Amos 6:7

6:7 Therefore they will now be the first to go into exile, ¹ 

and the religious banquets ²  where they sprawl on couches ³  will end.

Amos 1:15

1:15 Ammon’s ⁴  king will be deported; ⁵ 

he and his officials ⁶  will be carried off ⁷  together.”

The Lord has spoken!

Amos 4:3

4:3 Each of you will go straight through the gaps in the walls; ⁸ 

you will be thrown out ⁹  toward Harmon.” ¹⁰ 

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 7:11

7:11 As a matter of fact, ¹¹  Amos is saying this: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel will certainly be carried into exile ¹²  away from its land.’”

Amos 5:5

5:5 Do not seek Bethel! ¹³ 

Do not visit Gilgal!

Do not journey down ¹⁴  to Beer Sheba!

For the people of Gilgal ¹⁵  will certainly be carried into exile; ¹⁶ 

and Bethel will become a place where disaster abounds.” ¹⁷ 

Amos 8:3

8:3 The women singing in the temple ¹⁸  will wail in that day.”

The sovereign Lord is speaking.

“There will be many corpses littered everywhere! ¹⁹  Be quiet!”

Amos 1:6

1:6 This is what the Lord says:

“Because Gaza ²⁰  has committed three crimes ²¹  –

make that four! ²²  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ²³ 

They deported a whole community ²⁴  and sold them ²⁵  to Edom.

Amos 7:17

7:17 “Therefore this is what the Lord says:

‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the streets ²⁶ 

and your sons and daughters will die violently. ²⁷ 

Your land will be given to others ²⁸ 

and you will die in a foreign ²⁹  land.

Israel will certainly be carried into exile ³⁰  away from its land.’”

Amos 1:5

1:5 I will break the bar ³¹  on the gate of Damascus.

I will remove ³²  the ruler ³³  from Wicked Valley, ³⁴ 

the one who holds the royal scepter from Beth Eden. ³⁵ 

The people of Aram will be deported to Kir.” ³⁶ 

The Lord has spoken!

Amos 5:27

5:27 and I will drive you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord.

He is called the God who commands armies!

Amos 9:4

9:4 Even when their enemies drive them into captivity, ³⁷ 

from there ³⁸  I will command the sword to kill them.

I will not let them out of my sight;

they will experience disaster, not prosperity.” ³⁹ 

Amos 1:9

1:9 This is what the Lord says:

“Because Tyre has committed three crimes ⁴⁰  –

make that four! ⁴¹  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ⁴² 

They sold ⁴³  a whole community ⁴⁴  to Edom;

they failed to observe ⁴⁵  a treaty of brotherhood. ⁴⁶ 

Amos 5:25

5:25 You did not bring me ⁴⁷  sacrifices and grain offerings during the forty years you spent in the wilderness, family ⁴⁸  of Israel.

[6:7]  ¹ tn Heb “they will go into exile at the head of the exiles.”

[6:7]  ² sn Religious banquets. This refers to the מַרְזֵחַ (marzeakh), a type of pagan religious banquet popular among the upper class of Israel at this time and apparently associated with mourning. See P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 137-61; J. L. McLaughlin, The “Marzeah” in the Prophetic Literature (VTSup). Scholars debate whether at this banquet the dead were simply remembered or actually venerated in a formal, cultic sense.

[6:7]  ³ tn Heb “of the sprawled out.” See v. 4.

[1:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “their”; the referent (Ammon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “will go into exile.”

[1:15]  ⁶ tn Or “princes” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NLT); TEV “officers”; CEV “leaders.”

[1:15]  ⁷ tn The words “will be carried off” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[4:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “and [through the] breaches you will go out, each straight ahead.”

[4:3]  ⁹ tn The Hiphil verb form has no object. It may be intransitive (F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos [AB], 425), though many emend it to a Hophal.

[4:3]  ¹⁰ tn The meaning of this word is unclear. Many understand it as a place name, though such a location is not known. Some (e.g., H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos [Hermeneia[, 204) emend to “Hermon” or to similarly written words, such as “the dung heap” (NEB, NJPS), “the garbage dump” (NCV), or “the fortress” (cf. NLT “your fortresses”).

[7:11]  ¹¹ tn Or “for.”

[7:11]  ¹² tn See the note on the word “exile” in 5:5.

[5:5]  ¹³ sn Ironically, Israel was to seek after the Lord, but not at Bethel (the name Bethel means “the house of God” in Hebrew).

[5:5]  map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[5:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “cross over.”

[5:5]  sn To worship at Beer Sheba, northern worshipers had to journey down (i.e., cross the border) between Israel and Judah. Apparently, the popular religion of Israel for some included pilgrimage to holy sites in the South.

[5:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “For Gilgal.” By metonymy the place name “Gilgal” is used instead of referring directly to the inhabitants. The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:5]  ¹⁶ tn In the Hebrew text the statement is emphasized by sound play. The name “Gilgal” sounds like the verb גָּלָה (galah, “to go into exile”), which occurs here in the infinitival + finite verb construction (גָּלֹה יִגְלֶה, galoh yigleh). The repetition of the “ג” (g) and “ל” (l) sounds draws attention to the announcement and suggests that Gilgal’s destiny is inherent in its very name.

[5:5]  sn That the people of Gilgal would be taken into exile is ironic, for Gilgal was Israel’s first campsite when the people entered the land under Joshua and the city became a symbol of Israel’s possession of the promised land.

[5:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “disaster,” or “nothing”; NIV “Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”

[5:5]  sn Again there is irony. The name Bethel means “house of God” in Hebrew. How surprising and tragic that Bethel, the “house of God” where Jacob received the inheritance given to Abraham, would be overrun by disaster.

[8:3]  ¹⁸ tn Or “palace” (NASB, NCV, TEV).

[8:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Many corpses in every place he will throw out.” The subject of the verb is probably impersonal, though many emend the active (Hiphil) form to a passive (Hophal): “Many corpses in every place will be thrown out.”

[1:6]  ²⁰ sn Gaza was one of the five major Philistine cities (along with Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, and Gath). It was considered to mark the southern limit of Canaan at the point on the coast where it was located (Gen 10:19).

[1:6]  ²¹ tn Traditionally, “transgressions” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) or “sins” (NIV). For an explanation of the atrocities outlined in this oracle as treaty violations of God’s mandate to Noah in Gen 9:5-7, see the note on the word “violations” in 1:3.

[1:6]  ²² tn Heb “Because of three violations of Gaza, even because of four.”

[1:6]  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.

[1:6]  ²³ 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.

[1:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “[group of] exiles.” A number of English translations take this as a collective singular and translate it with a plural (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[1:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “in order to hand them over.”

[7:17]  ²⁶ tn Heb “in the city,” that is, “in public.”

[7:17]  ²⁷ tn Heb “will fall by the sword.”

[7:17]  ²⁸ tn Heb “will be divided up with a [surveyor’s] measuring line.”

[7:17]  ²⁹ tn Heb “[an] unclean”; or “[an] impure.” This fate would be especially humiliating for a priest, who was to distinguish between the ritually clean and unclean (see Lev 10:10).

[7:17]  ³⁰ tn See the note on the word “exile” in 5:5.

[1:5]  ³¹ sn The bar on the city gate symbolizes the city’s defenses and security.

[1:5]  ³² tn Heb “cut off.”

[1:5]  ³³ tn Heb “the one who sits.” Some English versions take the Hebrew term in a collective sense as “inhabitants” (e.g., KJV, NKJV, NASB, NRSV). The context and the parallel in the next clause (“the one who holds the royal scepter”), however, suggest that the royal house is in view. For this term (יוֹשֵׁב, yoshev), see N. K. Gottwald, The Tribes of Yahweh, 512-30.

[1:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “valley of wickedness.” Though many English versions take the Hebrew phrase בִקְעַת־אָוֶן (biq’-at ’aven) as a literal geographical place name (“Valley of Aven,” so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), it appears to be a derogatory epithet for Damascus and the kingdom of Aram.

[1:5]  ³⁵ tn Many associate the name “Beth Eden” with Bit Adini, an Aramean state located near the Euphrates River, but it may be a sarcastic epithet meaning “house of pleasure.”

[1:5]  ³⁶ sn According to Amos 9:7, the Arameans originally came from Kir. The Lord threatens to reverse their history and send them back there.

[9:4]  ³⁷ tn Heb “Even if they go into captivity before their enemies.”

[9:4]  ³⁸ tn Or perhaps simply, “there,” if the מ (mem) prefixed to the adverb is dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem).

[9:4]  ³⁹ tn Heb “I will set my eye on them for disaster, not good.”

[1:9]  ⁴⁰ tn Traditionally, “transgressions” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) or “sins” (NIV). For an explanation of the atrocities outlined in this oracle as treaty violations of God’s mandate to Noah in Gen 9:5-7, see the note on the word “violations” in 1:3.

[1:9]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “Because of three violations of Tyre, even because of four.”

[1:9]  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.

[1:9]  ⁴² 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.

[1:9]  ⁴³ tn Heb “handed over.”

[1:9]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “[group of] exiles.” A similar phrase occurs in v. 6.

[1:9]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “did not remember.”

[1:9]  ⁴⁶ sn A treaty of brotherhood. In the ancient Near Eastern world familial terms were sometimes used to describe treaty partners. In a treaty between superior and inferior parties, the lord would be called “father” and the subject “son.” The partners in a treaty between equals referred to themselves as “brothers.” For biblical examples, see 1 Kgs 9:13; 20:32-33.

[5:25]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “Did you bring me…?” This rhetorical question expects a negative answer. The point seems to be this: Since sacrifices did not characterize God’s relationship with Israel during the nation’s formative years, the people should not consider them to be so fundamental. The Lord places a higher priority on justice than he does on empty ritual.

[5:25]  sn Like Jer 7:22-23, this passage seems to contradict the Pentateuchal accounts that indicate Israel did offer sacrifices during the wilderness period. It is likely that both Amos and Jeremiah overstate the case to emphasize the relative insignificance of sacrifices in comparison to weightier matters of the covenant. See R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 428.

[5:25]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “house.”