Amos 1:8

1:8 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 5:3

5:3 The sovereign Lord says this:

“The city that marches out with a thousand soldiers ⁸  will have only a hundred left;

the town ⁹  that marches out with a hundred soldiers ¹⁰  will have only ten left for the family of Israel.” ¹¹ 

Amos 7:1

Symbolic Visions of Judgment

7:1 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw ¹²  him making locusts just as the crops planted late ¹³  were beginning to sprout. (The crops planted late sprout after the royal harvest. ¹⁴ )

Amos 8:11

8:11 Be certain of this, ¹⁵  the time is ¹⁶  coming,” says the sovereign Lord,

“when I will send a famine through the land –

not a shortage of food or water

but an end to divine revelation! ¹⁷ 

Amos 9:5

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 

[1:8]  ¹ tn Heb “cut off.”

[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.”

[5:3]  ⁸ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ⁹ 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.

[5:3]  ¹⁰ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ¹¹ 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).

[7:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[7:1]  ¹⁶ sn The crops planted late (consisting of vegetables) were planted in late January-early March and sprouted in conjunction with the spring rains of March-April. For a discussion of the ancient Israelite agricultural calendar, see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 31-44.

[7:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “the mowings of the king.”

[8:11]  ²² tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[8:11]  ²³ tn Heb “the days are.”

[8:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “not a hunger for food or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.”

[9:5]  ²⁹ tn The words “will do this” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:5]  ³⁰ tn Or “melts.” The verb probably depicts earthquakes and landslides. See v. 5b.

[9:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “all of it.”

[9:5]  ³² tn Heb “the Nile.” The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:5]  ³³ tn Or “sinks back down.”

[9:5]  ³⁴ sn See Amos 8:8, which is very similar to this verse.