Amos 1:9

1:9 This is what the Lord says:

“Because Tyre has committed three crimes ¹  –

make that four! ²  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ³ 

They sold ⁴  a whole community ⁵  to Edom;

they failed to observe ⁶  a treaty of brotherhood. ⁷ 

Amos 2:4

2:4 This is what the Lord says:

“Because Judah has committed three covenant transgressions ⁸  –

make that four! ⁹  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ¹⁰ 

They rejected the Lord’s law; ¹¹ 

they did not obey his commands.

Their false gods, ¹² 

to which their fathers were loyal, ¹³ 

led them astray.

Amos 4:7

4:7 “I withheld rain from you three months before the harvest. ¹⁴ 

I gave rain to one city, but not to another.

One field ¹⁵  would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up.

Amos 5:5

5:5 Do not seek Bethel! ¹⁶ 

Do not visit Gilgal!

Do not journey down ¹⁷  to Beer Sheba!

For the people of Gilgal ¹⁸  will certainly be carried into exile; ¹⁹ 

and Bethel will become a place where disaster abounds.” ²⁰ 

Amos 5:11

5:11 Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops ²¹ 

and exact a grain tax from them,

you will not live in the houses you built with chiseled stone,

nor will you drink the wine from the fine ²²  vineyards you planted. ²³ 

Amos 8:11

8:11 Be certain of this, ²⁴  the time is ²⁵  coming,” says the sovereign Lord,

“when I will send a famine through the land –

not a shortage of food or water

but an end to divine revelation! ²⁶ 

Amos 9:1

9:1 I saw the sovereign One ²⁷  standing by the altar ²⁸  and he said, “Strike the tops of the support pillars, ²⁹  so the thresholds shake!

Knock them down on the heads of all the people, ³⁰ 

and I will kill the survivors ³¹  with the sword.

No one will be able to run away; ³² 

no one will be able to escape. ³³ 

Amos 9:7

9:7 “You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight,” ³⁴  says the Lord.

“Certainly I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt,

but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor ³⁵  and the Arameans from Kir. ³⁶ 

[1:9]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “handed over.”

[1:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “[group of] exiles.” A similar phrase occurs in v. 6.

[1:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “did not remember.”

[1:9]  ⁷ 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.

[2:4]  ⁸ tn This is the same Hebrew term that is translated “crimes” in the previous oracles (see at 1:3). The change to “covenant transgressions” reflects the probability that the prophet is condemning the nation of Israel for violating stipulations of the Mosaic Law.

[2:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “Because of three violations of Judah, even because of four.”

[2:4]  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.

[2:4]  ¹⁰ 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.

[2:4]  ¹¹ tn Or “instruction”; NCV “teachings.”

[2:4]  ¹² tn Heb “lies.” This may very well be a derogatory term for idols (perhaps also at Ps. 40:4 [Heb 40:5]). Elsewhere false gods are called “vanities” (Deut 32:21; 1 Kgs 16:13, 26) and a delusion (Isa 66:3). In no other prophetic passages, however, are they called “lies.” The term could refer to the deceptions of false prophets (note Ezek 13:6-9; cf. Hab 2:3). See F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos (AB), 301-6.

[2:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “after which their fathers walked.” The expression “to walk after” is an idiom meaning “to be loyal to.” See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 75-76.

[2:4]  sn Here the idolatry of the parents carried over to the children, who persisted in worshiping the idols to which their fathers were loyal.

[4:7]  ¹⁴ sn Rain…three months before the harvest refers to the rains of late March-early April.

[4:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “portion”; KJV, ASV “piece”; NASB “part.” The same word occurs a second time later in this verse.

[5:5]  ¹⁶ sn Ironically, Israel was to seek after the Lord, but not at Bethel (the name Bethel means “the house of God” in Hebrew).

[5:5]  map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[5:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “cross over.”

[5:5]  sn To worship at Beer Sheba, northern worshipers had to journey down (i.e., cross the border) between Israel and Judah. Apparently, the popular religion of Israel for some included pilgrimage to holy sites in the South.

[5:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “For Gilgal.” By metonymy the place name “Gilgal” is used instead of referring directly to the inhabitants. The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:5]  ¹⁹ tn In the Hebrew text the statement is emphasized by sound play. The name “Gilgal” sounds like the verb גָּלָה (galah, “to go into exile”), which occurs here in the infinitival + finite verb construction (גָּלֹה יִגְלֶה, galoh yigleh). The repetition of the “ג” (g) and “ל” (l) sounds draws attention to the announcement and suggests that Gilgal’s destiny is inherent in its very name.

[5:5]  sn That the people of Gilgal would be taken into exile is ironic, for Gilgal was Israel’s first campsite when the people entered the land under Joshua and the city became a symbol of Israel’s possession of the promised land.

[5:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “disaster,” or “nothing”; NIV “Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”

[5:5]  sn Again there is irony. The name Bethel means “house of God” in Hebrew. How surprising and tragic that Bethel, the “house of God” where Jacob received the inheritance given to Abraham, would be overrun by disaster.

[5:11]  ²¹ tn Traditionally, “because you trample on the poor” (cf. KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). The traditional view derives the verb from בּוּס (bus, “to trample”; cf. Isa. 14:25), but more likely it is cognate to an Akkadian verb meaning “to exact an agricultural tax” (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 49; S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 172-73).

[5:11]  ²² tn Or “lovely”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “pleasant”; NAB “choice”; NIV “lush.”

[5:11]  ²³ tn Heb “Houses of chiseled stone you built, but you will not live in them. Fine vineyards you planted, but you will not drink their wine.”

[8:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[8:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the days are.”

[8:11]  ²⁶ tn Heb “not a hunger for food or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.”

[9:1]  ²⁷ tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[9:1]  ²⁸ sn The altar is perhaps the altar at Bethel.

[9:1]  ²⁹ tn Or “the capitals.” The Hebrew singular form is collective.

[9:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “cut them off on the head of all of them.” The translation assumes the objective suffix on the verb refers to the tops of the pillars and that the following prepositional phrase refers to the people standing beneath. Another option is to take this phrase as referring to the pillars, in which case one could translate, “Knock all the tops of the pillars off.”

[9:1]  ³¹ tn Heb “the remnant of them.” One could possibly translate, “every last one of them” (cf. NEB “to the last man”). This probably refers to those who survive the collapse of the temple, which may symbolize the northern kingdom.

[9:1]  ³² tn Heb “a fugitive belonging to them will not run away.”

[9:1]  ³³ tn Heb “a survivor belonging to them will not escape.”

[9:7]  ³⁴ tn The Hebrew text has a rhetorical question, “Are you children of Israel not like the Cushites to me?” The rhetorical question has been converted to an affirmative statement in the translation for clarity. See the comment at 8:8.

[9:7]  sn Though Israel was God’s special covenant people (see 3:2a), the Lord emphasizes they are not inherently superior to the other nations subject to his sovereign rule.

[9:7]  ³⁵ sn Caphtor may refer to the island of Crete.

[9:7]  ³⁶ tn The second half of v. 7 is also phrased as a rhetorical question in the Hebrew text, “Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir?” The translation converts the rhetorical question into an affirmation for clarity.