Amos 3:2

3:2 “I have chosen ¹  you alone from all the clans of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all your sins.”

Amos 3:2

3:2 “I have chosen ²  you alone from all the clans of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all your sins.”

Amos 1:1

Introduction

1:1 The following is a record of what Amos prophesied. ³  He ⁴  was one of the herdsmen from Tekoa. These prophecies about Israel were revealed to him ⁵  during the time of ⁶  King Uzziah of Judah and ⁷  King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake. ⁸ 

Jeremiah 9:25-26

9:25 The Lord says, “Watch out! ⁹  The time is soon coming when I will punish all those who are circumcised only in the flesh. ¹⁰  9:26 That is, I will punish the Egyptians, the Judeans, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and all the desert people who cut their hair short at the temples. ¹¹  I will do so because none of the people of those nations are really circumcised in the Lord’s sight. ¹²  Moreover, none of the people of Israel ¹³  are circumcised when it comes to their hearts.” ¹⁴ 

Hosea 5:12-13

The Curse of the Incurable Wound

5:12 I will be like a moth to Ephraim,

like wood rot ¹⁵  to the house of Judah.

5:13 When Ephraim saw ¹⁶  his sickness

and Judah saw his wound,

then Ephraim turned ¹⁷  to Assyria,

and begged ¹⁸  its great king ¹⁹  for help.

But he will not be able to heal you!

He cannot cure your wound! ²⁰ 

Hosea 6:11

6:11 I have appointed a time to reap judgment ²¹  for you also, O Judah!

If Israel Would Repent of Sin, God Would Relent of Judgment

Whenever I want to restore the fortunes of my people, ²² 

Hosea 12:2

12:2 The Lord also has a covenant lawsuit ²³  against Judah;

he will punish Jacob according to his ways

and repay him according to his deeds.

[3:2]  ¹ tn Heb “You only have I known.” The Hebrew verb יָדַע (yada’) is used here in its covenantal sense of “recognize in a special way.”

[3:2]  ² tn Heb “You only have I known.” The Hebrew verb יָדַע (yada’) is used here in its covenantal sense of “recognize in a special way.”

[1:1]  ³ tn Heb “The words of Amos.” Among the prophetic books this opening phrase finds a parallel only at Jer 1:1 but is not that uncommon in other genres (note, e.g., Prov 30:1; 31:1; Eccl 1:1; Neh 1:1).

[1:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “who.” Here a new sentence has been started in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “which he saw concerning Israel.”

[1:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the days of.”

[1:1]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew text repeats, “and in the days of.” This phrase has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:1]  ⁸ sn This refers to a well-known earthquake that occurred during the first half of the 8th century b.c. According to a generally accepted dating system, Uzziah was a co-regent with his father Amaziah from 792-767 b.c. and ruled independently from 767-740 b.c. Jeroboam II was a co-regent with his father Joash from 793-782 b.c. and ruled independently from 782-753 b.c. Since only Uzziah and Jeroboam are mentioned in the introduction it is likely that Amos’ mission to Israel and the earthquake which followed occurred between 767-753 b.c. The introduction validates the genuine character of Amos’ prophetic ministry in at least two ways: (1) Amos was not a native Israelite or a prophet by trade. Rather he was a herdsman in Tekoa, located in Judah. His mere presence in the northern kingdom as a prophet was evidence that he had been called by God (see 7:14-15). (2) The mighty earthquake shortly after Amos’ ministry would have been interpreted as an omen or signal of approaching judgment. The clearest references to an earthquake are 1:1 and 9:1, 5. It is possible that the verb הָפַךְ (hafakh, “overturn”) at 3:13-15, 4:11, 6:11, and 8:8 also refers to an earthquake, as might the descriptions at 2:13 and 6:9-10. Evidence of a powerful earthquake has been correlated with a destruction layer at Hazor and other sites. Its lasting impact is evident by its mention in Zech 14:5 and 2 Chr 26:16-21. Earthquake imagery appears in later prophets as well (cf. D. N. Freedman and A. Welch, “Amos’s Earthquake and Israelite Prophecy,” Scripture and Other Artifacts, 188-98). On the other hand, some of these verses in Amos could allude to the devastation that would be caused by the imminent military invasion.

[9:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “Behold!”

[9:25]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “punish all who are circumcised in the flesh.” The translation is contextually motivated to better bring out the contrast that follows.

[9:26]  ¹¹ tn Heb “all those who are cut off on the side of the head who live in the desert.” KJV and some other English versions (e.g., NIV “who live in the desert in distant places”; NLT “who live in distant places”) have followed the interpretation that this is a biform of an expression meaning “end or remote parts of the [far] corners [of the earth].” This interpretation is generally abandoned by the more recent commentaries and lexicons (see, e.g. BDB 802 s.v. פֵּאָה 1 and HALOT 858 s.v. פֵּאָה 1.β). It occurs also in 25:33; 49:32.

[9:26]  ¹² tn Heb “For all of these nations are uncircumcised.” The words “I will do so” are supplied in the translation to indicate the connection with the preceding statement.

[9:26]  ¹³ tn Heb “house of Israel.”

[9:26]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “And all the house of Israel is uncircumcised of heart.”

[5:12]  ¹⁵ tn The noun רָקָב (raqav, “rottenness, decay”) refers to wood rot caused by the ravages of worms (BDB 955 s.v. רָקָב); cf. NLT “dry rot.” The related noun רִקָּבוֹן (riqqavon) refers to “rotten wood” (Job 41:27).

[5:13]  ¹⁶ tn Hosea employs three preterites (vayyiqtol forms) in verse 13a-b to describe a past-time situation.

[5:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “went to” (so NAB, NRSV, TEV); CEV “asked help from.”

[5:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “sent to” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[5:13]  ¹⁹ tc The MT reads מֶלֶךְ יָרֵב (melekh yarev, “a contentious king”). This is translated as a proper name (“king Jareb”) by KJV, ASV, NASB. However, the stative adjective יָרֵב (“contentious”) is somewhat awkward. The words should be redivided as an archaic genitive-construct מַלְכִּי רָב (malki rav, “great king”; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) which preserves the old genitive hireq yod ending. This is the equivalent of the Assyrian royal epithet sarru rabbu (“the great king”). See also the tc note on the same phrase in 10:6.

[5:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “your wound will not depart from you.”

[6:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “a harvest is appointed for you also, O Judah” (similar ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[6:11]  ²² tc In the verse divisions of the MT (Leningrad Codex and Aleppo Codex), this is the last line of 6:11. However, the BHK and BHS editors suggest that it belongs with the beginning of 7:1. The ancient versions (Greek, Syriac, Latin) all reflect textual traditions that connect it with 6:11. The English versions are divided: some connect it with 6:11 (KJV, NASB, NLT), while others connect it with 7:1 (RSV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NJPS). The parallelism between this line and 7:1a favors connecting it with 7:1.

[12:2]  ²³ tn The noun רִיב (riv, “dispute”) is used in two contexts: (1) nonlegal contexts: (a) “dispute” between individuals (e.g., Gen 13:7; Isa 58:1; Jer 15:10) or (b) “brawl, quarrel” between people (e.g., Exod 17:7; Deut 25:1); and (2) legal contexts: (a) “lawsuit, legal process” (e.g., Exod 23:3-6; Deut 19:17; 21:5; Ezek 44:24; Ps 35:23), (b) “lawsuit, legal case” (e.g., Deut 1:12; 17:8; Prov 18:17; 25:9), and (c) God’s “lawsuit” on behalf of a person or against his own people (Hos 4:1; 12:3; Mic 6:2; HALOT 1225-26 s.v. רִיב). The term in Hosea refers to a covenant lawsuit in which Yahweh, the suzerain, lodges a legal case against his disobedient vassal, accusing Israel and Judah of breach of covenant which will elicit the covenant curses. Cf. NLT “is bringing a lawsuit.”