Isaiah 14:1-2

14:1 The Lord will certainly have compassion on Jacob; ¹  he will again choose Israel as his special people ²  and restore ³  them to their land. Resident foreigners will join them and unite with the family ⁴  of Jacob. 14:2 Nations will take them and bring them back to their own place. Then the family of Jacob will make foreigners their servants as they settle in the Lord’s land. ⁵  They will make their captors captives and rule over the ones who oppressed them.

Joel 3:19-21

3:19 Egypt will be desolate

and Edom will be a desolate wilderness,

because of the violence they did to the people of Judah, ⁶ 

in whose land they shed innocent blood.

3:20 But Judah will reside securely forever,

and Jerusalem will be secure ⁷  from one generation to the next.

3:21 I will avenge ⁸  their blood which I had not previously acquitted.

It is the Lord who dwells in Zion!

Amos 9:11-15

The Restoration of the Davidic Dynasty

9:11 “In that day I will rebuild the collapsing hut ⁹  of David.

I will seal its ¹⁰  gaps,

repair its ¹¹  ruins,

and restore it to what it was like in days gone by. ¹² 

9:12 As a result they ¹³  will conquer those left in Edom ¹⁴ 

and all the nations subject to my rule.” ¹⁵ 

The Lord, who is about to do this, is speaking!

9:13 “Be sure of this, ¹⁶  the time is ¹⁷  coming,” says the Lord,

“when the plowman will catch up to the reaper ¹⁸ 

and the one who stomps the grapes ¹⁹  will overtake ²⁰  the planter. ²¹ 

Juice will run down the slopes, ²² 

it will flow down all the hillsides. ²³ 

9:14 I will bring back my people, Israel; ²⁴ 

they will rebuild the cities lying in rubble ²⁵  and settle down. ²⁶ 

They will plant vineyards and drink the wine they produce; ²⁷ 

they will grow orchards ²⁸  and eat the fruit they produce. ²⁹ 

9:15 I will plant them on their land

and they will never again be uprooted from the ³⁰  land I have given them,”

says the Lord your God.

[14:1]  ¹ tn The sentence begins with כִּי (ki), which is understood as asseverative (“certainly”) in the translation. Another option is to translate, “For the Lord will have compassion.” In this case one of the reasons for Babylon’s coming demise (13:22b) is the Lord’s desire to restore his people.

[14:1]  ² tn The words “as his special people” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[14:1]  ³ tn Or “settle” (NASB, NIV, NCV, NLT).

[14:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “house.”

[14:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the house of Jacob will take possession of them [i.e., the nations], on the land of the Lord, as male servants and female servants.”

[3:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “violence of the sons of Judah.” The phrase “of the sons of Judah” is an objective genitive (cf. KJV “the violence against the children of Judah”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “violence done to the people of Judah”). It refers to injustices committed against the Judeans, not violence that the Judeans themselves had committed against others.

[3:20]  ⁷ tn The phrase “will be secure” does not appear in the Hebrew, but are supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness.

[3:21]  ⁸ tc The present translation follows the reading וְנִקַּמְתִּי (vÿniqqamti, “I will avenge”) rather than וְנִקֵּתִי (vÿniqqeti, “I will acquit”) of the MT.

[9:11]  ⁹ tn The phrase translated “collapsing hut” refers to a temporary shelter (cf. NASB, NRSV “booth”) in disrepair and emphasizes the relatively weakened condition of the once powerful Davidic dynasty. Others have suggested that the term refers to Jerusalem, while still others argue that it should be repointed to read “Sukkoth,” a garrison town in Transjordan. Its reconstruction would symbolize the rebirth of the Davidic empire and its return to power (e.g., M. E. Polley, Amos and the Davidic Empire, 71-74).

[9:11]  ¹⁰ tc The MT reads a third feminine plural suffix, which could refer to the two kingdoms (Judah and Israel) or, more literally, to the breaches in the walls of the cities that are mentioned in v. 4 (cf. 4:3). Some emend to third feminine singular, since the “hut” of the preceding line (a feminine singular noun) might be the antecedent. In that case, the final nun (ן) is virtually dittographic with the vav (ו) that appears at the beginning of the following word.

[9:11]  ¹¹ tc The MT reads a third masculine singular suffix, which could refer back to David. However, it is possible that an original third feminine singular suffix (יה-, yod-hey) has been misread as masculine (יו-, yod-vav). In later Hebrew script a ה (he) resembles a יו- (yod-vav) combination.

[9:11]  ¹² tn Heb “and I will rebuild as in days of antiquity.”

[9:12]  ¹³ sn They probably refers to the Israelites or to the Davidic rulers of the future.

[9:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “take possession of the remnant of Edom”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “possess the remnant of Edom.”

[9:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “nations over whom my name is proclaimed.” The Hebrew idiom indicates ownership, sometimes as a result of conquest. See 2 Sam 12:28.

[9:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[9:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the days are.”

[9:13]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn The verb is omitted here in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation from the parallel line.

[9:13]  ²¹ 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]  ²² tn Or “hills,” where the vineyards were planted.

[9:13]  ²³ tn Heb “and all the hills will melt.”

[9:14]  ²⁴ tn This line can also be translated “I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel” and is a common idiom (e.g., Deut 30:3; Jer 30:3; Hos 6:11; Zeph 3:20). This rendering is followed by several modern English versions (e.g., NEB, NRSV, NJPS).

[9:14]  ²⁵ tn Or “the ruined [or “desolate”] cities.”

[9:14]  ²⁶ tn Or “and live [in them].”

[9:14]  ²⁷ tn Heb “drink their wine.”

[9:14]  ²⁸ tn Or “gardens.”

[9:14]  ²⁹ tn Heb “eat their fruit.”

[9:15]  ³⁰ tn Heb “their.” The pronoun was replaced by the English definite article in the translation for stylistic reasons.