Amos 5:12

5:12 Certainly ¹  I am aware of ²  your many rebellious acts ³ 

and your numerous sins.

You ⁴  torment the innocent, you take bribes,

and you deny justice to ⁵  the needy at the city gate. ⁶ 

Amos 7:2

7:2 When they had completely consumed the earth’s vegetation, I said,

“Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! ⁷ 

How can Jacob survive? ⁸ 

He is too weak!” ⁹ 

Amos 8:8

8:8 Because of this the earth ¹⁰  will quake, ¹¹ 

and all who live in it will mourn.

The whole earth ¹²  will rise like the River Nile, ¹³ 

it will surge upward ¹⁴  and then grow calm, ¹⁵  like the Nile in Egypt. ¹⁶ 

[5:12]  ¹ tn Or “for.”

[5:12]  ² tn Or “I know” (so most English versions).

[5:12]  ³ tn Or “transgressions,” “sins.” See the note on the word “crimes” in 1:3 and on the phrase “covenant violations” in 2:4.

[5:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “Those who.”

[5:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “turn aside.” They “turn aside” the needy by denying them the justice they deserve at the city gate (where legal decisions were made, and therefore where justice should be done).

[5:12]  ⁶ sn Legal disputes were resolved in the city gate, where the town elders met.

[7:2]  ⁷ tn “Israel” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “stand” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[7:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “small.”

[8:8]  ¹⁰ tn Or “land” (also later in this verse).

[8:8]  ¹¹ tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.

[8:8]  ¹² tn Heb “all of it.”

[8:8]  ¹³ tc The MT reads “like the light” (כָאֹר, kha’or; note this term also appears in v. 9), which is commonly understood to be an error for “like the Nile” (כִּיאוֹר, ki’or). See the parallel line and Amos 9:5. The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity. If this emendation is correct, in the Hebrew of Amos “Nile” is actually spelled three slightly different ways.

[8:8]  sn The movement of the quaking earth is here compared to the annual flooding and receding of the River Nile.

[8:8]  ¹⁴ tn Or “churn.”

[8:8]  ¹⁵ tn Or “sink back down.” The translation assumes the verb שָׁקַע (shaqa’), following the Qere.

[8:8]  ¹⁶ tn The entire verse is phrased in a series of rhetorical questions which anticipate the answer, “Of course!” (For example, the first line reads, “Because of this will the earth not quake?”). The rhetorical questions entrap the listener in the logic of the judgment of God (cf. 3:3-6; 9:7). The rhetorical questions have been converted to affirmative statements in the translation for clarity.