Amos 4:13

4:13 For here he is!

He ¹  formed the mountains and created the wind.

He reveals ²  his plans ³  to men.

He turns the dawn into darkness ⁴ 

and marches on the heights of the earth.

The Lord, the God who commands armies, ⁵  is his name!”

Amos 8:11

8:11 Be certain of this, ⁶  the time is ⁷  coming,” says the sovereign Lord,

“when I will send a famine through the land –

not a shortage of food or water

but an end to divine revelation! ⁸ 

Amos 9:8

9:8 Look, the sovereign Lord is watching ⁹  the sinful nation, ¹⁰ 

and I will destroy it from the face of the earth.

But I will not completely destroy the family ¹¹  of Jacob,” says the Lord.

[4:13]  ¹ tn Heb “For look, the one who.” This verse is considered to be the first hymnic passage in the book. The others appear at 5:8-9 and 9:5-6. Scholars debate whether these verses were originally part of a single hymn or three distinct pieces deliberately placed in each context for particular effect.

[4:13]  ² tn Or “declares” (NAB, NASB).

[4:13]  ³ tn Or “his thoughts.” The translation assumes that the pronominal suffix refers to God and that divine self-revelation is in view (see 3:7). If the suffix refers to the following term אָדַם (’adam, “men”), then the expression refers to God’s ability to read men’s minds.

[4:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “he who makes dawn, darkness.” The meaning of the statement is unclear. The present translation assumes that allusion is made to God’s approaching judgment, when the light of day will be turned to darkness (see 5:20). Other options include: (1) “He makes the dawn [and] the darkness.” A few Hebrew mss, as well as the LXX, add the conjunction (“and”) between the two nouns. (2) “He turns darkness into glimmering dawn” (NJPS). See S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 154), who takes שָׁחַר (shakhar) as “blackness” rather than “dawn” and עֵיפָה (’efah) as “glimmering dawn” rather than “darkness.”

[4:13]  ⁵ tn Traditionally, “God of hosts.”

[8:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[8:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “the days are.”

[8:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “not a hunger for food or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.”

[9:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “the eyes of the sovereign Lord are on.”

[9:8]  ¹⁰ tn Or “kingdom.”

[9:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).