Amos 5:6-9

5:6 Seek the Lord so you can live!

Otherwise he will break out ¹  like fire against Joseph’s ²  family; ³ 

the fire ⁴  will consume

and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. ⁵ 

5:7 The Israelites ⁶  turn justice into bitterness; ⁷ 

they throw what is fair and right ⁸  to the ground. ⁹ 

5:8 (But there is one who made the constellations Pleiades and Orion;

he can turn the darkness into morning

and daylight ¹⁰  into night.

He summons the water of the seas

and pours it out on the earth’s surface.

The Lord is his name!

5:9 He flashes ¹¹  destruction down upon the strong

so that destruction overwhelms ¹²  the fortified places.)

[5:6]  ¹ tn Heb “rush.” The verb depicts swift movement.

[5:6]  ² sn Here Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.

[5:6]  ³ tn Heb “house.”

[5:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “to/for Bethel.” The translation assumes that the preposition indicates advantage, “on behalf of.” Another option is to take the preposition as vocative, “O Bethel.”

[5:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “Those who”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity. In light of vv. 11-13, it is also possible that the words are directed at a more limited group within the nation – those with social and economic power.

[5:7]  ⁷ tn There is an interesting wordplay here with the verb הָפַךְ (hafakh, “overturn, turn”). Israel “turns” justice into wormwood (cf. 6:12), while the Lord “turns” darkness into morning (v. 8; cf. 4:11; 8:10). Israel’s turning is for evil, whereas the Lord’s is to demonstrate his absolute power and sovereignty.

[5:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “they throw righteousness.”

[5:7]  ⁹ sn In v. 7 the prophet begins to describe the guilty Israelites, but then interrupts his word picture with a parenthetical, but powerful, description of the judge they must face (vv. 8-9). He resumes his description of the sinners in v. 10.

[5:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “darkens the day into night.”

[5:9]  ¹¹ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew verb בָּלַג (balag, translated here “flashes”) is uncertain.

[5:9]  ¹² tn Heb “comes upon.” Many prefer to repoint the verb as Hiphil and translate, “he brings destruction upon the fortified places.”