Amos 1:6
Konteks1:6 This is what the Lord says:
“Because Gaza 1 has committed three crimes 2 –
make that four! 3 – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. 4
They deported a whole community 5 and sold them 6 to Edom.
Amos 6:7
Konteks6:7 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 7:11
Konteks7:11 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 8:6
Konteks8:6 We’re eager to trade silver for the poor, 12
a pair of sandals 13 for the needy!
We want to mix in some chaff with the grain!” 14
Amos 1:5
Konteks1:5 I will break the bar 15 on the gate of Damascus.
I will remove 16 the ruler 17 from Wicked Valley, 18
the one who holds the royal scepter from Beth Eden. 19
The people of Aram will be deported to Kir.” 20
The Lord has spoken!
Amos 1:9
Konteks1:9 This is what the Lord says:
“Because Tyre has committed three crimes 21 –
make that four! 22 – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. 23
They sold 24 a whole community 25 to Edom;
they failed to observe 26 a treaty of brotherhood. 27
Amos 2:6
Konteks2:6 This is what the Lord says:
“Because Israel has committed three covenant transgressions 28 –
make that four! 29 – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. 30
They sold the innocent 31 for silver,
the needy for a pair of sandals. 32
Amos 7:17
Konteks7:17 “Therefore this is what the Lord says:
‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the streets 33
and your sons and daughters will die violently. 34
Your land will be given to others 35
and you will die in a foreign 36 land.
Israel will certainly be carried into exile 37 away from its land.’”
[1:6] 1 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] 2 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] 3 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] 4 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] 5 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] 6 tn Heb “in order to hand them over.”
[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.
[7:11] 11 tn See the note on the word “exile” in 5:5.
[8:6] 12 tn Heb “to buy the poor for silver.”
[8:6] sn The expression trade silver for the poor refers to the slave trade.
[8:6] 13 tn See the note on the word “sandals” in 2:6.
[8:6] 14 tn Heb “The chaff of the grain we will sell.”
[1:5] 15 sn The bar on the city gate symbolizes the city’s defenses and security.
[1:5] 17 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] 18 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] 19 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] 20 sn According to Amos 9:7, the Arameans originally came from Kir. The
[1:9] 21 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] 22 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] 23 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] 24 tn Heb “handed over.”
[1:9] 25 tn Heb “[group of] exiles.” A similar phrase occurs in v. 6.
[1:9] 26 tn Heb “did not remember.”
[1:9] 27 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] 28 tn For this translation see the note at 2:4.
[2:6] 29 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
[2:6] 30 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] 31 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] 32 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.
[7:17] 33 tn Heb “in the city,” that is, “in public.”
[7:17] 34 tn Heb “will fall by the sword.”
[7:17] 35 tn Heb “will be divided up with a [surveyor’s] measuring line.”
[7:17] 36 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).
