Amos 2:11

2:11 I made some of your sons prophets

and some of your young men Nazirites. ¹ 

Is this not true, you Israelites?”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 5:1-2

Death is Imminent

5:1 Listen to this funeral song I am ready to sing about you, ²  family ³  of Israel:

5:2 “The virgin ⁴  Israel has fallen down and will not get up again.

She is abandoned on her own land

with no one to help her get up.” ⁵ 

Amos 5:25

5:25 You did not bring me ⁶  sacrifices and grain offerings during the forty years you spent in the wilderness, family ⁷  of Israel.

Amos 7:9

7:9 Isaac’s centers of worship ⁸  will become desolate;

Israel’s holy places will be in ruins.

I will attack Jeroboam’s dynasty with the sword.” ⁹ 

Amos 7:15

7:15 Then the Lord took me from tending ¹⁰  flocks and gave me this commission, ¹¹  ‘Go! Prophesy to my people Israel!’

[2:11]  ¹ tn Or perhaps “religious devotees” (also in the following verse). The Hebrew term נָזִיר (nazir) refers to one who “consecrated” or “devoted” to God (see Num 6:1-21).

[5:1]  ² tn Heb “Listen to this word which I am about to take up against you, a funeral song.”

[5:1]  ³ tn Heb “house.”

[5:2]  ³ tn Or “young lady.” The term “Israel” is an appositional genitive.

[5:2]  ⁴ tn Or “with no one to lift her up.”

[5:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “Did you bring me…?” This rhetorical question expects a negative answer. The point seems to be this: Since sacrifices did not characterize God’s relationship with Israel during the nation’s formative years, the people should not consider them to be so fundamental. The Lord places a higher priority on justice than he does on empty ritual.

[5:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “house.”

[7:9]  ⁵ tn Traditionally, “the high places” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “pagan shrines.”

[7:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “And I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with a sword.”

[7:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “from [following] after.”

[7:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the Lord said to me.”