Amos 5:1

Death is Imminent

5:1 Listen to this funeral song I am ready to sing about you, ¹  family ²  of Israel:

Amos 5:16

5:16 Because of Israel’s sins ³  this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, ⁴  says:

“In all the squares there will be wailing,

in all the streets they will mourn the dead. ⁵ 

They will tell the field workers ⁶  to lament

and the professional mourners ⁷  to wail.

[5:1]  ¹ tn Heb “Listen to this word which I am about to take up against you, a funeral song.”

[5:1]  ² tn Heb “house.”

[5:16]  ³ tn Heb “Therefore.” This logical connector relates back to the accusation of vv. 10-13, not to the parenthetical call to repentance in vv. 14-15. To indicate this clearly, the phrase “Because of Israel’s sins” is used in the translation.

[5:16]  ⁴ tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[5:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “they will say, ‘Ah! Ah!’” The Hebrew term הוֹ (ho, “ah, woe”) is an alternate form of הוֹי (hoy), a word used to mourn the dead and express outwardly one’s sorrow. See 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5. This wordplay follows quickly, as v. 18 begins with הוֹי (“woe”).

[5:16]  ⁶ tn Or “farmers” (NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[5:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “those who know lamentation.”

[5:16]  sn Professional mourners are referred to elsewhere in the OT (2 Chr 35:25; Jer 9:17) and ancient Near Eastern literature. See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 180.