Amos 4:1

4:1 Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan ¹  who live on Mount Samaria!

You ²  oppress the poor;

you crush the needy.

You say to your ³  husbands,

“Bring us more to drink!” ⁴ 

Amos 4:13

4:13 For here he is!

He ⁵  formed the mountains and created the wind.

He reveals ⁶  his plans ⁷  to men.

He turns the dawn into darkness ⁸ 

and marches on the heights of the earth.

The Lord, the God who commands armies, ⁹  is his name!”

Amos 8:11

8:11 Be certain of this, ¹⁰  the time is ¹¹  coming,” says the sovereign Lord,

“when I will send a famine through the land –

not a shortage of food or water

but an end to divine revelation! ¹² 

[4:1]  ¹ sn The expression cows of Bashan is used by the prophet to address the wealthy women of Samaria, who demand that their husbands satisfy their cravings. The derogatory language perhaps suggests that they, like the livestock of Bashan, were well fed, ironically in preparation for the coming slaughter. This phrase is sometimes cited to critique the book’s view of women.

[4:1]  ² tn Heb “the ones who” (three times in this verse).

[4:1]  ³ tn Heb “their.”

[4:1]  ⁴ sn Some commentators relate this scene to the description of the marzeah feast of 6:3-6, in which drinking played a prominent part (see the note at 6:6).

[4:13]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Or “declares” (NAB, NASB).

[4:13]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Traditionally, “God of hosts.”

[8:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[8:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the days are.”

[8:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “not a hunger for food or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.”