Amos 9:4

9:4 Even when their enemies drive them into captivity, ¹ 

from there ²  I will command the sword to kill them.

I will not let them out of my sight;

they will experience disaster, not prosperity.” ³ 

Amos 4:10

4:10 “I sent against you a plague like one of the Egyptian plagues. ⁴ 

I killed your young men with the sword,

along with the horses you had captured.

I made the stench from the corpses ⁵  rise up into your nostrils.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 5:24

5:24 Justice must flow like torrents of water,

righteous actions ⁶  like a stream that never dries up.

Amos 6:7

6:7 Therefore they will now be the first to go into exile, ⁷ 

and the religious banquets ⁸  where they sprawl on couches ⁹  will end.

Amos 5:1

Death is Imminent

5:1 Listen to this funeral song I am ready to sing about you, ¹⁰  family ¹¹  of Israel:

Amos 1:6

1:6 This is what the Lord says:

“Because Gaza ¹²  has committed three crimes ¹³  –

make that four! ¹⁴  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ¹⁵ 

They deported a whole community ¹⁶  and sold them ¹⁷  to Edom.

Amos 5:6

5:6 Seek the Lord so you can live!

Otherwise he will break out ¹⁸  like fire against Joseph’s ¹⁹  family; ²⁰ 

the fire ²¹  will consume

and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. ²² 

Amos 1:15

1:15 Ammon’s ²³  king will be deported; ²⁴ 

he and his officials ²⁵  will be carried off ²⁶  together.”

The Lord has spoken!

Amos 6:5

6:5 They sing ²⁷  to the tune of ²⁸  stringed instruments; ²⁹ 

like David they invent ³⁰  musical instruments.

Amos 7:11

7:11 As a matter of fact, ³¹  Amos is saying this: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel will certainly be carried into exile ³²  away from its land.’”

Amos 1:5

1:5 I will break the bar ³³  on the gate of Damascus.

I will remove ³⁴  the ruler ³⁵  from Wicked Valley, ³⁶ 

the one who holds the royal scepter from Beth Eden. ³⁷ 

The people of Aram will be deported to Kir.” ³⁸ 

The Lord has spoken!

Amos 8:10

8:10 I will turn your festivals into funerals, ³⁹ 

and all your songs into funeral dirges.

I will make everyone wear funeral clothes ⁴⁰ 

and cause every head to be shaved bald. ⁴¹ 

I will make you mourn as if you had lost your only son; ⁴² 

when it ends it will indeed have been a bitter day. ⁴³ 

Amos 9:6

9:6 He builds the upper rooms of his palace ⁴⁴  in heaven

and sets its foundation supports ⁴⁵  on the earth. ⁴⁶ 

He summons the water of the sea

and pours it out on the earth’s surface.

The Lord is his name.

Amos 2:2

2:2 So I will set Moab on fire, ⁴⁷ 

and it will consume Kerioth’s ⁴⁸  fortresses.

Moab will perish ⁴⁹  in the heat of battle ⁵⁰ 

amid war cries and the blaring ⁵¹  of the ram’s horn. ⁵² 

Amos 2:8

2:8 They stretch out on clothing seized as collateral;

they do so right ⁵³  beside every altar!

They drink wine bought with the fines they have levied;

they do so right in the temple ⁵⁴  of their God! ⁵⁵ 

Amos 4:5

4:5 Burn a thank offering of bread made with yeast! ⁵⁶ 

Make a public display of your voluntary offerings! ⁵⁷ 

For you love to do this, you Israelites.”

The sovereign Lord is speaking!

Amos 5:22

5:22 Even if you offer me burnt and grain offerings, ⁵⁸  I will not be satisfied;

I will not look with favor on your peace offerings of fattened calves. ⁵⁹ 

Amos 7:1

Symbolic Visions of Judgment

7:1 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw ⁶⁰  him making locusts just as the crops planted late ⁶¹  were beginning to sprout. (The crops planted late sprout after the royal harvest. ⁶² )

Amos 1:9

1:9 This is what the Lord says:

“Because Tyre has committed three crimes ⁶³  –

make that four! ⁶⁴  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ⁶⁵ 

They sold ⁶⁶  a whole community ⁶⁷  to Edom;

they failed to observe ⁶⁸  a treaty of brotherhood. ⁶⁹ 

Amos 2:6

God Will Judge Israel

2:6 This is what the Lord says:

“Because Israel has committed three covenant transgressions ⁷⁰  –

make that four! ⁷¹  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ⁷² 

They sold the innocent ⁷³  for silver,

the needy for a pair of sandals. ⁷⁴ 

Amos 5:8

5:8 (But there is one who made the constellations Pleiades and Orion;

he can turn the darkness into morning

and daylight ⁷⁵  into night.

He summons the water of the seas

and pours it out on the earth’s surface.

The Lord is his name!

Amos 7:17

7:17 “Therefore this is what the Lord says:

‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the streets ⁷⁶ 

and your sons and daughters will die violently. ⁷⁷ 

Your land will be given to others ⁷⁸ 

and you will die in a foreign ⁷⁹  land.

Israel will certainly be carried into exile ⁸⁰  away from its land.’”

[9:4]  ¹ tn Heb “Even if they go into captivity before their enemies.”

[9:4]  ² tn Or perhaps simply, “there,” if the מ (mem) prefixed to the adverb is dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem).

[9:4]  ³ tn Heb “I will set my eye on them for disaster, not good.”

[4:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “in the manner [or “way”] of Egypt.”

[4:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “of your camps [or “armies”].”

[5:24]  ⁶ tn Traditionally, “righteousness.”

[6:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “they will go into exile at the head of the exiles.”

[6:7]  ⁸ sn Religious banquets. This refers to the מַרְזֵחַ (marzeakh), a type of pagan religious banquet popular among the upper class of Israel at this time and apparently associated with mourning. See P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 137-61; J. L. McLaughlin, The “Marzeah” in the Prophetic Literature (VTSup). Scholars debate whether at this banquet the dead were simply remembered or actually venerated in a formal, cultic sense.

[6:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “of the sprawled out.” See v. 4.

[5:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Listen to this word which I am about to take up against you, a funeral song.”

[5:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “house.”

[1:6]  ¹² sn Gaza was one of the five major Philistine cities (along with Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, and Gath). It was considered to mark the southern limit of Canaan at the point on the coast where it was located (Gen 10:19).

[1:6]  ¹³ tn Traditionally, “transgressions” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) or “sins” (NIV). For an explanation of the atrocities outlined in this oracle as treaty violations of God’s mandate to Noah in Gen 9:5-7, see the note on the word “violations” in 1:3.

[1:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Because of three violations of Gaza, even because of four.”

[1:6]  sn On the three…four style that introduces each of the judgment oracles of chaps. 1-2 see the note on the word “four” in 1:3.

[1:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I will not bring it [or “him”] back.” The translation understands the pronominal object to refer to the decree of judgment that follows; the referent (the decree) has been specified in the translation for clarity. For another option see the note on the word “judgment” in 1:3.

[1:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “[group of] exiles.” A number of English translations take this as a collective singular and translate it with a plural (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[1:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in order to hand them over.”

[5:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “rush.” The verb depicts swift movement.

[5:6]  ¹⁹ sn Here Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.

[5:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “house.”

[5:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:6]  ²² 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.”

[1:15]  ²³ tn Heb “their”; the referent (Ammon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “will go into exile.”

[1:15]  ²⁵ tn Or “princes” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NLT); TEV “officers”; CEV “leaders.”

[1:15]  ²⁶ tn The words “will be carried off” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[6:5]  ²⁷ tn The meaning of the Hebrew verb פָּרַט (parat), which occurs only here in the OT, is unclear. Some translate “strum,” “pluck,” or “improvise.”

[6:5]  ²⁸ tn Heb “upon the mouth of,” that is, “according to.”

[6:5]  ²⁹ sn The stringed instruments mentioned here are probably harps (cf. NIV, NRSV) or lutes (cf. NEB).

[6:5]  ³⁰ tn The meaning of the Hebrew phrase חָשְׁבוּ לָהֶם (khoshvu lahem) is uncertain. Various options include: (1) “they think their musical instruments are like David’s”; (2) “they consider themselves musicians like David”; (3) “they esteem musical instruments highly like David”; (4) “they improvise [new songs] for themselves [on] instruments like David”; (5) “they invent musical instruments like David.” However, the most commonly accepted interpretation is that given in the translation (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 206-7).

[7:11]  ³¹ tn Or “for.”

[7:11]  ³² tn See the note on the word “exile” in 5:5.

[1:5]  ³³ sn The bar on the city gate symbolizes the city’s defenses and security.

[1:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “cut off.”

[1:5]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the one who sits.” Some English versions take the Hebrew term in a collective sense as “inhabitants” (e.g., KJV, NKJV, NASB, NRSV). The context and the parallel in the next clause (“the one who holds the royal scepter”), however, suggest that the royal house is in view. For this term (יוֹשֵׁב, yoshev), see N. K. Gottwald, The Tribes of Yahweh, 512-30.

[1:5]  ³⁶ tn Heb “valley of wickedness.” Though many English versions take the Hebrew phrase בִקְעַת־אָוֶן (biq’-at ’aven) as a literal geographical place name (“Valley of Aven,” so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), it appears to be a derogatory epithet for Damascus and the kingdom of Aram.

[1:5]  ³⁷ tn Many associate the name “Beth Eden” with Bit Adini, an Aramean state located near the Euphrates River, but it may be a sarcastic epithet meaning “house of pleasure.”

[1:5]  ³⁸ sn According to Amos 9:7, the Arameans originally came from Kir. The Lord threatens to reverse their history and send them back there.

[8:10]  ³⁹ tn Heb “mourning.”

[8:10]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “I will place sackcloth on all waists.”

[8:10]  sn Mourners wore sackcloth (funeral clothes) as an outward expression of grief.

[8:10]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and make every head bald.” This could be understood in a variety of ways, while the ritual act of mourning typically involved shaving the head (although occasionally the hair could be torn out as a sign of mourning).

[8:10]  sn Shaving the head or tearing out one’s hair was a ritual act of mourning. See Lev 21:5; Deut 14:1; Isa 3:24; 15:2; Jer 47:5; 48:37; Ezek 7:18; 27:31; Mic 1:16.

[8:10]  ⁴² tn Heb “I will make it like the mourning for an only son.”

[8:10]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and its end will be like a bitter day.” The Hebrew preposition כְּ (kaf) sometimes carries the force of “in every respect,” indicating identity rather than mere comparison.

[9:6]  ⁴⁴ tc The MT reads “his steps.” If this is correct, then the reference may be to the steps leading up to the heavenly temple or the throne of God (cf. 1 Kgs 10:19-20). The prefixed מ (mem) may be dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem). The translation assumes an emendation to עֲלִיָּתוֹ (’aliyyato, “his upper rooms”).

[9:6]  ⁴⁵ tn Traditionally, “vault” (so ASV, NAB, NRSV). The precise meaning of this word in this context is unclear. Elsewhere it refers to objects grouped or held together. F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman (Amos [AB], 845-46) suggest the foundational structure of a building is in view.

[9:6]  ⁴⁶ sn Verse 6a pictures the entire universe as a divine palace founded on the earth and extending into the heavens.

[2:2]  ⁴⁷ sn The destruction of Moab by fire is an example of a judgment in kind – as the Moabites committed the crime of “burning,” so the Lord will punish them by setting them on fire.

[2:2]  ⁴⁸ sn Kerioth was an important Moabite city. See Jer 48:24, 41.

[2:2]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “die” (KJV, NASB, NRSV, TEV); NAB “shall meet death.”

[2:2]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “in the tumult.” This word refers to the harsh confusion of sounds that characterized an ancient battle – a mixture of war cries, shouts, shrieks of pain, clashes of weapons, etc.

[2:2]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “sound” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).

[2:2]  ⁵² sn The ram’s horn (used as a trumpet) was blown to signal the approaching battle.

[2:8]  ⁵³ tn The words “They do so right” are supplied twice in the translation of this verse for clarification.

[2:8]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “house.”

[2:8]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “gods.” The Hebrew term אֱלֹהֵיהֶם (’elohehem) may be translated “their gods” (referring to pagan gods), “their god” (referring to a pagan god, cf. NAB, NIV, NLT), or “their God” (referring to the God of Israel, cf. NASB, NRSV).

[4:5]  ⁵⁶ sn For the background of the thank offering of bread made with yeast, see Lev 7:13.

[4:5]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “proclaim voluntary offerings, announce.”

[5:22]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “burnt offerings and your grain offerings.”

[5:22]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “Peace offering[s], your fattened calves, I will not look at.”

[7:1]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[7:1]  ⁶¹ sn The crops planted late (consisting of vegetables) were planted in late January-early March and sprouted in conjunction with the spring rains of March-April. For a discussion of the ancient Israelite agricultural calendar, see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 31-44.

[7:1]  ⁶² tn Or “the mowings of the king.”

[7:1]  sn This royal harvest may refer to an initial mowing of crops collected as taxes by the royal authorities.

[1:9]  ⁶³ tn Traditionally, “transgressions” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) or “sins” (NIV). For an explanation of the atrocities outlined in this oracle as treaty violations of God’s mandate to Noah in Gen 9:5-7, see the note on the word “violations” in 1:3.

[1:9]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “Because of three violations of Tyre, even because of four.”

[1:9]  sn On the three…four style that introduces each of the judgment oracles of chaps. 1-2 see the note on the word “four” in 1:3.

[1:9]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “I will not bring it [or “him”] back.” The translation understands the pronominal object to refer to the decree of judgment that follows; the referent (the decree) has been specified in the translation for clarity. For another option see the note on the word “judgment” in 1:3.

[1:9]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “handed over.”

[1:9]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “[group of] exiles.” A similar phrase occurs in v. 6.

[1:9]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “did not remember.”

[1:9]  ⁶⁹ sn A treaty of brotherhood. In the ancient Near Eastern world familial terms were sometimes used to describe treaty partners. In a treaty between superior and inferior parties, the lord would be called “father” and the subject “son.” The partners in a treaty between equals referred to themselves as “brothers.” For biblical examples, see 1 Kgs 9:13; 20:32-33.

[2:6]  ⁷⁰ tn For this translation see the note at 2:4.

[2:6]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “Because of three violations of Israel, even because of four.”

[2:6]  sn On the three…four style that introduces each of the judgment oracles of chaps. 1-2 see the note on the word “four” in 1:3. Only in this last oracle against Israel does one find the list of four specific violations expected based on the use of a similar formula elsewhere in wisdom literature (see Prov 30:18-19, 29-31). This adaptation of the normal pattern indicates the Lord’s focus on Israel here (he is too bent on judging Israel to dwell very long on her neighbors) and emphasizes Israel’s guilt with respect to the other nations (Israel’s list fills up before the others’ lists do). See R. B. Chisholm, “‘For three sins...even for four’: the numerical sayings in Amos,” BSac 147 (1990) 188-97.

[2:6]  ⁷² tn Heb “I will not bring it [or “him”] back.” The translation understands the pronominal object to refer to the decree of judgment that follows; the referent (the decree) has been specified in the translation for clarity. For another option see the note on the word “judgment” in 1:3.

[2:6]  ⁷³ tn Or “honest” (CEV, NLT). The Hebrew word sometimes has a moral-ethical connotation, “righteous, godly,” but the parallelism (note “poor”) suggests a socio-economic or legal sense here. The practice of selling debtors as slaves is in view (Exod 21:2-11; Lev 25:35-55; Deut 15:12-18) See the note at Exod 21:8 and G. C. Chirichigno, Debt-Slavery in Israel and the Ancient Near East (JSOTSup). Probably the only “crime” the victim had committed was being unable to pay back a loan or an exorbitant interest rate on a loan. Some have suggested that this verse refers to bribery in legal proceedings: The innocent are “sold” in the sense that those in power pay off the elders or judges for favorable decisions (5:12; cf. Exod 23:6-7).

[2:6]  ⁷⁴ tn Perhaps the expression “for a pair of sandals” indicates a relatively small price or debt. Some suggest that the sandals may have been an outward token of a more substantial purchase price. Others relate the sandals to a ritual attached to the transfer of property, signifying here that the poor would be losing their inherited family lands because of debt (Ruth 4:7; cf. Deut 25:8-10). Still others emend the Hebrew form slightly to נֶעְלָם (ne’lam, “hidden thing”; from the root עָלַם, ’alam, “to hide”) and understand this as referring to a bribe.

[5:8]  ⁷⁵ tn Heb “darkens the day into night.”

[7:17]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “in the city,” that is, “in public.”

[7:17]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “will fall by the sword.”

[7:17]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “will be divided up with a [surveyor’s] measuring line.”

[7:17]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “[an] unclean”; or “[an] impure.” This fate would be especially humiliating for a priest, who was to distinguish between the ritually clean and unclean (see Lev 10:10).

[7:17]  ⁸⁰ tn See the note on the word “exile” in 5:5.