Amos 2:14-16

2:14 Fast runners will find no place to hide; ¹ 

strong men will have no strength left; ² 

warriors will not be able to save their lives.

2:15 Archers ³  will not hold their ground; ⁴ 

fast runners will not save their lives,

nor will those who ride horses. ⁵ 

2:16 Bravehearted ⁶  warriors will run away naked in that day.”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 5:19

5:19 Disaster will be inescapable, ⁷ 

as if a man ran from a lion only to meet a bear,

then escaped ⁸  into a house,

leaned his hand against the wall,

and was bitten by a poisonous snake.

Amos 6:12

6:12 Can horses run on rocky cliffs?

Can one plow the sea with oxen? ⁹ 

Yet you have turned justice into a poisonous plant,

and the fruit of righteous actions into a bitter plant. ¹⁰ 

Amos 7:12

7:12 Amaziah then said to Amos, “Leave, you visionary! ¹¹  Run away to the land of Judah! Earn your living ¹²  and prophesy there!

Amos 8:12

8:12 People ¹³  will stagger from sea to sea, ¹⁴ 

and from the north around to the east.

They will wander about looking for a revelation from ¹⁵  the Lord,

but they will not find any. ¹⁶ 

Amos 9:1

9:1 I saw the sovereign One ¹⁷  standing by the altar ¹⁸  and he said, “Strike the tops of the support pillars, ¹⁹  so the thresholds shake!

Knock them down on the heads of all the people, ²⁰ 

and I will kill the survivors ²¹  with the sword.

No one will be able to run away; ²² 

no one will be able to escape. ²³ 

[2:14]  ¹ tn Heb “and a place of refuge will perish from the swift.”

[2:14]  ² tn Heb “the strong will not increase his strength.”

[2:15]  ³ tn Heb “the one who holds the bow.”

[2:15]  ⁴ tn For the idiom of “holding [or “standing”] one’s ground” in battle, there is a similar phrase in Ezek 13:5; also related is the expression “to hold one’s own against” (or “to withstand”) in Judg 2:14; 2 Kgs 10:4; Dan 8:7 (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 97). Other options include “will not endure” or “will not survive.”

[2:15]  ⁵ tn The last two lines read literally, “The one fast in his feet will not rescue [his life], and the rider of the horse will not rescue his life.” The phrase “his life” does double duty in the parallelism and should be understood in both lines.

[2:16]  ⁶ tn Or “the most stouthearted” (NAB); NRSV “those who are stout of heart.”

[5:19]  ⁷ tn The words “Disaster will be inescapable” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “went” (so KJV, NRSV).

[6:12]  ⁹ tc Heb “Does one plow with oxen?” This obviously does not fit the parallelism, for the preceding rhetorical question requires the answer, “Of course not!” An error of fusion has occurred in the Hebrew, with the word יָם (yam, “sea”) being accidentally added as a plural ending to the collective noun בָּקָר (baqar, “oxen”). A proper division of the consonants produces the above translation, which fits the parallelism and also anticipates the answer, “Of course not!”

[6:12]  ¹⁰ sn The botanical imagery, when juxtaposed with the preceding rhetorical questions, vividly depicts and emphasizes how the Israelites have perverted justice and violated the created order by their morally irrational behavior.

[7:12]  ¹¹ tn Traditionally, “seer.” The word is a synonym for “prophet,” though it may carry a derogatory tone on the lips of Amaziah.

[7:12]  ¹² tn Heb “Eat bread there.”

[8:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “they”; the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:12]  ¹⁴ tn That is, from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Dead Sea in the east – that is, across the whole land.

[8:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “looking for the word of.”

[8:12]  ¹⁶ tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.

[9:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[9:1]  ¹⁸ sn The altar is perhaps the altar at Bethel.

[9:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “the capitals.” The Hebrew singular form is collective.

[9:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “cut them off on the head of all of them.” The translation assumes the objective suffix on the verb refers to the tops of the pillars and that the following prepositional phrase refers to the people standing beneath. Another option is to take this phrase as referring to the pillars, in which case one could translate, “Knock all the tops of the pillars off.”

[9:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “the remnant of them.” One could possibly translate, “every last one of them” (cf. NEB “to the last man”). This probably refers to those who survive the collapse of the temple, which may symbolize the northern kingdom.

[9:1]  ²² tn Heb “a fugitive belonging to them will not run away.”

[9:1]  ²³ tn Heb “a survivor belonging to them will not escape.”