Amos 3:9

Samaria Will Fall

3:9 Make this announcement in ¹  the fortresses of Ashdod

and in the fortresses in the land of Egypt.

Say this:

“Gather on the hills around Samaria! ² 

Observe the many acts of violence ³  taking place within the city, ⁴ 

the oppressive deeds ⁵  occurring in it.” ⁶ 

Amos 4:10

4:10 “I sent against you a plague like one of the Egyptian plagues. ⁷ 

I killed your young men with the sword,

along with the horses you had captured.

I made the stench from the corpses ⁸  rise up into your nostrils.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 9:7

9:7 “You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight,” ⁹  says the Lord.

“Certainly I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt,

but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor ¹⁰  and the Arameans from Kir. ¹¹ 

[3:9]  ¹ tn Heb “on” or “over” (also later in this verse).

[3:9]  ² sn Samaria might refer here both to the region and to the capital city (later known as Sebaste). On the other hand, there actually are hills that surround the mound upon which the city was built. The implication is that the nations can come and sit and see from those hills the sin of the capital city and its judgment.

[3:9]  ³ tn The Hebrew noun carries the nuance of “panic” or “confusion.” Here it refers metonymically to the violent deeds that terrorize the oppressed.

[3:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “in her midst” (so NAB, NASB); NIV “among her people.”

[3:9]  ⁵ tn The translation assumes the form is an abstract plural (see Job 35:9; Eccl 4:1). Another option is to understand the form as a substantival passive participle and translate, “the oppressed” (so KJV).

[3:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “within her.”

[4:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “in the manner [or “way”] of Egypt.”

[4:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “of your camps [or “armies”].”

[9:7]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew text has a rhetorical question, “Are you children of Israel not like the Cushites to me?” The rhetorical question has been converted to an affirmative statement in the translation for clarity. See the comment at 8:8.

[9:7]  ¹⁴ sn Caphtor may refer to the island of Crete.

[9:7]  ¹⁵ tn The second half of v. 7 is also phrased as a rhetorical question in the Hebrew text, “Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir?” The translation converts the rhetorical question into an affirmation for clarity.