrew text, is supplied in the translation from the parallel line.
[8:5] 32 tn Heb “sell grain.” Here “grain” could stand by metonymy for the bins where it was stored.
[8:5] 33 tn Here and in v. 6 the words “we’re eager” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[8:5] 34 tn Heb “to make small the ephah and to make great the shekel.” The “ephah” was a unit of dry measure used to determine the quantity purchased, while the “shekel” was a standard weight used to determine the purchase price. By using a smaller than standard ephah and a heavier than standard shekel, these merchants were able to increase their profit (“sell less for a higher price”) by cheating the buyer.
[8:5] 35 tn Heb “and to cheat with deceptive scales”; NASB, NIV “dishonest scales”; NRSV “false balances.”
[9:5] 36 tn The words “will do this” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[9:5] 37 tn Or “melts.” The verb probably depicts earthquakes and landslides. See v. 5b.
[9:5] 39 tn Heb “the Nile.” The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
[9:5] 40 tn Or “sinks back down.”
[9:5] 41 sn See Amos 8:8, which is very similar to this verse.
[9:9] 43 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).
[9:13] 50 tn Heb “behold” or “look.”
[9:13] 51 tn Heb “the days are.”
[9:13] 52 sn The plowman will catch up to the reaper. Plowing occurred in October-November, and harvesting in April-May (see P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 109.) But in the future age of restored divine blessing, there will be so many crops the reapers will take all summer to harvest them, and it will be time for plowing again before the harvest is finished.
[9:13] 53 sn When the grapes had been harvested, they were placed in a press where workers would stomp on them with their feet and squeeze out the juice. For a discussion of grape harvesting technique, see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 110-12.
[9:13] 54 tn The verb is omitted here in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation from the parallel line.
[9:13] 55 sn The grape harvest occurred in August-September, planting in November-December (see P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 109). But in the future age described here there will be so many grapes the workers who stomp them will still be working when the next planting season arrives.
