Amos 2:4

2:4 This is what the Lord says:

“Because Judah has committed three covenant transgressions ¹  –

make that four! ²  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ³ 

They rejected the Lord’s law; ⁴ 

they did not obey his commands.

Their false gods, ⁵ 

to which their fathers were loyal, ⁶ 

led them astray.

Amos 2:9

2:9 For Israel’s sake I destroyed the Amorites. ⁷ 

They were as tall as cedars ⁸ 

and as strong as oaks,

but I destroyed the fruit on their branches ⁹ 

and their roots in the ground. ¹⁰ 

Amos 4:9-10

4:9 “I destroyed your crops ¹¹  with blight and disease.

Locusts kept ¹²  devouring your orchards, ¹³  vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

4:10 “I sent against you a plague like one of the Egyptian plagues. ¹⁴ 

I killed your young men with the sword,

along with the horses you had captured.

I made the stench from the corpses ¹⁵  rise up into your nostrils.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 5:11

5:11 Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops ¹⁶ 

and exact a grain tax from them,

you will not live in the houses you built with chiseled stone,

nor will you drink the wine from the fine ¹⁷  vineyards you planted. ¹⁸ 

[2:4]  ¹ tn This is the same Hebrew term that is translated “crimes” in the previous oracles (see at 1:3). The change to “covenant transgressions” reflects the probability that the prophet is condemning the nation of Israel for violating stipulations of the Mosaic Law.

[2:4]  ² tn Heb “Because of three violations of Judah, even because of four.”

[2:4]  sn On the three…four style that introduces each of the judgment oracles of chaps. 1-2 see the note on the word “four” in 1:3.

[2:4]  ³ tn Heb “I will not bring it [or “him”] back.” The translation understands the pronominal object to refer to the decree of judgment that follows; the referent (the decree) has been specified in the translation for clarity. For another option see the note on the word “judgment” in 1:3.

[2:4]  ⁴ tn Or “instruction”; NCV “teachings.”

[2:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “lies.” This may very well be a derogatory term for idols (perhaps also at Ps. 40:4 [Heb 40:5]). Elsewhere false gods are called “vanities” (Deut 32:21; 1 Kgs 16:13, 26) and a delusion (Isa 66:3). In no other prophetic passages, however, are they called “lies.” The term could refer to the deceptions of false prophets (note Ezek 13:6-9; cf. Hab 2:3). See F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos (AB), 301-6.

[2:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “after which their fathers walked.” The expression “to walk after” is an idiom meaning “to be loyal to.” See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 75-76.

[2:4]  sn Here the idolatry of the parents carried over to the children, who persisted in worshiping the idols to which their fathers were loyal.

[2:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “I destroyed the Amorites from before them.” The translation takes מִפְּנֵי (mippÿney) in the sense of “for the sake of.” See BDB 818 s.v. פָּנֻה II.6.a and H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos (Hermeneia), 134. Another option is to take the phrase in a spatial sense, “I destroyed the Amorites, [clearing them out] from before them [i.e., Israel]” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[2:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “whose height was like the height of cedars.”

[2:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “his fruit from above.”

[2:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and his roots from below.”

[4:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “you.” By metonymy the crops belonging to these people are meant. See the remainder of this verse, which describes the agricultural devastation caused by locusts.

[4:9]  ¹² tn The Hiphil infinitive construct is taken adverbially (“kept”) and connected to the activity of the locusts (NJPS). It also could be taken with the preceding sentence and related to the Lord’s interventions (“I kept destroying,” cf. NEB, NJB, NIV, NRSV), or it could be understood substantivally in construct with the following nouns (“Locusts devoured your many orchards,” cf. NASB; cf. also KJV, NKJV).

[4:9]  ¹³ tn Or “gardens.”

[4:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in the manner [or “way”] of Egypt.”

[4:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “of your camps [or “armies”].”

[5:11]  ¹⁶ tn Traditionally, “because you trample on the poor” (cf. KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). The traditional view derives the verb from בּוּס (bus, “to trample”; cf. Isa. 14:25), but more likely it is cognate to an Akkadian verb meaning “to exact an agricultural tax” (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 49; S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 172-73).

[5:11]  ¹⁷ tn Or “lovely”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “pleasant”; NAB “choice”; NIV “lush.”

[5:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Houses of chiseled stone you built, but you will not live in them. Fine vineyards you planted, but you will not drink their wine.”