Amos 1:14

1:14 So I will set fire to Rabbah’s ¹  city wall; ² 

fire ³  will consume her fortresses.

War cries will be heard on the day of battle; ⁴ 

a strong gale will blow on the day of the windstorm. ⁵ 

Amos 5:3

5:3 The sovereign Lord says this:

“The city that marches out with a thousand soldiers ⁶  will have only a hundred left;

the town ⁷  that marches out with a hundred soldiers ⁸  will have only ten left for the family of Israel.” ⁹ 

Amos 7:11

7:11 As a matter of fact, ¹⁰  Amos is saying this: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel will certainly be carried into exile ¹¹  away from its land.’”

Amos 2:2

2:2 So I will set Moab on fire, ¹² 

and it will consume Kerioth’s ¹³  fortresses.

Moab will perish ¹⁴  in the heat of battle ¹⁵ 

amid war cries and the blaring ¹⁶  of the ram’s horn. ¹⁷ 

Amos 4:10

4:10 “I sent against you a plague like one of the Egyptian plagues. ¹⁸ 

I killed your young men with the sword,

along with the horses you had captured.

I made the stench from the corpses ¹⁹  rise up into your nostrils.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

[1:14]  ¹ sn Rabbah was the Ammonite capital.

[1:14]  ² sn The city wall symbolizes the city’s defenses and security.

[1:14]  ³ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “with a war cry in the day of battle.”

[1:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “with wind in the day of the windstorm.”

[1:14]  sn A windstorm is a metaphor for judgment and destruction in the OT (see Isa 29:6; Jer 23:19) and ancient Near Eastern literature.

[5:3]  ⁶ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ⁹ 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).

[7:11]  ¹⁰ tn Or “for.”

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

[2:2]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ sn Kerioth was an important Moabite city. See Jer 48:24, 41.

[2:2]  ¹⁴ tn Or “die” (KJV, NASB, NRSV, TEV); NAB “shall meet death.”

[2:2]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “sound” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).

[2:2]  ¹⁷ sn The ram’s horn (used as a trumpet) was blown to signal the approaching battle.

[4:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “in the manner [or “way”] of Egypt.”

[4:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “of your camps [or “armies”].”