Amos 5:1-3

Death is Imminent

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

5:2 “The virgin ³  Israel has fallen down and will not get up again.

She is abandoned on her own land

with no one to help her get up.” ⁴ 

5:3 The sovereign Lord says this:

“The city that marches out with a thousand soldiers ⁵  will have only a hundred left;

the town ⁶  that marches out with a hundred soldiers ⁷  will have only ten left for the family of Israel.” ⁸ 

Amos 5:6

5:6 Seek the Lord so you can live!

Otherwise he will break out ⁹  like fire against Joseph’s ¹⁰  family; ¹¹ 

the fire ¹²  will consume

and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. ¹³ 

Amos 5:25-27

5:25 You did not bring me ¹⁴  sacrifices and grain offerings during the forty years you spent in the wilderness, family ¹⁵  of Israel.

5:26 You will pick up your images ¹⁶  of Sikkuth, ¹⁷  your king, ¹⁸ 

and Kiyyun, ¹⁹  your star god, which you made for yourselves,

5:27 and I will drive you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord.

He is called the God who commands armies!

[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.”

[5:2]  ³ tn Or “young lady.” The term “Israel” is an appositional genitive.

[5:2]  ⁴ tn Or “with no one to lift her up.”

[5:3]  ⁵ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “The one.” The word “town” has been used in the translation in keeping with the relative sizes of the armed contingents sent out by each. It is also possible that this line is speaking of the same city of the previous line. In other words, the contingent sent by that one city would have suffered a ninety-nine percent casualty loss.

[5:3]  ⁷ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “for/to the house of Israel.” The translation assumes that this is a graphic picture of what is left over for the defense of the nation (NEB, NJB, NASB, NKJV). Others suggest that this phrase completes the introductory formula (“The sovereign Lord says this…”; see v. 4a; NJPS). Another option is that the preposition has a vocative force, “O house of Israel” (F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos [AB], 476). Some simply delete the phrase as dittography from the following line (NIV).

[5:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “rush.” The verb depicts swift movement.

[5:6]  ¹⁰ sn Here Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.

[5:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “house.”

[5:6]  ¹² tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “to/for Bethel.” The translation assumes that the preposition indicates advantage, “on behalf of.” Another option is to take the preposition as vocative, “O Bethel.”

[5:25]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Did you bring me…?” This rhetorical question expects a negative answer. The point seems to be this: Since sacrifices did not characterize God’s relationship with Israel during the nation’s formative years, the people should not consider them to be so fundamental. The Lord places a higher priority on justice than he does on empty ritual.

[5:25]  sn Like Jer 7:22-23, this passage seems to contradict the Pentateuchal accounts that indicate Israel did offer sacrifices during the wilderness period. It is likely that both Amos and Jeremiah overstate the case to emphasize the relative insignificance of sacrifices in comparison to weightier matters of the covenant. See R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 428.

[5:25]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “house.”

[5:26]  ¹⁶ tn This word appears in an awkward position in the Hebrew, following “Kiyyun.” It is placed here for better sense.

[5:26]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew term סִכּוּת (sikkut) apparently refers to Sakkuth, a Mesopotamian star god identified with Ninurta in an Ugaritic god list. The name is vocalized in the Hebrew text after the pattern of שִׁקוּץ (shiqquts, “detestable thing”). See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 195-96. Some English versions, following the LXX, translate as “tent” or “shrine” (NEB, NIV), pointing the term as סֻכַּת (sukkat; cf. 9:11).

[5:26]  ¹⁸ tc LXX, Vulgate, and Acts 7:43 read “Moloch” (cf. KJV). The Hebrew consonants are the same for both “king” and “Moloch” (מֹלֶךְ; molekh).

[5:26]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew term כִּיּוּן (kiyyun) apparently refers to the Mesopotamian god Kayamanu, or Saturn. The name, like “Sikkuth” in the previous line, is vocalized in the Hebrew text after the pattern of שִׁקוּץ (shiqquts, “detestable thing”). See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 195-96. Some versions translate as “pedestal” (NEB, NIV), relating the term to the root כּוּן (kun).