Amos 5:16

5:16 Because of Israel’s sins ¹  this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, ²  says:

“In all the squares there will be wailing,

in all the streets they will mourn the dead. ³ 

They will tell the field workers ⁴  to lament

and the professional mourners ⁵  to wail.

Amos 7:8

7:8 The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” I said, “Tin.” The sovereign One then said,

“Look, I am about to place tin among my people Israel.

I will no longer overlook their sin. ⁶ 

Amos 8:11

8:11 Be certain of this, ⁷  the time is ⁸  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! ⁹ 

Amos 9:1

9:1 I saw the sovereign One ¹⁰  standing by the altar ¹¹  and he said, “Strike the tops of the support pillars, ¹²  so the thresholds shake!

Knock them down on the heads of all the people, ¹³ 

and I will kill the survivors ¹⁴  with the sword.

No one will be able to run away; ¹⁵ 

no one will be able to escape. ¹⁶ 

Amos 9:8

9:8 Look, the sovereign Lord is watching ¹⁷  the sinful nation, ¹⁸ 

and I will destroy it from the face of the earth.

But I will not completely destroy the family ¹⁹  of Jacob,” says the Lord.

[5:16]  ¹ tn Heb “Therefore.” This logical connector relates back to the accusation of vv. 10-13, not to the parenthetical call to repentance in vv. 14-15. To indicate this clearly, the phrase “Because of Israel’s sins” is used in the translation.

[5:16]  ² tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[5:16]  ³ tn Heb “they will say, ‘Ah! Ah!’” The Hebrew term הוֹ (ho, “ah, woe”) is an alternate form of הוֹי (hoy), a word used to mourn the dead and express outwardly one’s sorrow. See 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5. This wordplay follows quickly, as v. 18 begins with הוֹי (“woe”).

[5:16]  ⁴ tn Or “farmers” (NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[5:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “those who know lamentation.”

[7:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “And I will no longer pass over him.”

[8:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[8:11]  ¹² tn Heb “the days are.”

[8:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “not a hunger for food or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.”

[9:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[9:1]  ¹⁷ sn The altar is perhaps the altar at Bethel.

[9:1]  ¹⁸ tn Or “the capitals.” The Hebrew singular form is collective.

[9:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “cut them off on the head of all of them.” The translation assumes the objective suffix on the verb refers to the tops of the pillars and that the following prepositional phrase refers to the people standing beneath. Another option is to take this phrase as referring to the pillars, in which case one could translate, “Knock all the tops of the pillars off.”

[9:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the remnant of them.” One could possibly translate, “every last one of them” (cf. NEB “to the last man”). This probably refers to those who survive the collapse of the temple, which may symbolize the northern kingdom.

[9:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “a fugitive belonging to them will not run away.”

[9:1]  ²² tn Heb “a survivor belonging to them will not escape.”

[9:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “the eyes of the sovereign Lord are on.”

[9:8]  ²² tn Or “kingdom.”

[9:8]  ²³ tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).