Amos 2:3

2:3 I will remove ¹  Moab’s leader; ² 

I will kill all Moab’s ³  officials ⁴  with him.”

The Lord has spoken!

Amos 2:11

2:11 I made some of your sons prophets

and some of your young men Nazirites. ⁵ 

Is this not true, you Israelites?”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 2:16

2:16 Bravehearted ⁶  warriors will run away naked in that day.”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 3:8

3:8 A lion has roared! ⁷  Who is not afraid?

The sovereign Lord has spoken! Who can refuse to prophesy? ⁸ 

Amos 3:10

3:10 “They do not know how to do what is right.” (The Lord is speaking.)

“They store up ⁹  the spoils of destructive violence ¹⁰  in their fortresses.

Amos 3:13

3:13 Listen and warn ¹¹  the family ¹²  of Jacob! ¹³ 

The sovereign Lord, the God who commands armies, ¹⁴  is speaking!

Amos 5:20

5:20 Don’t you realize the Lord’s day of judgment will bring ¹⁵  darkness, not light –

gloomy blackness, not bright light?

Amos 5:27

5:27 and I will drive you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord.

He is called the God who commands armies!

Amos 6:11

6:11 Indeed, look! The Lord is giving the command. ¹⁶ 

He will smash the large house to bits,

and the small house into little pieces.

Amos 7:5

7:5 I said, “Sovereign Lord, stop!

How can Jacob survive? ¹⁷ 

He is too weak!” ¹⁸ 

Amos 8:7

8:7 The Lord confirms this oath ¹⁹  by the arrogance of Jacob: ²⁰ 

“I swear ²¹  I will never forget all you have done! ²² 

[2:3]  ¹ tn Heb “cut off” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NAB “root out”; NCV “bring to an end.”

[2:3]  ² tn Heb “the leader [traditionally, “judge”] from her midst.”

[2:3]  ³ tn Heb “her”; the referent (Moab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:3]  ⁴ tn Or “princes” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NLT); TEV, CEV “leaders.”

[2:11]  ⁵ 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).

[2:16]  ⁹ tn Or “the most stouthearted” (NAB); NRSV “those who are stout of heart.”

[3:8]  ¹³ sn The roar of the lion is here a metaphor for impending judgment (see 1:2; cf. 3:4, 12). Verses 7-8 justify Amos’ prophetic ministry and message of warning and judgment. The people should expect a prophetic message prior to divine action.

[3:8]  ¹⁴ sn Who can refuse to prophesy? When a message is revealed, the prophet must speak, and the news of impending judgment should cause people to fear.

[3:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “those who.”

[3:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “violence and destruction.” The expression “violence and destruction” stand metonymically for the goods the oppressors have accumulated by their unjust actions.

[3:13]  ²¹ tn Or “testify against.”

[3:13]  ²² tn Heb “house.”

[3:13]  ²³ tn These words are spoken to either the unidentified heralds addressed at the beginning of v. 9, or to the Egyptians and Philistines (see v. 9b). Another possibility is that one is not to look for a specific addressee but rather appreciate the command simply as a rhetorical device to grab the attention of the listeners and readers of the prophetic message.

[3:13]  ²⁴ tn Traditionally, “the God of hosts.”

[5:20]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Will not the day of the Lord be.”

[6:11]  ²⁹ tn Or “is issuing the decree.”

[7:5]  ³³ tn Heb “stand.”

[7:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “small.”

[8:7]  ³⁷ tn Or “swears.”

[8:7]  ³⁸ sn In an oath one appeals to something permanent to emphasize one’s commitment to the promise. Here the Lord sarcastically swears by the arrogance of Jacob, which he earlier had condemned (6:8), something just as enduring as the Lord’s own life (see 6:8) or unchanging character (see 4:2). Other suggestions include that the Lord is swearing by the land, his most valuable possession (cf. Isa 4:2; Ps 47:4 [47:5 HT]); that this is a divine epithet analogous to “the Glory of Israel” (1 Sam 15:29); or that an ellipsis should be understood here, in which case the meaning is the same as that of 6:8 (“The Lord has sworn [by himself] against the arrogance of Jacob”).

[8:7]  ³⁹ tn The words “I swear” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation because a self-imprecation is assumed in oaths of this type.

[8:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “I will never forget all your deeds.”