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 4:10

4:10 “I sent against you a plague like one of the Egyptian plagues. ⁸ 

I killed your young men with the sword,

along with the horses you had captured.

I made the stench from the corpses ⁹  rise up into your nostrils.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 8:11

8:11 Be certain of this, ¹⁰  the time is ¹¹  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! ¹² 

Amos 9:1

9:1 I saw the sovereign One ¹³  standing by the altar ¹⁴  and he said, “Strike the tops of the support pillars, ¹⁵  so the thresholds shake!

Knock them down on the heads of all the people, ¹⁶ 

and I will kill the survivors ¹⁷  with the sword.

No one will be able to run away; ¹⁸ 

no one will be able to escape. ¹⁹ 

[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.

[4:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the manner [or “way”] of Egypt.”

[4:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “of your camps [or “armies”].”

[8:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[8:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the days are.”

[8:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “not a hunger for food or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.”

[9:1]  ²² tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[9:1]  ²³ sn The altar is perhaps the altar at Bethel.

[9:1]  ²⁴ tn Or “the capitals.” The Hebrew singular form is collective.

[9:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “cut them off on the head of all of them.” The translation assumes the objective suffix on the verb refers to the tops of the pillars and that the following prepositional phrase refers to the people standing beneath. Another option is to take this phrase as referring to the pillars, in which case one could translate, “Knock all the tops of the pillars off.”

[9:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the remnant of them.” One could possibly translate, “every last one of them” (cf. NEB “to the last man”). This probably refers to those who survive the collapse of the temple, which may symbolize the northern kingdom.

[9:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “a fugitive belonging to them will not run away.”

[9:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “a survivor belonging to them will not escape.”