Discovery BoxAmos 3:12
Context3:12 This is what the Lord says:
“Just as a shepherd salvages from the lion’s mouth a couple of leg bones or a piece of an ear,
so the Israelites who live in Samaria will be salvaged. 1
They will be left with just a corner of a bed, 2
and a part 3 of a couch.”
Amos 5:11
Context5:11 Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops 4
and exact a grain tax from them,
you will not live in the houses you built with chiseled stone,
nor will you drink the wine from the fine 5 vineyards you planted. 6
Amos 5:16
Context5:16 Because of Israel’s sins 7 this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, 8 says:
“In all the squares there will be wailing,
in all the streets they will mourn the dead. 9
They will tell the field workers 10 to lament
and the professional mourners 11 to wail.
Amos 7:17
Context7:17 “Therefore this is what the Lord says:
‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the streets 12
and your sons and daughters will die violently. 13
Your land will be given to others 14
and you will die in a foreign 15 land.
Israel will certainly be carried into exile 16 away from its land.’”
[3:12] 1 sn The verb translated salvaged, though often used in a positive sense of deliverance from harm, is here employed in a sarcastic manner. A shepherd would attempt to salvage part of an animal to prove that a predator had indeed killed it. In this way he could prove that he had not stolen the missing animal and absolve himself from any responsibility to repay the owner (see Exod 22:12-13).
[3:12] 2 tn Heb “with a corner of a bed.”
[3:12] 3 tn The meaning of the Hebrew word דְּמֶשֶׁק (dÿmesheq), which occurs only here, is uncertain. If not emended, it is usually related to the term ַדּמֶּשֶׂק (dammeseq) and translated as the “Damask linens” of the bed (cf. NASB “the cover”) or as “in Damascus” (so KJV, NJB, NIV). The differences in spelling (Damascus is spelled correctly in 5:27), historical considerations, and the word order make both of these derivations unlikely. Many emendations have been proposed (e.g., “a part from the foot [of a bed],” based on a different division of the Hebrew letters (cf. NEB, NRSV); “on the edge,” based on a Hebrew term not attested in the Bible (NKJV). Some suggest a resemblance to an Akkadian term which means “sideboard [of a bed],” which is sometimes incorrectly rendered “headboard” (NJPS; see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 121-22). Most likely another part of a bed or couch is in view, but it is difficult to be more specific.
[5:11] 4 tn Traditionally, “because you trample on the poor” (cf. KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). The traditional view derives the verb from בּוּס (bus, “to trample”; cf. Isa. 14:25), but more likely it is cognate to an Akkadian verb meaning “to exact an agricultural tax” (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 49; S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 172-73).
[5:11] 5 tn Or “lovely”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “pleasant”; NAB “choice”; NIV “lush.”
[5:11] 6 tn Heb “Houses of chiseled stone you built, but you will not live in them. Fine vineyards you planted, but you will not drink their wine.”
[5:16] 7 tn Heb “Therefore.” This logical connector relates back to the accusation of vv. 10-13, not to the parenthetical call to repentance in vv. 14-15. To indicate this clearly, the phrase “Because of Israel’s sins” is used in the translation.
[5:16] 8 tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
[5:16] 9 tn Heb “they will say, ‘Ah! Ah!’” The Hebrew term הוֹ (ho, “ah, woe”) is an alternate form of הוֹי (hoy), a word used to mourn the dead and express outwardly one’s sorrow. See 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5. This wordplay follows quickly, as v. 18 begins with הוֹי (“woe”).
[5:16] 10 tn Or “farmers” (NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
[5:16] 11 tn Heb “those who know lamentation.”
[7:17] 10 tn Heb “in the city,” that is, “in public.”
[7:17] 11 tn Heb “will fall by the sword.”
[7:17] 12 tn Heb “will be divided up with a [surveyor’s] measuring line.”
[7:17] 13 tn Heb “[an] unclean”; or “[an] impure.” This fate would be especially humiliating for a priest, who was to distinguish between the ritually clean and unclean (see Lev 10:10).
