Amos 6:3

6:3 You refuse to believe a day of disaster will come, ¹ 

but you establish a reign of violence. ² 

Amos 7:5

7:5 I said, “Sovereign Lord, stop!

How can Jacob survive? ³ 

He is too weak!” ⁴ 

Amos 7:2

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

“Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! ⁵ 

How can Jacob survive? ⁶ 

He is too weak!” ⁷ 

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. ⁸ 

Amos 9:3

9:3 Even if they were to hide on the top of Mount Carmel,

I would hunt them down and take them from there.

Even if they tried to hide from me ⁹  at the bottom of the sea,

from there ¹⁰  I would command the Sea Serpent ¹¹  to bite them.

Amos 9:2

9:2 Even if they could dig down into the netherworld, ¹² 

my hand would pull them up from there.

Even if they could climb up to heaven,

I would drag them down from there.

[6:3]  ¹ tn Heb “those who push away a day of disaster.”

[6:3]  ² tn Heb “you bring near a seat of violence.” The precise meaning of the Hebrew term שֶׁבֶת (shevet, “seat, sitting”) is unclear in this context. The translation assumes that it refers to a throne from which violence (in the person of the oppressive leaders) reigns. Another option is that the expression refers not to the leaders’ oppressive rule, but to the coming judgment when violence will overtake the nation in the person of enemy invaders.

[7:5]  ³ tn Heb “stand.”

[7:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “small.”

[7:2]  ⁵ tn “Israel” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “stand” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[7:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “small.”

[9:9]  ⁸ 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).

[9:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “from before my eyes.”

[9:3]  ¹⁰ tn Or perhaps simply, “there,” if the מ (mem) prefixed to the adverb is dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem).

[9:3]  ¹¹ sn If the article indicates a definite serpent, then the mythological Sea Serpent, symbolic of the world’s chaotic forces, is probably in view. See Job 26:13 and Isa 27:1 (where it is also called Leviathan). Elsewhere in the OT this serpent is depicted as opposing the Lord, but this text implies that even this powerful enemy of God is ultimately subject to his sovereign will.

[9:2]  ¹² tn Heb “into Sheol” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV), that is, the land of the dead localized in Hebrew thought in the earth’s core or the grave. Cf. KJV “hell”; NCV, NLT “the place of the dead”; NIV “the depths of the grave.”