Amos 2:6

God Will Judge Israel

2:6 This is what the Lord says:

“Because Israel has committed three covenant transgressions ¹  –

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

They sold the innocent ⁴  for silver,

the needy for a pair of sandals. ⁵ 

Amos 3:1

Every Effect has its Cause

3:1 Listen, you Israelites, to this message which the Lord is proclaiming against ⁶  you! This message is for the entire clan I brought up ⁷  from the land of Egypt:

Amos 3:14

3:14 “Certainly when ⁸  I punish Israel for their ⁹  covenant transgressions, ¹⁰ 

I will destroy ¹¹  Bethel’s ¹²  altars.

The horns ¹³  of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.

Amos 4:5

4:5 Burn a thank offering of bread made with yeast! ¹⁴ 

Make a public display of your voluntary offerings! ¹⁵ 

For you love to do this, you Israelites.”

The sovereign Lord is speaking!

Amos 5:3

5:3 The sovereign Lord says this:

“The city that marches out with a thousand soldiers ¹⁶  will have only a hundred left;

the town ¹⁷  that marches out with a hundred soldiers ¹⁸  will have only ten left for the family of Israel.” ¹⁹ 

Amos 6:1

The Party is over for the Rich

6:1 Woe ²⁰  to those who live in ease in Zion, ²¹ 

to those who feel secure on Mount Samaria.

They think of themselves as ²²  the elite class of the best nation.

The family ²³  of Israel looks to them for leadership. ²⁴ 

Amos 6:14

6:14 “Look! I am about to bring ²⁵  a nation against you, family ²⁶  of Israel.”

The Lord, the God who commands armies, is speaking.

“They will oppress ²⁷  you all the way from Lebo-Hamath ²⁸  to the Stream of the Arabah.” ²⁹ 

Amos 7:16

7:16 So now listen to the Lord’s message! You say, ‘Don’t prophesy against Israel! Don’t preach ³⁰  against the family of Isaac!’

Amos 9:9

9:9 “For look, I am giving a command

and I will shake the family of Israel together with all the nations.

It will resemble a sieve being shaken,

when not even a pebble falls to the ground. ³¹ 

[2:6]  ¹ tn For this translation see the note at 2:4.

[2:6]  ² tn Heb “Because of three violations of Israel, even because of four.”

[2:6]  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.

[2:6]  ⁴ tn Or “honest” (CEV, NLT). The Hebrew word sometimes has a moral-ethical connotation, “righteous, godly,” but the parallelism (note “poor”) suggests a socio-economic or legal sense here. The practice of selling debtors as slaves is in view (Exod 21:2-11; Lev 25:35-55; Deut 15:12-18) See the note at Exod 21:8 and G. C. Chirichigno, Debt-Slavery in Israel and the Ancient Near East (JSOTSup). Probably the only “crime” the victim had committed was being unable to pay back a loan or an exorbitant interest rate on a loan. Some have suggested that this verse refers to bribery in legal proceedings: The innocent are “sold” in the sense that those in power pay off the elders or judges for favorable decisions (5:12; cf. Exod 23:6-7).

[2:6]  ⁵ tn Perhaps the expression “for a pair of sandals” indicates a relatively small price or debt. Some suggest that the sandals may have been an outward token of a more substantial purchase price. Others relate the sandals to a ritual attached to the transfer of property, signifying here that the poor would be losing their inherited family lands because of debt (Ruth 4:7; cf. Deut 25:8-10). Still others emend the Hebrew form slightly to נֶעְלָם (ne’lam, “hidden thing”; from the root עָלַם, ’alam, “to hide”) and understand this as referring to a bribe.

[3:1]  ⁶ tn Or “about.”

[3:1]  ⁷ tn One might expect a third person verb form (“he brought up”), since the Lord apparently refers to himself in the third person in the preceding sentence. This first person form, however, serves to connect this message to the earlier indictment (2:10) and anticipates the words of the following verse.

[3:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in the day.”

[3:14]  ¹² tn Heb “his.” With the referent “Israel” here, this amounts to a collective singular.

[3:14]  ¹³ tn Traditionally, “transgressions, sins,” but see the note on the word “crimes” in 1:3.

[3:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “punish” (so NASB, NRSV).

[3:14]  ¹⁵ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[3:14]  ¹⁶ sn The horns of an ancient altar projected upwards from the four corners and resembled an animal’s horns in appearance. Fugitives could seek asylum by grabbing hold of these corners (see Exod 21:14; 1 Kgs 1:50; 2:28). When the altar’s horns were cut off, there would be no place of asylum left for the Lord’s enemies.

[4:5]  ¹⁶ sn For the background of the thank offering of bread made with yeast, see Lev 7:13.

[4:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “proclaim voluntary offerings, announce.”

[5:3]  ²¹ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ²² 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]  ²³ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ²⁴ 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).

[6:1]  ²⁶ tn On the Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy; “ah, woe”) as a term of mourning, see the notes in 5:16, 18.

[6:1]  ²⁷ sn Zion is a reference to Jerusalem.

[6:1]  ²⁸ tn The words “They think of themselves as” are supplied in the translation for clarification. In the Hebrew text the term נְקֻבֵי (nÿquvey; “distinguished ones, elite”) is in apposition to the substantival participles in the first line.

[6:1]  ²⁹ tn Heb “house.”

[6:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “comes to them.”

[6:14]  ³¹ tn Or “raise up” (KJV, NASB); NIV “stir up.”

[6:14]  ³² tn Heb “house.”

[6:14]  ³³ sn Once again there is irony in the divine judgment. The oppressive nation itself will suffer oppression. The verb “oppress” (לָחַץ, lakhats) in this verse is not the same as that used in 4:1 (עָשַׁק, ’ashaq).

[6:14]  ³⁴ tn Or “from the entrance to Hamath.” The Hebrew term לְבוֹא (lÿvo’) can either be translated or considered a part of the place name.

[6:14]  ³⁵ sn Lebo-Hamath refers to the northern border of Israel, the Stream of the Arabah to its southern border. See 2 Kgs 14:25. Through this invader the Lord would reverse the victories and territorial expansion Israel experienced during the reign of Jeroboam II.

[7:16]  ³⁶ tn The verb, which literally means “to drip,” appears to be a synonym of “to prophesy,” but it might carry a derogatory tone here, perhaps alluding to the impassioned, frenzied way in which prophets sometimes delivered their messages. If so, one could translate, “to drivel; to foam at the mouth” (see HALOT 694 s.v. נטף).

[9:9]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “like being shaken with a sieve, and a pebble does not fall to the ground.” The meaning of the Hebrew word צְרוֹר (tsÿror), translated “pebble,” is unclear here. In 2 Sam 17:13 it appears to refer to a stone. If it means “pebble,” then the sieve described in v. 6 allows the grain to fall into a basket while retaining the debris and pebbles. However, if one interprets צְרוֹר as a “kernel of grain” (cf. NASB, NIV, NKJV, NLT) then the sieve is constructed to retain the grain and allow the refuse and pebbles to fall to the ground. In either case, the simile supports the last statement in v. 8 by making it clear that God will distinguish between the righteous (the grain) and the wicked (the pebbles) when he judges, and will thereby preserve a remnant in Israel. Only the sinners will be destroyed (v. 10).