Amos 2:9

2:9 For Israel’s sake I destroyed the Amorites. ¹ 

They were as tall as cedars ² 

and as strong as oaks,

but I destroyed the fruit on their branches ³ 

and their roots in the ground. ⁴ 

Amos 8:8

8:8 Because of this the earth ⁵  will quake, ⁶ 

and all who live in it will mourn.

The whole earth ⁷  will rise like the River Nile, ⁸ 

it will surge upward ⁹  and then grow calm, ¹⁰  like the Nile in Egypt. ¹¹ 

Amos 9:4

9:4 Even when their enemies drive them into captivity, ¹² 

from there ¹³  I will command the sword to kill them.

I will not let them out of my sight;

they will experience disaster, not prosperity.” ¹⁴ 

[2:9]  ¹ tn Heb “I destroyed the Amorites from before them.” The translation takes מִפְּנֵי (mippÿney) in the sense of “for the sake of.” See BDB 818 s.v. פָּנֻה II.6.a and H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos (Hermeneia), 134. Another option is to take the phrase in a spatial sense, “I destroyed the Amorites, [clearing them out] from before them [i.e., Israel]” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[2:9]  ² tn Heb “whose height was like the height of cedars.”

[2:9]  ³ tn Heb “his fruit from above.”

[2:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “and his roots from below.”

[8:8]  ⁵ tn Or “land” (also later in this verse).

[8:8]  ⁶ tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.

[8:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “all of it.”

[8:8]  ⁸ tc The MT reads “like the light” (כָאֹר, kha’or; note this term also appears in v. 9), which is commonly understood to be an error for “like the Nile” (כִּיאוֹר, ki’or). See the parallel line and Amos 9:5. The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity. If this emendation is correct, in the Hebrew of Amos “Nile” is actually spelled three slightly different ways.

[8:8]  ⁹ tn Or “churn.”

[8:8]  ¹⁰ tn Or “sink back down.” The translation assumes the verb שָׁקַע (shaqa’), following the Qere.

[8:8]  ¹¹ tn The entire verse is phrased in a series of rhetorical questions which anticipate the answer, “Of course!” (For example, the first line reads, “Because of this will the earth not quake?”). The rhetorical questions entrap the listener in the logic of the judgment of God (cf. 3:3-6; 9:7). The rhetorical questions have been converted to affirmative statements in the translation for clarity.

[9:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “Even if they go into captivity before their enemies.”

[9:4]  ¹⁰ tn Or perhaps simply, “there,” if the מ (mem) prefixed to the adverb is dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem).

[9:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I will set my eye on them for disaster, not good.”