Amos 3:7

3:7 Certainly the sovereign Lord does nothing without first revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

Amos 5:4

5:4 The Lord says this to the family ¹  of Israel:

“Seek me ²  so you can live!

Amos 5:17

5:17 In all the vineyards there will be wailing,

for I will pass through ³  your midst,” says the Lord.

Amos 5:13

5:13 For this reason whoever is smart ⁴  keeps quiet ⁵  in such a time,

for it is an evil ⁶  time.

Amos 5:22

5:22 Even if you offer me burnt and grain offerings, ⁷  I will not be satisfied;

I will not look with favor on your peace offerings of fattened calves. ⁸ 

Amos 6:11

6:11 Indeed, look! The Lord is giving the command. ⁹ 

He will smash the large house to bits,

and the small house into little pieces.

Amos 7:5

7:5 I said, “Sovereign Lord, stop!

How can Jacob survive? ¹⁰ 

He is too weak!” ¹¹ 

Amos 7:11

7:11 As a matter of fact, ¹²  Amos is saying this: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel will certainly be carried into exile ¹³  away from its land.’”

Amos 3:14

3:14 “Certainly when ¹⁴  I punish Israel for their ¹⁵  covenant transgressions, ¹⁶ 

I will destroy ¹⁷  Bethel’s ¹⁸  altars.

The horns ¹⁹  of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.

Amos 4:2

4:2 The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his own holy character: ²⁰ 

“Certainly the time is approaching ²¹ 

when you will be carried away ²²  in baskets, ²³ 

every last one of you ²⁴  in fishermen’s pots. ²⁵ 

Amos 4:5

4:5 Burn a thank offering of bread made with yeast! ²⁶ 

Make a public display of your voluntary offerings! ²⁷ 

For you love to do this, you Israelites.”

The sovereign Lord is speaking!

Amos 4:12

4:12 “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel.

Because I will do this to you,

prepare to meet your God, Israel! ²⁸ 

Amos 5:3

5:3 The sovereign Lord says this:

“The city that marches out with a thousand soldiers ²⁹  will have only a hundred left;

the town ³⁰  that marches out with a hundred soldiers ³¹  will have only ten left for the family of Israel.” ³² 

Amos 5:12

5:12 Certainly ³³  I am aware of ³⁴  your many rebellious acts ³⁵ 

and your numerous sins.

You ³⁶  torment the innocent, you take bribes,

and you deny justice to ³⁷  the needy at the city gate. ³⁸ 

Amos 6:12

6:12 Can horses run on rocky cliffs?

Can one plow the sea with oxen? ³⁹ 

Yet you have turned justice into a poisonous plant,

and the fruit of righteous actions into a bitter plant. ⁴⁰ 

Amos 6:14

6:14 “Look! I am about to bring ⁴¹  a nation against you, family ⁴²  of Israel.”

The Lord, the God who commands armies, is speaking.

“They will oppress ⁴³  you all the way from Lebo-Hamath ⁴⁴  to the Stream of the Arabah.” ⁴⁵ 

Amos 7:2

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

“Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! ⁴⁶ 

How can Jacob survive? ⁴⁷ 

He is too weak!” ⁴⁸ 

Amos 7:13-14

7:13 Don’t prophesy at Bethel ⁴⁹  any longer, for a royal temple and palace are here!” ⁵⁰ 

7:14 Amos replied ⁵¹  to Amaziah, “I was not a prophet by profession. ⁵²  No, ⁵³  I was a herdsman who also took care of ⁵⁴  sycamore fig trees. ⁵⁵ 

Amos 9:9

9:9 “For look, I am giving a command

and I will shake the family of Israel together with all the nations.

It will resemble a sieve being shaken,

when not even a pebble falls to the ground. ⁵⁶ 

Amos 4:13

4:13 For here he is!

He ⁵⁷  formed the mountains and created the wind.

He reveals ⁵⁸  his plans ⁵⁹  to men.

He turns the dawn into darkness ⁶⁰ 

and marches on the heights of the earth.

The Lord, the God who commands armies, ⁶¹  is his name!”

Amos 5:5

5:5 Do not seek Bethel! ⁶² 

Do not visit Gilgal!

Do not journey down ⁶³  to Beer Sheba!

For the people of Gilgal ⁶⁴  will certainly be carried into exile; ⁶⁵ 

and Bethel will become a place where disaster abounds.” ⁶⁶ 

Amos 6:10

6:10 When their close relatives, the ones who will burn the corpses, ⁶⁷  pick up their bodies to remove the bones from the house, they will say to anyone who is in the inner rooms of the house, “Is anyone else with you?” He will respond, “Be quiet! Don’t invoke the Lord’s name!” ⁶⁸ 

Amos 8:11

8:11 Be certain of this, ⁶⁹  the time is ⁷⁰  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! ⁷¹ 

Amos 9:8

9:8 Look, the sovereign Lord is watching ⁷²  the sinful nation, ⁷³ 

and I will destroy it from the face of the earth.

But I will not completely destroy the family ⁷⁴  of Jacob,” says the Lord.

[5:4]  ¹ tn Heb “house.”

[5:4]  ² sn The following verses explain what it meant to seek the Lord. Israel was to abandon the mere formalism and distorted view of God and reality that characterized religious activity at the worship sites, as well as the social injustice that permeated Israelite society. Instead the people were to repent and promote justice in the land. This call to seek the Lord echoes the challenge in 4:13 to prepare to meet him as he truly is.

[5:17]  ³ sn The expression pass through your midst alludes to Exod 12:12, where the Lord announced he would “pass through” Egypt and bring death to the Egyptian firstborn.

[5:13]  ⁴ tn Or “the wise”; or “the prudent.” Another option is to translate “the successful, prosperous” and understand this as a reference to the rich oppressors. See G. V. Smith, Amos, 169-70. In this case the following verb will also have a different nuance, that is, the wealthy remain silent before the abuses they perpetuate. See the note on the verb translated “keeps quiet” later in this verse.

[5:13]  ⁵ tn Or “moans, laments,” from a homonymic verbal root. If the rich oppressors are in view, then the verb (whether translated “will be silenced” or “will lament”) describes the result of God’s judgment upon them. See G. V. Smith, Amos, 170.

[5:13]  ⁶ tn If this is a judgment announcement against the rich, then the Hebrew phrase עֵת רָעָה (’et ra’ah) must be translated, “[a] disastrous time.” See G. V. Smith, Amos, 170.

[5:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “burnt offerings and your grain offerings.”

[5:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “Peace offering[s], your fattened calves, I will not look at.”

[6:11]  ⁹ tn Or “is issuing the decree.”

[7:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “stand.”

[7:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “small.”

[7:11]  ¹² tn Or “for.”

[7:11]  ¹³ tn See the note on the word “exile” in 5:5.

[3:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in the day.”

[3:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his.” With the referent “Israel” here, this amounts to a collective singular.

[3:14]  ¹⁶ tn Traditionally, “transgressions, sins,” but see the note on the word “crimes” in 1:3.

[3:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “punish” (so NASB, NRSV).

[3:14]  ¹⁸ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[3:14]  ¹⁹ sn The horns of an ancient altar projected upwards from the four corners and resembled an animal’s horns in appearance. Fugitives could seek asylum by grabbing hold of these corners (see Exod 21:14; 1 Kgs 1:50; 2:28). When the altar’s horns were cut off, there would be no place of asylum left for the Lord’s enemies.

[4:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “swears by his holiness.”

[4:2]  sn The message that follows is an unconditional oath, the fulfillment of which is just as certain as the Lord’s own holy character.

[4:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “Look, certainly days are coming upon you”; NRSV “the time is surely coming upon you.”

[4:2]  ²² tn Heb “one will carry you away”; NASB “they will take you away.”

[4:2]  ²³ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word translated “baskets” is uncertain. The translation follows the suggestion of S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 128), who discusses the various options (130-32): “shields” (cf. NEB); “ropes”; “thorns,” which leads to the most favored interpretation, “hooks” (cf. NASB “meat hooks”; NIV, NRSV “hooks”); “baskets,” and (derived from “baskets”) “boats.” Against the latter, it is unlikely that Amos envisioned a deportation by boat for the inhabitants of Samaria! See also the note on the expression “fishermen’s pots” later in this verse.

[4:2]  ²⁴ tn Or “your children”; KJV “your posterity.”

[4:2]  ²⁵ tn The meaning of the Hebrew expression translated “in fishermen’s pots” is uncertain. The translation follows that of S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 128), who discusses the various options (132-33): “thorns,” understood by most modern interpreters to mean (by extension) “fishhooks” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV); “boats,” but as mentioned in the previous note on the word “baskets,” a deportation of the Samaritans by boat is geographically unlikely; and “pots,” referring to a container used for packing fish (cf. NEB “fish-baskets”). Paul (p. 134) argues that the imagery comes from the ancient fishing industry. When hauled away into exile, the women of Samaria will be like fish packed and transported to market.

[4:2]  sn The imagery of catching fish in connection with the captivity of Israel is also found in Jer 16:16 and Hab 1:14.

[4:5]  ²⁶ sn For the background of the thank offering of bread made with yeast, see Lev 7:13.

[4:5]  ²⁷ tn Heb “proclaim voluntary offerings, announce.”

[4:12]  ²⁸ tn The Lord appears to announce a culminating judgment resulting from Israel’s obstinate refusal to repent. The following verse describes the Lord in his role as sovereign judge, but it does not outline the judgment per se. For this reason F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman (Amos [AB], 450) take the prefixed verbal forms as preterites referring to the series of judgments detailed in vv. 6-11. It is more likely that a coming judgment is in view, but that its details are omitted for rhetorical effect, creating a degree of suspense (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 149-50) that will find its solution in chapter 5. This line is an ironic conclusion to the section begun at 4:4. Israel thought they were meeting the Lord at the sanctuaries, yet they actually had misunderstood how he had been trying to bring them back to himself. Now Israel would truly meet the Lord – not at the sanctuaries, but face-to-face in judgment.

[5:3]  ²⁹ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ³² 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).

[5:12]  ³³ tn Or “for.”

[5:12]  ³⁴ tn Or “I know” (so most English versions).

[5:12]  ³⁵ 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]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Those who.”

[5:12]  ³⁷ 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]  ³⁸ sn Legal disputes were resolved in the city gate, where the town elders met.

[6:12]  ³⁹ tc Heb “Does one plow with oxen?” This obviously does not fit the parallelism, for the preceding rhetorical question requires the answer, “Of course not!” An error of fusion has occurred in the Hebrew, with the word יָם (yam, “sea”) being accidentally added as a plural ending to the collective noun בָּקָר (baqar, “oxen”). A proper division of the consonants produces the above translation, which fits the parallelism and also anticipates the answer, “Of course not!”

[6:12]  ⁴⁰ sn The botanical imagery, when juxtaposed with the preceding rhetorical questions, vividly depicts and emphasizes how the Israelites have perverted justice and violated the created order by their morally irrational behavior.

[6:14]  ⁴¹ tn Or “raise up” (KJV, NASB); NIV “stir up.”

[6:14]  ⁴² tn Heb “house.”

[6:14]  ⁴³ sn Once again there is irony in the divine judgment. The oppressive nation itself will suffer oppression. The verb “oppress” (לָחַץ, lakhats) in this verse is not the same as that used in 4:1 (עָשַׁק, ’ashaq).

[6:14]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “from the entrance to Hamath.” The Hebrew term לְבוֹא (lÿvo’) can either be translated or considered a part of the place name.

[6:14]  ⁴⁵ sn Lebo-Hamath refers to the northern border of Israel, the Stream of the Arabah to its southern border. See 2 Kgs 14:25. Through this invader the Lord would reverse the victories and territorial expansion Israel experienced during the reign of Jeroboam II.

[7:2]  ⁴⁶ tn “Israel” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:2]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “stand” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[7:2]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “small.”

[7:13]  ⁴⁹ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[7:13]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “for it is a temple of a king and it is a royal house.” It is possible that the phrase “royal house” refers to a temple rather than a palace. See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 243.

[7:14]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “replied and said.” The phrase “and said” is pleonastic (redundant) and has not been included in the translation.

[7:14]  ⁵² tn Heb “I was not a prophet nor was I the son of a prophet.” The phrase “son of a prophet” refers to one who was trained in a prophetic guild. Since there is no equative verb present in the Hebrew text, another option is to translate with the present tense, “I am not a prophet by profession.” In this case Amos, though now carrying out a prophetic ministry (v. 15), denies any official or professional prophetic status. Modern English versions are divided about whether to understand the past (JB, NIV, NKJV) or present tense (NASB, NEB, NRSV, NJPS) here.

[7:14]  ⁵³ tn Heb “for.”

[7:14]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “gashed”; or “pierced.”

[7:14]  sn For a discussion of the agricultural background, see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 128-29.

[7:14]  ⁵⁵ sn It is possible that herdsmen agreed to care for sycamore fig trees in exchange for grazing rights. See P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 116-17. Since these trees do not grow around Tekoa but rather in the lowlands, another option is that Amos owned other property outside his hometown. In this case, this verse demonstrates his relative wealth and is his response to Amaziah; he did not depend on prophecy as a profession (v. 13).

[9:9]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “like being shaken with a sieve, and a pebble does not fall to the ground.” The meaning of the Hebrew word צְרוֹר (tsÿror), translated “pebble,” is unclear here. In 2 Sam 17:13 it appears to refer to a stone. If it means “pebble,” then the sieve described in v. 6 allows the grain to fall into a basket while retaining the debris and pebbles. However, if one interprets צְרוֹר as a “kernel of grain” (cf. NASB, NIV, NKJV, NLT) then the sieve is constructed to retain the grain and allow the refuse and pebbles to fall to the ground. In either case, the simile supports the last statement in v. 8 by making it clear that God will distinguish between the righteous (the grain) and the wicked (the pebbles) when he judges, and will thereby preserve a remnant in Israel. Only the sinners will be destroyed (v. 10).

[4:13]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “For look, the one who.” This verse is considered to be the first hymnic passage in the book. The others appear at 5:8-9 and 9:5-6. Scholars debate whether these verses were originally part of a single hymn or three distinct pieces deliberately placed in each context for particular effect.

[4:13]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “declares” (NAB, NASB).

[4:13]  ⁵⁹ tn Or “his thoughts.” The translation assumes that the pronominal suffix refers to God and that divine self-revelation is in view (see 3:7). If the suffix refers to the following term אָדַם (’adam, “men”), then the expression refers to God’s ability to read men’s minds.

[4:13]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “he who makes dawn, darkness.” The meaning of the statement is unclear. The present translation assumes that allusion is made to God’s approaching judgment, when the light of day will be turned to darkness (see 5:20). Other options include: (1) “He makes the dawn [and] the darkness.” A few Hebrew mss, as well as the LXX, add the conjunction (“and”) between the two nouns. (2) “He turns darkness into glimmering dawn” (NJPS). See S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 154), who takes שָׁחַר (shakhar) as “blackness” rather than “dawn” and עֵיפָה (’efah) as “glimmering dawn” rather than “darkness.”

[4:13]  ⁶¹ tn Traditionally, “God of hosts.”

[5:5]  ⁶² 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]  ⁶³ 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]  ⁶⁴ 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]  ⁶⁵ 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]  ⁶⁶ 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.

[6:10]  ⁶⁷ tn The translation assumes that “their relatives” and “the ones who will burn the corpses” are in apposition. Another option is to take them as distinct individuals, in which case one could translate, “When their close relatives and the ones who will burn the corpses pick up…” The meaning of the form translated “the ones who burn the corpses” is uncertain. Another option is to translate, “the ones who prepare the corpses for burial” (NASB “undertaker”; cf. also CEV). See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 215-16.

[6:10]  ⁶⁸ tn This verse is notoriously difficult to interpret. The Hebrew text literally reads, “And he will lift him up, his uncle, and the one burning him, to bring out bones from the house. And he will say to the one who is in the inner parts of the house, ‘Is there [anyone] still with you?’ And he will say, ‘Be quiet for not to invoke the name of the Lord.’” The translation assumes that the singular pronominal and verbal forms throughout the verse are collective or distributive. This last sentence has been interpreted in several ways: a command not to call on the name of the Lord out of fear that he might return again in judgment; the realization that it is not appropriate to seek a blessing in the Lord’s name upon the dead in the house since the judgment was deserved; an angry refusal to call on the Lord out of a sense that he has betrayed his people in allowing them to suffer.

[8:11]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[8:11]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “the days are.”

[8:11]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “not a hunger for food or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.”

[9:8]  ⁷² tn Heb “the eyes of the sovereign Lord are on.”

[9:8]  ⁷³ tn Or “kingdom.”

[9:8]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).