Amos 8:12-14

8:12 People ¹  will stagger from sea to sea, ² 

and from the north around to the east.

They will wander about looking for a revelation from ³  the Lord,

but they will not find any. ⁴ 

8:13 In that day your ⁵  beautiful young women ⁶  and your ⁷  young men will faint from thirst. ⁸  8:14 These are the ones who now take oaths ⁹  in the name of the sinful idol goddess ¹⁰  of Samaria.

They vow, ¹¹  ‘As surely as your god ¹²  lives, O Dan,’ or ‘As surely as your beloved one ¹³  lives, O Beer Sheba!’

But they will fall down and not get up again.”

[8:12]  ¹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:12]  ² tn That is, from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Dead Sea in the east – that is, across the whole land.

[8:12]  ³ tn Heb “looking for the word of.”

[8:12]  ⁴ tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.

[8:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “the.”

[8:13]  ⁶ tn Or “virgins.”

[8:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “the.”

[8:13]  ⁸ tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.

[8:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “those who swear.”

[8:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the sin [or “guilt”] of Samaria.” This could be a derogatory reference to an idol-goddess popular in the northern kingdom, perhaps Asherah (cf. 2 Chr 24:18, where this worship is labeled “their guilt”), or to the golden calf at the national sanctuary in Bethel (Hos 8:6, 10:8). Some English versions (e.g., NEB, NRSV, CEV) repoint the word and read “Ashimah,” the name of a goddess worshiped in Hamath in Syria (see 2 Kgs 17:30).

[8:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “say.”

[8:14]  ¹² sn Your god is not identified. It may refer to another patron deity who was not the God of Israel, a local manifestation of the Lord that was worshiped by the people there, or, more specifically, the golden calf image erected in Dan by Jeroboam I (see 1 Kgs 12:28-30).

[8:14]  ¹³ tc The MT reads, “As surely as the way [to] Beer Sheba lives,” or “As surely as the way lives, O Beer Sheba.” Perhaps the term דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, “the way”) refers to the pilgrimage route to Beersheba (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 272) or it may be a title for a god. The notion of pilgrimage appears elsewhere in the book (cf. 4:4-5; 5:4-5; 8:12). The translation above assumes an emendation to דֹּדְךְ (dodÿkh, “your beloved” or “relative”; the term also is used in 6:10) and understands this as referring either to the Lord (since other kinship terms are used of him, such as “Father”) or to another deity that was particularly popular in Beer Sheba. Besides the commentaries, see S. M. Olyan, “The Oaths of Amos 8:14” Priesthood and Cult in Ancient Israel, 121-49.