Amos 5:18

The Lord Demands Justice

5:18 Woe ¹  to those who wish for the day of the Lord!

Why do you want the Lord’s day of judgment to come?

It will bring darkness, not light.

Amos 5:26

5:26 You will pick up your images ²  of Sikkuth, ³  your king, ⁴ 

and Kiyyun, ⁵  your star god, which you made for yourselves,

Amos 9:7

9:7 “You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight,” ⁶  says the Lord.

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

but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor ⁷  and the Arameans from Kir. ⁸ 

Amos 7:17

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

‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the streets ⁹ 

and your sons and daughters will die violently. ¹⁰ 

Your land will be given to others ¹¹ 

and you will die in a foreign ¹²  land.

Israel will certainly be carried into exile ¹³  away from its land.’”

Amos 8:2

8:2 He said, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end ¹⁴  has come for my people Israel! I will no longer overlook their sins. ¹⁵ 

Amos 3:5

3:5 Does a bird swoop down into a trap on the ground if there is no bait?

Does a trap spring up from the ground unless it has surely caught something?

Amos 4:4

Israel has an Appointment with God

4:4 “Go to Bethel ¹⁶  and rebel! ¹⁷ 

At Gilgal ¹⁸  rebel some more!

Bring your sacrifices in ¹⁹  the morning,

your tithes on ²⁰  the third day!

Amos 5:7

5:7 The Israelites ²¹  turn justice into bitterness; ²² 

they throw what is fair and right ²³  to the ground. ²⁴ 

Amos 6:5

6:5 They sing ²⁵  to the tune of ²⁶  stringed instruments; ²⁷ 

like David they invent ²⁸  musical instruments.

Amos 6:1

The Party is over for the Rich

6:1 Woe ²⁹  to those who live in ease in Zion, ³⁰ 

to those who feel secure on Mount Samaria.

They think of themselves as ³¹  the elite class of the best nation.

The family ³²  of Israel looks to them for leadership. ³³ 

Amos 5:1

Death is Imminent

5:1 Listen to this funeral song I am ready to sing about you, ³⁴  family ³⁵  of Israel:

Amos 2:11

2:11 I made some of your sons prophets

and some of your young men Nazirites. ³⁶ 

Is this not true, you Israelites?”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 5:20

5:20 Don’t you realize the Lord’s day of judgment will bring ³⁷  darkness, not light –

gloomy blackness, not bright light?

Amos 6:13

6:13 You are happy because you conquered Lo-Debar. ³⁸ 

You say, “Did we not conquer Karnaim ³⁹  by our own power?”

Amos 2:9

2:9 For Israel’s sake I destroyed the Amorites. ⁴⁰ 

They were as tall as cedars ⁴¹ 

and as strong as oaks,

but I destroyed the fruit on their branches ⁴² 

and their roots in the ground. ⁴³ 

Amos 4:1-2

4:1 Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan ⁴⁴  who live on Mount Samaria!

You ⁴⁵  oppress the poor;

you crush the needy.

You say to your ⁴⁶  husbands,

“Bring us more to drink!” ⁴⁷ 

4:2 The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his own holy character: ⁴⁸ 

“Certainly the time is approaching ⁴⁹ 

when you will be carried away ⁵⁰  in baskets, ⁵¹ 

every last one of you ⁵²  in fishermen’s pots. ⁵³ 

Amos 5:3

5:3 The sovereign Lord says this:

“The city that marches out with a thousand soldiers ⁵⁴  will have only a hundred left;

the town ⁵⁵  that marches out with a hundred soldiers ⁵⁶  will have only ten left for the family of Israel.” ⁵⁷ 

Amos 5:6

5:6 Seek the Lord so you can live!

Otherwise he will break out ⁵⁸  like fire against Joseph’s ⁵⁹  family; ⁶⁰ 

the fire ⁶¹  will consume

and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. ⁶² 

Amos 7:1

Symbolic Visions of Judgment

7:1 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw ⁶³  him making locusts just as the crops planted late ⁶⁴  were beginning to sprout. (The crops planted late sprout after the royal harvest. ⁶⁵ )

Amos 6:10

6:10 When their close relatives, the ones who will burn the corpses, ⁶⁶  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!” ⁶⁷ 

Amos 3:12

3:12 This is what the Lord says:

“Just as a shepherd salvages from the lion’s mouth a couple of leg bones or a piece of an ear,

so the Israelites who live in Samaria will be salvaged. ⁶⁸ 

They will be left with just a corner of a bed, ⁶⁹ 

and a part ⁷⁰  of a couch.”

Amos 4:11

4:11 “I overthrew some of you the way God ⁷¹  overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. ⁷² 

You were like a burning stick ⁷³  snatched from the flames.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 8:10

8:10 I will turn your festivals into funerals, ⁷⁴ 

and all your songs into funeral dirges.

I will make everyone wear funeral clothes ⁷⁵ 

and cause every head to be shaved bald. ⁷⁶ 

I will make you mourn as if you had lost your only son; ⁷⁷ 

when it ends it will indeed have been a bitter day. ⁷⁸ 

[5:18]  ¹ tn The term הוֹי (hoy, “woe”) was used when mourning the dead (see the note on the word “dead” in 5:16). The prophet here either engages in role playing and mourns the death of the nation in advance or sarcastically taunts those who hold to this misplaced belief.

[5:26]  ² tn This word appears in an awkward position in the Hebrew, following “Kiyyun.” It is placed here for better sense.

[5:26]  ³ tn The Hebrew term סִכּוּת (sikkut) apparently refers to Sakkuth, a Mesopotamian star god identified with Ninurta in an Ugaritic god list. The name is vocalized in the Hebrew text after the pattern of שִׁקוּץ (shiqquts, “detestable thing”). See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 195-96. Some English versions, following the LXX, translate as “tent” or “shrine” (NEB, NIV), pointing the term as סֻכַּת (sukkat; cf. 9:11).

[5:26]  ⁴ tc LXX, Vulgate, and Acts 7:43 read “Moloch” (cf. KJV). The Hebrew consonants are the same for both “king” and “Moloch” (מֹלֶךְ; molekh).

[5:26]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term כִּיּוּן (kiyyun) apparently refers to the Mesopotamian god Kayamanu, or Saturn. The name, like “Sikkuth” in the previous line, is vocalized in the Hebrew text after the pattern of שִׁקוּץ (shiqquts, “detestable thing”). See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 195-96. Some versions translate as “pedestal” (NEB, NIV), relating the term to the root כּוּן (kun).

[9:7]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ sn Caphtor may refer to the island of Crete.

[9:7]  ⁸ 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.

[7:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “in the city,” that is, “in public.”

[7:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “will fall by the sword.”

[7:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “will be divided up with a [surveyor’s] measuring line.”

[7:17]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn See the note on the word “exile” in 5:5.

[8:2]  ¹⁴ tn There is a wordplay here. The Hebrew word קֵץ (qets, “end”) sounds like קָיִץ (qayits, “summer fruit”). The summer fruit arrived toward the end of Israel’s agricultural year; Israel’s national existence was similarly at an end.

[8:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I will no longer pass over him.”

[4:4]  ¹⁶ sn Bethel and Gilgal were important formal worship centers because of their importance in Israel’s history. Here the Lord ironically urges the people to visit these places so they can increase their sin against him. Their formal worship, because it was not accompanied by social justice, only made them more guilty in God’s sight by adding hypocrisy to their list of sins. Obviously, theirs was a twisted view of the Lord. They worshiped a god of their own creation in order to satisfy their religious impulses (see 4:5: “For you love to do this”). Note that none of the rituals listed in 4:4-5 have to do with sin.

[4:4]  map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[4:4]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew word translated “rebel” (also in the following line) could very well refer here to Israel’s violations of their covenant with God (see also the term “crimes” in 1:3 [with note] and the phrase “covenant transgressions” in 2:4 [with note]; 3:14).

[4:4]  ¹⁸ sn See the note on Bethel earlier in this verse.

[4:4]  ¹⁹ tn Or “for.”

[4:4]  ²⁰ tn Or “for.”

[5:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “Those who”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity. In light of vv. 11-13, it is also possible that the words are directed at a more limited group within the nation – those with social and economic power.

[5:7]  ²² tn There is an interesting wordplay here with the verb הָפַךְ (hafakh, “overturn, turn”). Israel “turns” justice into wormwood (cf. 6:12), while the Lord “turns” darkness into morning (v. 8; cf. 4:11; 8:10). Israel’s turning is for evil, whereas the Lord’s is to demonstrate his absolute power and sovereignty.

[5:7]  ²³ tn Heb “they throw righteousness.”

[5:7]  ²⁴ sn In v. 7 the prophet begins to describe the guilty Israelites, but then interrupts his word picture with a parenthetical, but powerful, description of the judge they must face (vv. 8-9). He resumes his description of the sinners in v. 10.

[6:5]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tn Heb “upon the mouth of,” that is, “according to.”

[6:5]  ²⁷ sn The stringed instruments mentioned here are probably harps (cf. NIV, NRSV) or lutes (cf. NEB).

[6:5]  ²⁸ 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).

[6:1]  ²⁹ tn On the Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy; “ah, woe”) as a term of mourning, see the notes in 5:16, 18.

[6:1]  ³⁰ sn Zion is a reference to Jerusalem.

[6:1]  ³¹ tn The words “They think of themselves as” are supplied in the translation for clarification. In the Hebrew text the term נְקֻבֵי (nÿquvey; “distinguished ones, elite”) is in apposition to the substantival participles in the first line.

[6:1]  ³² tn Heb “house.”

[6:1]  ³³ tn Heb “comes to them.”

[5:1]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Listen to this word which I am about to take up against you, a funeral song.”

[5:1]  ³⁵ tn Heb “house.”

[2:11]  ³⁶ tn Or perhaps “religious devotees” (also in the following verse). The Hebrew term נָזִיר (nazir) refers to one who “consecrated” or “devoted” to God (see Num 6:1-21).

[5:20]  ³⁷ tn Heb “Will not the day of the Lord be.”

[6:13]  ³⁸ tn Heb “those who rejoice over Lo-Debar.”

[6:13]  sn Lo-Debar was located across the Jordan River in Gilead, which the Israelite army had conquered. However, there is stinging irony here, for in Hebrew the name Lo-Debar means “nothing.” In reality Israel was happy over nothing of lasting consequence.

[6:13]  ³⁹ sn Karnaim was also located across the Jordan River. The name in Hebrew means “double horned.” Since an animal’s horn was a symbol of strength (see Deut 33:17), the Israelites boasted in this victory over a town whose very name symbolized military power.

[2:9]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “I destroyed the Amorites from before them.” The translation takes מִפְּנֵי (mippÿney) in the sense of “for the sake of.” See BDB 818 s.v. פָּנֻה II.6.a and H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos (Hermeneia), 134. Another option is to take the phrase in a spatial sense, “I destroyed the Amorites, [clearing them out] from before them [i.e., Israel]” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[2:9]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “whose height was like the height of cedars.”

[2:9]  ⁴² tn Heb “his fruit from above.”

[2:9]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and his roots from below.”

[4:1]  ⁴⁴ sn The expression cows of Bashan is used by the prophet to address the wealthy women of Samaria, who demand that their husbands satisfy their cravings. The derogatory language perhaps suggests that they, like the livestock of Bashan, were well fed, ironically in preparation for the coming slaughter. This phrase is sometimes cited to critique the book’s view of women.

[4:1]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “the ones who” (three times in this verse).

[4:1]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “their.”

[4:1]  ⁴⁷ sn Some commentators relate this scene to the description of the marzeah feast of 6:3-6, in which drinking played a prominent part (see the note at 6:6).

[4:2]  ⁴⁸ 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]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “Look, certainly days are coming upon you”; NRSV “the time is surely coming upon you.”

[4:2]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “one will carry you away”; NASB “they will take you away.”

[4:2]  ⁵¹ 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]  ⁵² tn Or “your children”; KJV “your posterity.”

[4:2]  ⁵³ 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.

[5:3]  ⁵⁴ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ⁵⁵ 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]  ⁵⁶ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ⁵⁷ 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).

[5:6]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “rush.” The verb depicts swift movement.

[5:6]  ⁵⁹ sn Here Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.

[5:6]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “house.”

[5:6]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:6]  ⁶² 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.”

[7:1]  ⁶³ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[7:1]  ⁶⁴ 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]  ⁶⁵ 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.

[6:10]  ⁶⁶ 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]  ⁶⁷ 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.

[3:12]  ⁶⁸ sn The verb translated salvaged, though often used in a positive sense of deliverance from harm, is here employed in a sarcastic manner. A shepherd would attempt to salvage part of an animal to prove that a predator had indeed killed it. In this way he could prove that he had not stolen the missing animal and absolve himself from any responsibility to repay the owner (see Exod 22:12-13).

[3:12]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “with a corner of a bed.”

[3:12]  ⁷⁰ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word דְּמֶשֶׁק (dÿmesheq), which occurs only here, is uncertain. If not emended, it is usually related to the term ַדּמֶּשֶׂק (dammeseq) and translated as the “Damask linens” of the bed (cf. NASB “the cover”) or as “in Damascus” (so KJV, NJB, NIV). The differences in spelling (Damascus is spelled correctly in 5:27), historical considerations, and the word order make both of these derivations unlikely. Many emendations have been proposed (e.g., “a part from the foot [of a bed],” based on a different division of the Hebrew letters (cf. NEB, NRSV); “on the edge,” based on a Hebrew term not attested in the Bible (NKJV). Some suggest a resemblance to an Akkadian term which means “sideboard [of a bed],” which is sometimes incorrectly rendered “headboard” (NJPS; see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 121-22). Most likely another part of a bed or couch is in view, but it is difficult to be more specific.

[4:11]  ⁷¹ tn Several English versions substitute the first person pronoun (“I”) here for stylistic reasons (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[4:11]  ⁷² tn Heb “like God’s overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.” The divine name may be used in an idiomatic superlative sense here, in which case one might translate, “like the great [or “disastrous”] overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.”

[4:11]  sn The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is described in Gen 19:1-29.

[4:11]  ⁷³ tn Heb “like that which is burning.”

[8:10]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “mourning.”

[8:10]  ⁷⁵ 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]  ⁷⁶ 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]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “I will make it like the mourning for an only son.”

[8:10]  ⁷⁸ 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.