Amos 3:15

3:15 I will destroy both the winter and summer houses. ¹ 

The houses filled with ivory ²  will be ruined,

the great ³  houses will be swept away.” ⁴ 

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 5:11

5:11 Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops ⁵ 

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 ⁶  vineyards you planted. ⁷ 

[3:15]  ¹ tn Heb “the winter house along with the summer house.”

[3:15]  ² tn Heb “houses of ivory.” These houses were not made of ivory, but they had ivory panels and furniture decorated with ivory inlays. See P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 139-48.

[3:15]  ³ tn Or “many,” cf. NAB “their many rooms.”

[3:15]  ⁴ tn The translation assumes the form is from the Hebrew verb סָפָה (safah, “to sweep away”) rather than סוּף (suf, “to come to an end”), which is the choice of most versions. Either option effectively communicates the destruction of the structures.

[5:11]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Or “lovely”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “pleasant”; NAB “choice”; NIV “lush.”

[5:11]  ⁷ 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.”