Amos 8:8-9

8:8 Because of this the earth ¹  will quake, ² 

and all who live in it will mourn.

The whole earth ³  will rise like the River Nile, ⁴ 

it will surge upward ⁵  and then grow calm, ⁶  like the Nile in Egypt. ⁷ 

8:9 In that day,” says the sovereign Lord, “I will make the sun set at noon,

and make the earth dark in the middle of the day. ⁸ 

[8:8]  ¹ tn Or “land” (also later in this verse).

[8:8]  ² tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.

[8:8]  ³ tn Heb “all of it.”

[8:8]  ⁴ tc The MT reads “like the light” (כָאֹר, kha’or; note this term also appears in v. 9), which is commonly understood to be an error for “like the Nile” (כִּיאוֹר, ki’or). See the parallel line and Amos 9:5. The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity. If this emendation is correct, in the Hebrew of Amos “Nile” is actually spelled three slightly different ways.

[8:8]  ⁵ tn Or “churn.”

[8:8]  ⁶ tn Or “sink back down.” The translation assumes the verb שָׁקַע (shaqa’), following the Qere.

[8:8]  ⁷ tn The entire verse is phrased in a series of rhetorical questions which anticipate the answer, “Of course!” (For example, the first line reads, “Because of this will the earth not quake?”). The rhetorical questions entrap the listener in the logic of the judgment of God (cf. 3:3-6; 9:7). The rhetorical questions have been converted to affirmative statements in the translation for clarity.

[8:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “in a day of light.”