Amos 9:5-7

9:5 The sovereign Lord who commands armies will do this. ¹ 

He touches the earth and it dissolves; ² 

all who live on it mourn.

The whole earth ³  rises like the River Nile, ⁴ 

and then grows calm ⁵  like the Nile in Egypt. ⁶ 

9:6 He builds the upper rooms of his palace ⁷  in heaven

and sets its foundation supports ⁸  on the earth. ⁹ 

He summons the water of the sea

and pours it out on the earth’s surface.

The Lord is his name.

9:7 “You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight,” ¹⁰  says the Lord.

“Certainly I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt,

but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor ¹¹  and the Arameans from Kir. ¹² 

[9:5]  ¹ tn The words “will do this” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:5]  ² tn Or “melts.” The verb probably depicts earthquakes and landslides. See v. 5b.

[9:5]  ³ tn Heb “all of it.”

[9:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “the Nile.” The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:5]  ⁵ tn Or “sinks back down.”

[9:5]  ⁶ sn See Amos 8:8, which is very similar to this verse.

[9:6]  ⁷ tc The MT reads “his steps.” If this is correct, then the reference may be to the steps leading up to the heavenly temple or the throne of God (cf. 1 Kgs 10:19-20). The prefixed מ (mem) may be dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem). The translation assumes an emendation to עֲלִיָּתוֹ (’aliyyato, “his upper rooms”).

[9:6]  ⁸ tn Traditionally, “vault” (so ASV, NAB, NRSV). The precise meaning of this word in this context is unclear. Elsewhere it refers to objects grouped or held together. F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman (Amos [AB], 845-46) suggest the foundational structure of a building is in view.

[9:6]  ⁹ sn Verse 6a pictures the entire universe as a divine palace founded on the earth and extending into the heavens.

[9:7]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text has a rhetorical question, “Are you children of Israel not like the Cushites to me?” The rhetorical question has been converted to an affirmative statement in the translation for clarity. See the comment at 8:8.

[9:7]  ¹¹ sn Caphtor may refer to the island of Crete.

[9:7]  ¹² tn The second half of v. 7 is also phrased as a rhetorical question in the Hebrew text, “Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir?” The translation converts the rhetorical question into an affirmation for clarity.