Amos 3:14

3:14 “Certainly when ¹  I punish Israel for their ²  covenant transgressions, ³ 

I will destroy ⁴  Bethel’s ⁵  altars.

The horns ⁶  of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.

Amos 2:8

2:8 They stretch out on clothing seized as collateral;

they do so right ⁷  beside every altar!

They drink wine bought with the fines they have levied;

they do so right in the temple ⁸  of their God! ⁹ 

Amos 9:1

9:1 I saw the sovereign One ¹⁰  standing by the altar ¹¹  and he said, “Strike the tops of the support pillars, ¹²  so the thresholds shake!

Knock them down on the heads of all the people, ¹³ 

and I will kill the survivors ¹⁴  with the sword.

No one will be able to run away; ¹⁵ 

no one will be able to escape. ¹⁶ 

[3:14]  ¹ tn Heb “in the day.”

[3:14]  ² tn Heb “his.” With the referent “Israel” here, this amounts to a collective singular.

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

[3:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “punish” (so NASB, NRSV).

[3:14]  ⁵ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[3:14]  ⁶ 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.

[2:8]  ⁷ tn The words “They do so right” are supplied twice in the translation of this verse for clarification.

[2:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “house.”

[2:8]  ⁹ tn Or “gods.” The Hebrew term אֱלֹהֵיהֶם (’elohehem) may be translated “their gods” (referring to pagan gods), “their god” (referring to a pagan god, cf. NAB, NIV, NLT), or “their God” (referring to the God of Israel, cf. NASB, NRSV).

[9:1]  ¹³ tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[9:1]  ¹⁴ sn The altar is perhaps the altar at Bethel.

[9:1]  ¹⁵ tn Or “the capitals.” The Hebrew singular form is collective.

[9:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “cut them off on the head of all of them.” The translation assumes the objective suffix on the verb refers to the tops of the pillars and that the following prepositional phrase refers to the people standing beneath. Another option is to take this phrase as referring to the pillars, in which case one could translate, “Knock all the tops of the pillars off.”

[9:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the remnant of them.” One could possibly translate, “every last one of them” (cf. NEB “to the last man”). This probably refers to those who survive the collapse of the temple, which may symbolize the northern kingdom.

[9:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a fugitive belonging to them will not run away.”

[9:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “a survivor belonging to them will not escape.”