Amos 1:9

1:9 This is what the Lord says:

“Because Tyre has committed three crimes ¹  –

make that four! ²  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ³ 

They sold ⁴  a whole community ⁵  to Edom;

they failed to observe ⁶  a treaty of brotherhood. ⁷ 

Amos 1:13

1:13 This is what the Lord says:

“Because the Ammonites have committed three crimes ⁸  –

make that four! ⁹  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ¹⁰ 

They ripped open Gilead’s pregnant women ¹¹ 

so they could expand their territory.

Amos 3:12

3:12 This is what the Lord says:

“Just as a shepherd salvages from the lion’s mouth a couple of leg bones or a piece of an ear,

so the Israelites who live in Samaria will be salvaged. ¹² 

They will be left with just a corner of a bed, ¹³ 

and a part ¹⁴  of a couch.”

Amos 4:10

4:10 “I sent against you a plague like one of the Egyptian plagues. ¹⁵ 

I killed your young men with the sword,

along with the horses you had captured.

I made the stench from the corpses ¹⁶  rise up into your nostrils.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 4:13

4:13 For here he is!

He ¹⁷  formed the mountains and created the wind.

He reveals ¹⁸  his plans ¹⁹  to men.

He turns the dawn into darkness ²⁰ 

and marches on the heights of the earth.

The Lord, the God who commands armies, ²¹  is his name!”

Amos 5:16

5:16 Because of Israel’s sins ²²  this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, ²³  says:

“In all the squares there will be wailing,

in all the streets they will mourn the dead. ²⁴ 

They will tell the field workers ²⁵  to lament

and the professional mourners ²⁶  to wail.

Amos 6:10

6:10 When their close relatives, the ones who will burn the corpses, ²⁷  pick up their bodies to remove the bones from the house, they will say to anyone who is in the inner rooms of the house, “Is anyone else with you?” He will respond, “Be quiet! Don’t invoke the Lord’s name!” ²⁸ 

Amos 7:8

7:8 The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” I said, “Tin.” The sovereign One then said,

“Look, I am about to place tin among my people Israel.

I will no longer overlook their sin. ²⁹ 

Amos 7:17

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.’”

Amos 8:2

8:2 He said, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end ³⁵  has come for my people Israel! I will no longer overlook their sins. ³⁶ 

Amos 8:11

8:11 Be certain of this, ³⁷  the time is ³⁸  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! ³⁹ 

Amos 9:7-8

9:7 “You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight,” ⁴⁰  says the Lord.

“Certainly I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt,

but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor ⁴¹  and the Arameans from Kir. ⁴² 

9:8 Look, the sovereign Lord is watching ⁴³  the sinful nation, ⁴⁴ 

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

But I will not completely destroy the family ⁴⁵  of Jacob,” says the Lord.

[1:9]  ¹ tn Traditionally, “transgressions” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) or “sins” (NIV). For an explanation of the atrocities outlined in this oracle as treaty violations of God’s mandate to Noah in Gen 9:5-7, see the note on the word “violations” in 1:3.

[1:9]  ² tn Heb “Because of three violations of Tyre, even because of four.”

[1:9]  ³ 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.

[1:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “handed over.”

[1:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “[group of] exiles.” A similar phrase occurs in v. 6.

[1:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “did not remember.”

[1:9]  ⁷ sn A treaty of brotherhood. In the ancient Near Eastern world familial terms were sometimes used to describe treaty partners. In a treaty between superior and inferior parties, the lord would be called “father” and the subject “son.” The partners in a treaty between equals referred to themselves as “brothers.” For biblical examples, see 1 Kgs 9:13; 20:32-33.

[1:13]  ⁸ tn Traditionally, “transgressions” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) or “sins” (NIV). For an explanation of the atrocities outlined in this oracle as treaty violations of God’s mandate to Noah in Gen 9:5-7, see the note on the word “violations” in 1:3.

[1:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “Because of three violations of the Ammonites, even because of four.”
On the three…four style that introduces each of the judgment oracles of chaps. 1-2 see the note on the word “four” in 1:3.

[1:13]  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.

[1:13]  ¹¹ sn The Ammonites ripped open Gilead’s pregnant women in conjunction with a military invasion designed to expand their territory. Such atrocities, although repugnant, were not uncommon in ancient Near Eastern warfare.

[3:12]  ¹⁵ sn The verb translated salvaged, though often used in a positive sense of deliverance from harm, is here employed in a sarcastic manner. A shepherd would attempt to salvage part of an animal to prove that a predator had indeed killed it. In this way he could prove that he had not stolen the missing animal and absolve himself from any responsibility to repay the owner (see Exod 22:12-13).

[3:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “with a corner of a bed.”

[3:12]  ¹⁷ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word דְּמֶשֶׁק (dÿmesheq), which occurs only here, is uncertain. If not emended, it is usually related to the term ַדּמֶּשֶׂק (dammeseq) and translated as the “Damask linens” of the bed (cf. NASB “the cover”) or as “in Damascus” (so KJV, NJB, NIV). The differences in spelling (Damascus is spelled correctly in 5:27), historical considerations, and the word order make both of these derivations unlikely. Many emendations have been proposed (e.g., “a part from the foot [of a bed],” based on a different division of the Hebrew letters (cf. NEB, NRSV); “on the edge,” based on a Hebrew term not attested in the Bible (NKJV). Some suggest a resemblance to an Akkadian term which means “sideboard [of a bed],” which is sometimes incorrectly rendered “headboard” (NJPS; see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 121-22). Most likely another part of a bed or couch is in view, but it is difficult to be more specific.

[4:10]  ²² tn Heb “in the manner [or “way”] of Egypt.”

[4:10]  ²³ tn Heb “of your camps [or “armies”].”

[4:13]  ²⁹ tn Heb “For look, the one who.” This verse is considered to be the first hymnic passage in the book. The others appear at 5:8-9 and 9:5-6. Scholars debate whether these verses were originally part of a single hymn or three distinct pieces deliberately placed in each context for particular effect.

[4:13]  ³⁰ tn Or “declares” (NAB, NASB).

[4:13]  ³¹ tn Or “his thoughts.” The translation assumes that the pronominal suffix refers to God and that divine self-revelation is in view (see 3:7). If the suffix refers to the following term אָדַם (’adam, “men”), then the expression refers to God’s ability to read men’s minds.

[4:13]  ³² tn Heb “he who makes dawn, darkness.” The meaning of the statement is unclear. The present translation assumes that allusion is made to God’s approaching judgment, when the light of day will be turned to darkness (see 5:20). Other options include: (1) “He makes the dawn [and] the darkness.” A few Hebrew mss, as well as the LXX, add the conjunction (“and”) between the two nouns. (2) “He turns darkness into glimmering dawn” (NJPS). See S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 154), who takes שָׁחַר (shakhar) as “blackness” rather than “dawn” and עֵיפָה (’efah) as “glimmering dawn” rather than “darkness.”

[4:13]  ³³ tn Traditionally, “God of hosts.”

[5:16]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Therefore.” This logical connector relates back to the accusation of vv. 10-13, not to the parenthetical call to repentance in vv. 14-15. To indicate this clearly, the phrase “Because of Israel’s sins” is used in the translation.

[5:16]  ³⁷ tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[5:16]  ³⁸ tn Heb “they will say, ‘Ah! Ah!’” The Hebrew term הוֹ (ho, “ah, woe”) is an alternate form of הוֹי (hoy), a word used to mourn the dead and express outwardly one’s sorrow. See 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5. This wordplay follows quickly, as v. 18 begins with הוֹי (“woe”).

[5:16]  ³⁹ tn Or “farmers” (NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[5:16]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “those who know lamentation.”

[6:10]  ⁴³ tn The translation assumes that “their relatives” and “the ones who will burn the corpses” are in apposition. Another option is to take them as distinct individuals, in which case one could translate, “When their close relatives and the ones who will burn the corpses pick up…” The meaning of the form translated “the ones who burn the corpses” is uncertain. Another option is to translate, “the ones who prepare the corpses for burial” (NASB “undertaker”; cf. also CEV). See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 215-16.

[6:10]  ⁴⁴ tn This verse is notoriously difficult to interpret. The Hebrew text literally reads, “And he will lift him up, his uncle, and the one burning him, to bring out bones from the house. And he will say to the one who is in the inner parts of the house, ‘Is there [anyone] still with you?’ And he will say, ‘Be quiet for not to invoke the name of the Lord.’” The translation assumes that the singular pronominal and verbal forms throughout the verse are collective or distributive. This last sentence has been interpreted in several ways: a command not to call on the name of the Lord out of fear that he might return again in judgment; the realization that it is not appropriate to seek a blessing in the Lord’s name upon the dead in the house since the judgment was deserved; an angry refusal to call on the Lord out of a sense that he has betrayed his people in allowing them to suffer.

[7:8]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “And I will no longer pass over him.”

[7:17]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “in the city,” that is, “in public.”

[7:17]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “will fall by the sword.”

[7:17]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “will be divided up with a [surveyor’s] measuring line.”

[7:17]  ⁶⁰ 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).

[7:17]  ⁶¹ tn See the note on the word “exile” in 5:5.

[8:2]  ⁶⁴ tn There is a wordplay here. The Hebrew word קֵץ (qets, “end”) sounds like קָיִץ (qayits, “summer fruit”). The summer fruit arrived toward the end of Israel’s agricultural year; Israel’s national existence was similarly at an end.

[8:2]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “I will no longer pass over him.”

[8:11]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[8:11]  ⁷² tn Heb “the days are.”

[8:11]  ⁷³ tn Heb “not a hunger for food or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.”

[9:7]  ⁷⁸ tn The Hebrew text has a rhetorical question, “Are you children of Israel not like the Cushites to me?” The rhetorical question has been converted to an affirmative statement in the translation for clarity. See the comment at 8:8.

[9:7]  ⁷⁹ sn Caphtor may refer to the island of Crete.

[9:7]  ⁸⁰ tn The second half of v. 7 is also phrased as a rhetorical question in the Hebrew text, “Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir?” The translation converts the rhetorical question into an affirmation for clarity.

[9:8]  ⁸⁵ tn Heb “the eyes of the sovereign Lord are on.”

[9:8]  ⁸⁶ tn Or “kingdom.”

[9:8]  ⁸⁷ tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).