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 4:13

4:13 For here he is!

He ⁷  formed the mountains and created the wind.

He reveals ⁸  his plans ⁹  to men.

He turns the dawn into darkness ¹⁰ 

and marches on the heights of the earth.

The Lord, the God who commands armies, ¹¹  is his name!”

[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.”

[4:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “For look, the one who.” This verse is considered to be the first hymnic passage in the book. The others appear at 5:8-9 and 9:5-6. Scholars debate whether these verses were originally part of a single hymn or three distinct pieces deliberately placed in each context for particular effect.

[4:13]  ⁸ tn Or “declares” (NAB, NASB).

[4:13]  ⁹ tn Or “his thoughts.” The translation assumes that the pronominal suffix refers to God and that divine self-revelation is in view (see 3:7). If the suffix refers to the following term אָדַם (’adam, “men”), then the expression refers to God’s ability to read men’s minds.

[4:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he who makes dawn, darkness.” The meaning of the statement is unclear. The present translation assumes that allusion is made to God’s approaching judgment, when the light of day will be turned to darkness (see 5:20). Other options include: (1) “He makes the dawn [and] the darkness.” A few Hebrew mss, as well as the LXX, add the conjunction (“and”) between the two nouns. (2) “He turns darkness into glimmering dawn” (NJPS). See S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 154), who takes שָׁחַר (shakhar) as “blackness” rather than “dawn” and עֵיפָה (’efah) as “glimmering dawn” rather than “darkness.”

[4:13]  ¹¹ tn Traditionally, “God of hosts.”