Amos 9:13

9:13 “Be sure of this, ¹  the time is ²  coming,” says the Lord,

“when the plowman will catch up to the reaper ³ 

and the one who stomps the grapes ⁴  will overtake ⁵  the planter. ⁶ 

Juice will run down the slopes, ⁷ 

it will flow down all the hillsides. ⁸ 

Amos 4:13

4:13 For here he is!

He ⁹  formed the mountains and created the wind.

He reveals ¹⁰  his plans ¹¹  to men.

He turns the dawn into darkness ¹² 

and marches on the heights of the earth.

The Lord, the God who commands armies, ¹³  is his name!”

[9:13]  ¹ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[9:13]  ² tn Heb “the days are.”

[9:13]  ³ sn The plowman will catch up to the reaper. Plowing occurred in October-November, and harvesting in April-May (see P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 109.) But in the future age of restored divine blessing, there will be so many crops the reapers will take all summer to harvest them, and it will be time for plowing again before the harvest is finished.

[9:13]  ⁴ sn When the grapes had been harvested, they were placed in a press where workers would stomp on them with their feet and squeeze out the juice. For a discussion of grape harvesting technique, see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 110-12.

[9:13]  ⁵ tn The verb is omitted here in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation from the parallel line.

[9:13]  ⁶ sn The grape harvest occurred in August-September, planting in November-December (see P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 109). But in the future age described here there will be so many grapes the workers who stomp them will still be working when the next planting season arrives.

[9:13]  ⁷ tn Or “hills,” where the vineyards were planted.

[9:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “and all the hills will melt.”

[4:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “For look, the one who.” This verse is considered to be the first hymnic passage in the book. The others appear at 5:8-9 and 9:5-6. Scholars debate whether these verses were originally part of a single hymn or three distinct pieces deliberately placed in each context for particular effect.

[4:13]  ¹⁰ tn Or “declares” (NAB, NASB).

[4:13]  ¹¹ tn Or “his thoughts.” The translation assumes that the pronominal suffix refers to God and that divine self-revelation is in view (see 3:7). If the suffix refers to the following term אָדַם (’adam, “men”), then the expression refers to God’s ability to read men’s minds.

[4:13]  ¹² tn Heb “he who makes dawn, darkness.” The meaning of the statement is unclear. The present translation assumes that allusion is made to God’s approaching judgment, when the light of day will be turned to darkness (see 5:20). Other options include: (1) “He makes the dawn [and] the darkness.” A few Hebrew mss, as well as the LXX, add the conjunction (“and”) between the two nouns. (2) “He turns darkness into glimmering dawn” (NJPS). See S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 154), who takes שָׁחַר (shakhar) as “blackness” rather than “dawn” and עֵיפָה (’efah) as “glimmering dawn” rather than “darkness.”

[4:13]  ¹³ tn Traditionally, “God of hosts.”