Amos 7:2-5

7:2 When they had completely consumed the earth’s vegetation, I said,

“Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! ¹ 

How can Jacob survive? ² 

He is too weak!” ³ 

7:3 The Lord decided not to do this. ⁴  “It will not happen,” the Lord said.

7:4 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw ⁵  the sovereign Lord summoning a shower of fire. ⁶  It consumed the great deep and devoured the fields.

7:5 I said, “Sovereign Lord, stop!

How can Jacob survive? ⁷ 

He is too weak!” ⁸ 

[7:2]  ¹ tn “Israel” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:2]  ² tn Heb “stand” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[7:2]  ³ tn Heb “small.”

[7:3]  ⁴ tn Or “changed his mind about this.”

[7:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[7:4]  ⁶ 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).

[7:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “stand.”

[7:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “small.”