Amos 8:10

8:10 I will turn your festivals into funerals, ¹ 

and all your songs into funeral dirges.

I will make everyone wear funeral clothes ² 

and cause every head to be shaved bald. ³ 

I will make you mourn as if you had lost your only son; ⁴ 

when it ends it will indeed have been a bitter day. ⁵ 

Amos 5:16

5:16 Because of Israel’s sins ⁶  this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, ⁷  says:

“In all the squares there will be wailing,

in all the streets they will mourn the dead. ⁸ 

They will tell the field workers ⁹  to lament

and the professional mourners ¹⁰  to wail.

[8:10]  ¹ tn Heb “mourning.”

[8:10]  ² tn Heb “I will place sackcloth on all waists.”

[8:10]  ³ tn Heb “and make every head bald.” This could be understood in a variety of ways, while the ritual act of mourning typically involved shaving the head (although occasionally the hair could be torn out as a sign of mourning).

[8:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “I will make it like the mourning for an only son.”

[8:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “and its end will be like a bitter day.” The Hebrew preposition כְּ (kaf) sometimes carries the force of “in every respect,” indicating identity rather than mere comparison.

[5:16]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[5:16]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Or “farmers” (NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[5:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “those who know lamentation.”