Amos 3:1-8

Every Effect has its Cause

3:1 Listen, you Israelites, to this message which the Lord is proclaiming against ¹  you! This message is for the entire clan I brought up ²  from the land of Egypt: 3:2 “I have chosen ³  you alone from all the clans of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all your sins.”

3:3 Do two walk together without having met? ⁴ 

3:4 Does a lion roar in the woods if he has not cornered his prey? ⁵ 

Does a young lion bellow from his den if he has not caught something?

3:5 Does a bird swoop down into a trap on the ground if there is no bait?

Does a trap spring up from the ground unless it has surely caught something?

3:6 If an alarm sounds ⁶  in a city, do people not fear? ⁷ 

If disaster overtakes a ⁸  city, is the Lord not responsible? ⁹ 

3:7 Certainly the sovereign Lord does nothing without first revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

3:8 A lion has roared! ¹⁰  Who is not afraid?

The sovereign Lord has spoken! Who can refuse to prophesy? ¹¹ 

[3:1]  ¹ tn Or “about.”

[3:1]  ² tn One might expect a third person verb form (“he brought up”), since the Lord apparently refers to himself in the third person in the preceding sentence. This first person form, however, serves to connect this message to the earlier indictment (2:10) and anticipates the words of the following verse.

[3:2]  ³ tn Heb “You only have I known.” The Hebrew verb יָדַע (yada’) is used here in its covenantal sense of “recognize in a special way.”

[3:3]  ⁴ sn The rhetorical questions in vv. 3-5 expect the answer, “No, of course not!” Those in v. 6 anticipate the answer, “Yes, of course they do/he is.” They all draw attention to the principle of cause and effect and lay the logical foundation for the argument in vv. 7-8. Also note the progression from a general question in v. 3 to the “meetings” of two animals (v. 4), to that of an animal and a human trap (v. 5), to a climax with the confrontation with the Lord (v. 6). Each of these meetings is disastrous.

[3:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “without having prey [or “food”].”

[3:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “If the ram’s horn is blown.”

[3:6]  ⁷ tn Or “tremble” (NASB, NIV, NCV); or “shake.”

[3:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “is in”; NIV, NCV, NLT “comes to.”

[3:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “has the Lord not acted?”

[3:8]  ¹⁰ sn The roar of the lion is here a metaphor for impending judgment (see 1:2; cf. 3:4, 12). Verses 7-8 justify Amos’ prophetic ministry and message of warning and judgment. The people should expect a prophetic message prior to divine action.

[3:8]  ¹¹ sn Who can refuse to prophesy? When a message is revealed, the prophet must speak, and the news of impending judgment should cause people to fear.