Amos 8:4

8:4 Listen to this, you who trample ¹  the needy,

and do away with ²  the destitute in the land.

Amos 3:13

3:13 Listen and warn ³  the family ⁴  of Jacob! ⁵ 

The sovereign Lord, the God who commands armies, ⁶  is speaking!

Amos 5:1

Death is Imminent

5:1 Listen to this funeral song I am ready to sing about you, ⁷  family ⁸  of Israel:

Amos 3:1

Every Effect has its Cause

3:1 Listen, you Israelites, to this message which the Lord is proclaiming against ⁹  you! This message is for the entire clan I brought up ¹⁰  from the land of Egypt:

Amos 4:1

4:1 Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan ¹¹  who live on Mount Samaria!

You ¹²  oppress the poor;

you crush the needy.

You say to your ¹³  husbands,

“Bring us more to drink!” ¹⁴ 

[8:4]  ¹ tn See the note on the word “trample” in 2:7.

[8:4]  ² tn Or “put an end to”; or “exterminate.”

[3:13]  ³ tn Or “testify against.”

[3:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “house.”

[3:13]  ⁵ tn These words are spoken to either the unidentified heralds addressed at the beginning of v. 9, or to the Egyptians and Philistines (see v. 9b). Another possibility is that one is not to look for a specific addressee but rather appreciate the command simply as a rhetorical device to grab the attention of the listeners and readers of the prophetic message.

[3:13]  ⁶ tn Traditionally, “the God of hosts.”

[5:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “Listen to this word which I am about to take up against you, a funeral song.”

[5:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “house.”

[3:1]  ⁷ tn Or “about.”

[3:1]  ⁸ tn One might expect a third person verb form (“he brought up”), since the Lord apparently refers to himself in the third person in the preceding sentence. This first person form, however, serves to connect this message to the earlier indictment (2:10) and anticipates the words of the following verse.

[4:1]  ⁹ sn The expression cows of Bashan is used by the prophet to address the wealthy women of Samaria, who demand that their husbands satisfy their cravings. The derogatory language perhaps suggests that they, like the livestock of Bashan, were well fed, ironically in preparation for the coming slaughter. This phrase is sometimes cited to critique the book’s view of women.

[4:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the ones who” (three times in this verse).

[4:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “their.”

[4:1]  ¹² sn Some commentators relate this scene to the description of the marzeah feast of 6:3-6, in which drinking played a prominent part (see the note at 6:6).