Amos 5:18

The Lord Demands Justice

5:18 Woe ¹  to those who wish for the day of the Lord!

Why do you want the Lord’s day of judgment to come?

It will bring darkness, not light.

Amos 6:8

6:8 The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his very own life. ² 

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

“I despise Jacob’s arrogance;

I hate their ³  fortresses.

I will hand over to their enemies ⁴  the city of Samaria ⁵  and everything in it.”

Amos 7:4

7:4 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw ⁶  the sovereign Lord summoning a shower of fire. ⁷  It consumed the great deep and devoured the fields.

[5:18]  ¹ tn The term הוֹי (hoy, “woe”) was used when mourning the dead (see the note on the word “dead” in 5:16). The prophet here either engages in role playing and mourns the death of the nation in advance or sarcastically taunts those who hold to this misplaced belief.

[6:8]  ² tn Heb “swears by his life”; or “swears by himself.”

[6:8]  ³ tn Heb “his,” referring to Jacob, which stands here for the nation of Israel.

[6:8]  ⁴ tn The words “to their enemies” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[6:8]  ⁵ 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.

[7:4]  ³ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[7:4]  ⁴ tc The Hebrew appears to read, “summoning to contend with fire,” or “summoning fire to contend,” but both are problematic syntactically (H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos [Hermeneia], 292; S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 230-31). Many emend the text to לרבב אשׁ, “(calling) for a shower of fire,” though this interpretation is also problematic (see F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos [AB], 746-47).