Amos 5:9

5:9 He flashes ¹  destruction down upon the strong

so that destruction overwhelms ²  the fortified places.)

Amos 3:10

3:10 “They do not know how to do what is right.” (The Lord is speaking.)

“They store up ³  the spoils of destructive violence ⁴  in their fortresses.

Amos 4:11

4:11 “I overthrew some of you the way God ⁵  overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. ⁶ 

You were like a burning stick ⁷  snatched from the flames.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 1:4

1:4 So I will set Hazael’s house ⁸  on fire;

fire ⁹  will consume Ben Hadad’s ¹⁰  fortresses.

Amos 6:6

6:6 They drink wine from sacrificial bowls, ¹¹ 

and pour the very best oils on themselves. ¹² 

Yet they are not concerned over ¹³  the ruin ¹⁴  of Joseph.

Amos 3:15

3:15 I will destroy both the winter and summer houses. ¹⁵ 

The houses filled with ivory ¹⁶  will be ruined,

the great ¹⁷  houses will be swept away.” ¹⁸ 

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 1:8

1:8 I will remove ¹⁹  the ruler ²⁰  from Ashdod, ²¹ 

the one who holds the royal scepter from Ashkelon. ²² 

I will strike Ekron ²³  with my hand; ²⁴ 

the rest of the Philistines will also die.” ²⁵ 

The sovereign Lord has spoken!

Amos 2:9

2:9 For Israel’s sake I destroyed the Amorites. ²⁶ 

They were as tall as cedars ²⁷ 

and as strong as oaks,

but I destroyed the fruit on their branches ²⁸ 

and their roots in the ground. ²⁹ 

Amos 3:14

3:14 “Certainly when ³⁰  I punish Israel for their ³¹  covenant transgressions, ³² 

I will destroy ³³  Bethel’s ³⁴  altars.

The horns ³⁵  of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.

Amos 4:9

4:9 “I destroyed your crops ³⁶  with blight and disease.

Locusts kept ³⁷  devouring your orchards, ³⁸  vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 5:6

5:6 Seek the Lord so you can live!

Otherwise he will break out ³⁹  like fire against Joseph’s ⁴⁰  family; ⁴¹ 

the fire ⁴²  will consume

and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. ⁴³ 

Amos 9:8

9:8 Look, the sovereign Lord is watching ⁴⁴  the sinful nation, ⁴⁵ 

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

But I will not completely destroy the family ⁴⁶  of Jacob,” says the Lord.

[5:9]  ¹ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew verb בָּלַג (balag, translated here “flashes”) is uncertain.

[5:9]  ² tn Heb “comes upon.” Many prefer to repoint the verb as Hiphil and translate, “he brings destruction upon the fortified places.”

[3:10]  ³ tn Heb “those who.”

[3:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “violence and destruction.” The expression “violence and destruction” stand metonymically for the goods the oppressors have accumulated by their unjust actions.

[4:11]  ⁵ tn Several English versions substitute the first person pronoun (“I”) here for stylistic reasons (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[4:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “like God’s overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.” The divine name may be used in an idiomatic superlative sense here, in which case one might translate, “like the great [or “disastrous”] overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.”

[4:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “like that which is burning.”

[1:4]  ⁷ tn “Hazael’s house” (“the house of Hazael”) refers to the dynasty of Hazael.

[1:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:4]  ⁹ sn Ben-hadad may refer to Hazael’s son and successor (2 Kgs 13:3, 24) or to an earlier king (see 1 Kgs 20), perhaps the ruler whom Hazael assassinated when he assumed power.

[6:6]  ⁹ sn Perhaps some religious rite is in view, or the size of the bowls is emphasized (i.e., bowls as large as sacrificial bowls).

[6:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “with the best of oils they anoint [themselves].”

[6:6]  ¹¹ tn Or “not sickened by.”

[6:6]  ¹² sn The ruin of Joseph may refer to the societal disintegration in Israel, or to the effects of the impending judgment.

[3:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the winter house along with the summer house.”

[3:15]  ¹² tn Heb “houses of ivory.” These houses were not made of ivory, but they had ivory panels and furniture decorated with ivory inlays. See P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 139-48.

[3:15]  ¹³ tn Or “many,” cf. NAB “their many rooms.”

[3:15]  ¹⁴ tn The translation assumes the form is from the Hebrew verb סָפָה (safah, “to sweep away”) rather than סוּף (suf, “to come to an end”), which is the choice of most versions. Either option effectively communicates the destruction of the structures.

[1:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “cut off.”

[1:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the one who sits.” Some translations take this expression as a collective singular referring to the inhabitants rather than the ruler (e.g., NAB, NRSV, NLT).

[1:8]  ¹⁵ sn Ashdod was one of the five major Philistine cities (along with Ashkelon, Ekron, Gaza, and Gath).

[1:8]  ¹⁶ sn Ashkelon was one of the five major Philistine cities (along with Ashdod, Ekron, Gaza, and Gath).

[1:8]  ¹⁷ sn Ekron was one of the five major Philistine cities (along with Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gaza, and Gath).

[1:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “I will turn my hand against Ekron.” For other uses of the idiom, “turn the hand against,” see Ps 81:14; Isa 1:25; Jer 6:9; Zech 13:7.

[1:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and the remnant of the Philistines will perish.” The translation above assumes that reference is made to other Philistines beside those living in the cities mentioned. Another option is to translate, “Every last Philistine will die.”

[2:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I destroyed the Amorites from before them.” The translation takes מִפְּנֵי (mippÿney) in the sense of “for the sake of.” See BDB 818 s.v. פָּנֻה II.6.a and H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos (Hermeneia), 134. Another option is to take the phrase in a spatial sense, “I destroyed the Amorites, [clearing them out] from before them [i.e., Israel]” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[2:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “whose height was like the height of cedars.”

[2:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “his fruit from above.”

[2:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and his roots from below.”

[3:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in the day.”

[3:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “his.” With the referent “Israel” here, this amounts to a collective singular.

[3:14]  ¹⁹ tn Traditionally, “transgressions, sins,” but see the note on the word “crimes” in 1:3.

[3:14]  ²⁰ tn Heb “punish” (so NASB, NRSV).

[3:14]  ²¹ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[3:14]  ²² sn The horns of an ancient altar projected upwards from the four corners and resembled an animal’s horns in appearance. Fugitives could seek asylum by grabbing hold of these corners (see Exod 21:14; 1 Kgs 1:50; 2:28). When the altar’s horns were cut off, there would be no place of asylum left for the Lord’s enemies.

[4:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “you.” By metonymy the crops belonging to these people are meant. See the remainder of this verse, which describes the agricultural devastation caused by locusts.

[4:9]  ²⁰ tn The Hiphil infinitive construct is taken adverbially (“kept”) and connected to the activity of the locusts (NJPS). It also could be taken with the preceding sentence and related to the Lord’s interventions (“I kept destroying,” cf. NEB, NJB, NIV, NRSV), or it could be understood substantivally in construct with the following nouns (“Locusts devoured your many orchards,” cf. NASB; cf. also KJV, NKJV).

[4:9]  ²¹ tn Or “gardens.”

[5:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “rush.” The verb depicts swift movement.

[5:6]  ²² sn Here Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.

[5:6]  ²³ tn Heb “house.”

[5:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:6]  ²⁵ 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.”

[9:8]  ²³ tn Heb “the eyes of the sovereign Lord are on.”

[9:8]  ²⁴ tn Or “kingdom.”

[9:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).