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 9:1

9:1 I saw the sovereign One ⁷  standing by the altar ⁸  and he said, “Strike the tops of the support pillars, ⁹  so the thresholds shake!

Knock them down on the heads of all the people, ¹⁰ 

and I will kill the survivors ¹¹  with the sword.

No one will be able to run away; ¹² 

no one will be able to escape. ¹³ 

[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.”

[9:1]  ⁷ tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[9:1]  ⁸ sn The altar is perhaps the altar at Bethel.

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

[9:1]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² tn Heb “a fugitive belonging to them will not run away.”

[9:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “a survivor belonging to them will not escape.”