Amos 4:7-8

4:7 “I withheld rain from you three months before the harvest. ¹ 

I gave rain to one city, but not to another.

One field ²  would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up.

4:8 People from ³  two or three cities staggered into one city to get ⁴  water,

but remained thirsty. ⁵ 

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 6:8

6:8 The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his very own life. ⁶ 

The Lord, the God who commands armies, is speaking:

“I despise Jacob’s arrogance;

I hate their ⁷  fortresses.

I will hand over to their enemies ⁸  the city of Samaria ⁹  and everything in it.”

[4:7]  ¹ sn Rain…three months before the harvest refers to the rains of late March-early April.

[4:7]  ² tn Heb “portion”; KJV, ASV “piece”; NASB “part.” The same word occurs a second time later in this verse.

[4:8]  ³ tn The words “people from” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[4:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “to drink.”

[4:8]  ⁵ tn Or “were not satisfied.”

[6:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “swears by his life”; or “swears by himself.”

[6:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “his,” referring to Jacob, which stands here for the nation of Israel.

[6:8]  ⁷ tn The words “to their enemies” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[6:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “the city”; this probably refers to the city of Samaria (cf. 6:1), which in turn, by metonymy, represents the entire northern kingdom.