Amos 8:4

8:4 Listen to this, you who trample ¹  the needy,

and do away with ²  the destitute in the land.

Amos 3:11

3:11 Therefore,” says the sovereign Lord, “an enemy will encircle the land. ³ 

He will take away your power; ⁴ 

your fortresses will be looted.”

Amos 2:10

2:10 I brought you up from the land of Egypt;

I led you through the wilderness for forty years

so you could take the Amorites’ land as your own.

Amos 7:12

7:12 Amaziah then said to Amos, “Leave, you visionary! ⁵  Run away to the land of Judah! Earn your living ⁶  and prophesy there!

Amos 3:1

Every Effect has its Cause

3:1 Listen, you Israelites, to this message which the Lord is proclaiming against ⁷  you! This message is for the entire clan I brought up ⁸  from the land of Egypt:

Amos 3:9

Samaria Will Fall

3:9 Make this announcement in ⁹  the fortresses of Ashdod

and in the fortresses in the land of Egypt.

Say this:

“Gather on the hills around Samaria! ¹⁰ 

Observe the many acts of violence ¹¹  taking place within the city, ¹² 

the oppressive deeds ¹³  occurring in it.” ¹⁴ 

Amos 7:10

Amos Confronts a Priest

7:10 Amaziah the priest of Bethel ¹⁵  sent this message ¹⁶  to King Jeroboam of Israel: “Amos is conspiring against you in the very heart of the kingdom of Israel! ¹⁷  The land cannot endure all his prophecies. ¹⁸ 

Amos 8:11

8:11 Be certain of this, ¹⁹  the time is ²⁰  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! ²¹ 

Amos 9:7

9:7 “You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight,” ²²  says the Lord.

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

but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor ²³  and the Arameans from Kir. ²⁴ 

Amos 1:6

1:6 This is what the Lord says:

“Because Gaza ²⁵  has committed three crimes ²⁶  –

make that four! ²⁷  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ²⁸ 

They deported a whole community ²⁹  and sold them ³⁰  to Edom.

Amos 7:2

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

“Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! ³¹ 

How can Jacob survive? ³² 

He is too weak!” ³³ 

Amos 1:9

1:9 This is what the Lord says:

“Because Tyre has committed three crimes ³⁴  –

make that four! ³⁵  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ³⁶ 

They sold ³⁷  a whole community ³⁸  to Edom;

they failed to observe ³⁹  a treaty of brotherhood. ⁴⁰ 

Amos 3:6

3:6 If an alarm sounds ⁴¹  in a city, do people not fear? ⁴² 

If disaster overtakes a ⁴³  city, is the Lord not responsible? ⁴⁴ 

Amos 7:17

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

‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the streets ⁴⁵ 

and your sons and daughters will die violently. ⁴⁶ 

Your land will be given to others ⁴⁷ 

and you will die in a foreign ⁴⁸  land.

Israel will certainly be carried into exile ⁴⁹  away from its land.’”

Amos 7:11

7:11 As a matter of fact, ⁵⁰  Amos is saying this: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel will certainly be carried into exile ⁵¹  away from its land.’”

Amos 4:8

4:8 People from ⁵²  two or three cities staggered into one city to get ⁵³  water,

but remained thirsty. ⁵⁴ 

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 9:15

9:15 I will plant them on their land

and they will never again be uprooted from the ⁵⁵  land I have given them,”

says the Lord your God.

Amos 8:8

8:8 Because of this the earth ⁵⁶  will quake, ⁵⁷ 

and all who live in it will mourn.

The whole earth ⁵⁸  will rise like the River Nile, ⁵⁹ 

it will surge upward ⁶⁰  and then grow calm, ⁶¹  like the Nile in Egypt. ⁶² 

Amos 9:5

9:5 The sovereign Lord who commands armies will do this. ⁶³ 

He touches the earth and it dissolves; ⁶⁴ 

all who live on it mourn.

The whole earth ⁶⁵  rises like the River Nile, ⁶⁶ 

and then grows calm ⁶⁷  like the Nile in Egypt. ⁶⁸ 

Amos 4:6

4:6 “But surely I gave ⁶⁹  you no food to eat in any of your cities;

you lacked food everywhere you live. ⁷⁰ 

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 5:3

5:3 The sovereign Lord says this:

“The city that marches out with a thousand soldiers ⁷¹  will have only a hundred left;

the town ⁷²  that marches out with a hundred soldiers ⁷³  will have only ten left for the family of Israel.” ⁷⁴ 

Amos 4:7

4:7 “I withheld rain from you three months before the harvest. ⁷⁵ 

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

One field ⁷⁶  would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up.

Amos 5:27

5:27 and I will drive you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord.

He is called the God who commands armies!

Amos 6:2

6:2 They say to the people: ⁷⁷ 

“Journey over to Calneh and look at it!

Then go from there to Hamath-Rabbah! ⁷⁸ 

Then go down to Gath of the Philistines!

Are they superior to our two ⁷⁹  kingdoms?

Is their territory larger than yours?” ⁸⁰ 

Amos 6:8

6:8 The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his very own life. ⁸¹ 

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

“I despise Jacob’s arrogance;

I hate their ⁸²  fortresses.

I will hand over to their enemies ⁸³  the city of Samaria ⁸⁴  and everything in it.”

Amos 6:14

6:14 “Look! I am about to bring ⁸⁵  a nation against you, family ⁸⁶  of Israel.”

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

“They will oppress ⁸⁷  you all the way from Lebo-Hamath ⁸⁸  to the Stream of the Arabah.” ⁸⁹ 

Amos 9:14

9:14 I will bring back my people, Israel; ⁹⁰ 

they will rebuild the cities lying in rubble ⁹¹  and settle down. ⁹² 

They will plant vineyards and drink the wine they produce; ⁹³ 

they will grow orchards ⁹⁴  and eat the fruit they produce. ⁹⁵ 

Amos 2:2

2:2 So I will set Moab on fire, ⁹⁶ 

and it will consume Kerioth’s ⁹⁷  fortresses.

Moab will perish ⁹⁸  in the heat of battle ⁹⁹ 

amid war cries and the blaring ¹⁰⁰  of the ram’s horn. ¹⁰¹ 

Amos 7:4

7:4 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw ¹⁰²  the sovereign Lord summoning a shower of fire. ¹⁰³  It consumed the great deep and devoured the fields.

Amos 9:12

9:12 As a result they ¹⁰⁴  will conquer those left in Edom ¹⁰⁵ 

and all the nations subject to my rule.” ¹⁰⁶ 

The Lord, who is about to do this, is speaking!

Amos 1:1

Introduction

1:1 The following is a record of what Amos prophesied. ¹⁰⁷  He ¹⁰⁸  was one of the herdsmen from Tekoa. These prophecies about Israel were revealed to him ¹⁰⁹  during the time of ¹¹⁰  King Uzziah of Judah and ¹¹¹  King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake. ¹¹² 

Amos 1:5

1:5 I will break the bar ¹¹³  on the gate of Damascus.

I will remove ¹¹⁴  the ruler ¹¹⁵  from Wicked Valley, ¹¹⁶ 

the one who holds the royal scepter from Beth Eden. ¹¹⁷ 

The people of Aram will be deported to Kir.” ¹¹⁸ 

The Lord has spoken!

[8:4]  ¹ tn See the note on the word “trample” in 2:7.

[8:4]  ² tn Or “put an end to”; or “exterminate.”

[3:11]  ³ tc The MT reads “an enemy and around the land.” It is also possible to take the MT as an exclamation (“an enemy, and all about the land!”; see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 118; NJPS; cf. NLT).Most scholars and versions emend the text to יְסוֹבֵב (yÿsovev, Polel imperfect), “will encircle.”

[3:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “He will bring down your power from you.” Some emend the text to read “Your power will be brought down from you.” The shift, however, from an active to a passive sense also appears at 3:14 (“I will destroy Bethel’s altars. The horns of the altar will be cut off.”) The pronouns (“your…you”) are feminine singular, indicating that the personified city of Samaria is addressed here. Samaria’s “power” here is her defenses and/or wealth.

[7:12]  ⁵ tn Traditionally, “seer.” The word is a synonym for “prophet,” though it may carry a derogatory tone on the lips of Amaziah.

[7:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “Eat bread there.”

[3:1]  ⁷ tn Or “about.”

[3:1]  ⁸ tn One might expect a third person verb form (“he brought up”), since the Lord apparently refers to himself in the third person in the preceding sentence. This first person form, however, serves to connect this message to the earlier indictment (2:10) and anticipates the words of the following verse.

[3:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “on” or “over” (also later in this verse).

[3:9]  ¹⁰ sn Samaria might refer here both to the region and to the capital city (later known as Sebaste). On the other hand, there actually are hills that surround the mound upon which the city was built. The implication is that the nations can come and sit and see from those hills the sin of the capital city and its judgment.

[3:9]  map For location of the city see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[3:9]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew noun carries the nuance of “panic” or “confusion.” Here it refers metonymically to the violent deeds that terrorize the oppressed.

[3:9]  ¹² tn Heb “in her midst” (so NAB, NASB); NIV “among her people.”

[3:9]  ¹³ tn The translation assumes the form is an abstract plural (see Job 35:9; Eccl 4:1). Another option is to understand the form as a substantival passive participle and translate, “the oppressed” (so KJV).

[3:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “within her.”

[7:10]  ¹⁵ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[7:10]  ¹⁶ tn The direct object of the verb translated “sent” is elided in the Hebrew text. The words “this message” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[7:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in the middle of the house of Israel.”

[7:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “words.”

[8:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[8:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the days are.”

[8:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “not a hunger for food or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.”

[9:7]  ²² 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]  ²³ sn Caphtor may refer to the island of Crete.

[9:7]  ²⁴ 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.

[1:6]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ tn Heb “in order to hand them over.”

[7:2]  ³¹ tn “Israel” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:2]  ³² tn Heb “stand” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[7:2]  ³³ tn Heb “small.”

[1:9]  ³⁴ 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]  ³⁵ 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]  ³⁶ 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]  ³⁷ tn Heb “handed over.”

[1:9]  ³⁸ tn Heb “[group of] exiles.” A similar phrase occurs in v. 6.

[1:9]  ³⁹ tn Heb “did not remember.”

[1:9]  ⁴⁰ 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.

[3:6]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “If the ram’s horn is blown.”

[3:6]  ⁴² tn Or “tremble” (NASB, NIV, NCV); or “shake.”

[3:6]  ⁴³ tn Heb “is in”; NIV, NCV, NLT “comes to.”

[3:6]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “has the Lord not acted?”

[7:17]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “in the city,” that is, “in public.”

[7:17]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “will fall by the sword.”

[7:17]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “will be divided up with a [surveyor’s] measuring line.”

[7:17]  ⁴⁸ 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]  ⁴⁹ tn See the note on the word “exile” in 5:5.

[7:11]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “for.”

[7:11]  ⁵¹ tn See the note on the word “exile” in 5:5.

[4:8]  ⁵² tn The words “people from” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[4:8]  ⁵³ tn Heb “to drink.”

[4:8]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “were not satisfied.”

[9:15]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “their.” The pronoun was replaced by the English definite article in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:8]  ⁵⁶ tn Or “land” (also later in this verse).

[8:8]  ⁵⁷ tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.

[8:8]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “all of it.”

[8:8]  ⁵⁹ tc The MT reads “like the light” (כָאֹר, kha’or; note this term also appears in v. 9), which is commonly understood to be an error for “like the Nile” (כִּיאוֹר, ki’or). See the parallel line and Amos 9:5. The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity. If this emendation is correct, in the Hebrew of Amos “Nile” is actually spelled three slightly different ways.

[8:8]  sn The movement of the quaking earth is here compared to the annual flooding and receding of the River Nile.

[8:8]  ⁶⁰ tn Or “churn.”

[8:8]  ⁶¹ tn Or “sink back down.” The translation assumes the verb שָׁקַע (shaqa’), following the Qere.

[8:8]  ⁶² tn The entire verse is phrased in a series of rhetorical questions which anticipate the answer, “Of course!” (For example, the first line reads, “Because of this will the earth not quake?”). The rhetorical questions entrap the listener in the logic of the judgment of God (cf. 3:3-6; 9:7). The rhetorical questions have been converted to affirmative statements in the translation for clarity.

[9:5]  ⁶³ tn The words “will do this” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:5]  ⁶⁴ tn Or “melts.” The verb probably depicts earthquakes and landslides. See v. 5b.

[9:5]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “all of it.”

[9:5]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “the Nile.” The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:5]  ⁶⁷ tn Or “sinks back down.”

[9:5]  ⁶⁸ sn See Amos 8:8, which is very similar to this verse.

[4:6]  ⁶⁹ tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic (pronoun + verb). It underscores the stark contrast between the judgments that the Lord had been sending with the God of blessing Israel was celebrating in its worship (4:4-5).

[4:6]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “But I gave to you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of food in all your places.” The phrase “cleanness of teeth” is a vivid way of picturing the famine Israel experienced.

[5:3]  ⁷¹ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ⁷² 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]  ⁷³ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ⁷⁴ 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).

[4:7]  ⁷⁵ sn Rain…three months before the harvest refers to the rains of late March-early April.

[4:7]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “portion”; KJV, ASV “piece”; NASB “part.” The same word occurs a second time later in this verse.

[6:2]  ⁷⁷ tn The words “They say to the people” are interpretive and supplied in the translation for clarification. The translation understands v. 2 as the boastful words, which the leaders (described in v. 1) spoke to those who came to them (v. 1b). Some interpret v. 2 differently, understanding the words as directed to the leaders by the prophet. Verse 2b would then be translated: “Are you (i.e., Israel and Judah) better than these kingdoms (i.e., Calneh, etc.)? Is your border larger than their border?” (This reading requires an emendation of the Hebrew text toward the end of the verse.) In this case the verse is a reminder to Judah/Israel that they are not superior to other nations, which have already fallen victim to military conquest. Consequently Judah/Israel should not expect to escape the same fate. Following this line of interpretation, some take v. 2 as a later addition since the Assyrians under Tiglath-pileser III conquered Calneh, Hamath, and Gath after the time of Amos’ ministry. However, this conclusion is not necessary since the kingdoms mentioned here had suffered military setbacks prior to Amos’ time as well. See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 201-4.

[6:2]  ⁷⁸ tn Or “Great Hamath” (cf. NIV); or “Hamath the great” (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); the word “rabbah” means “great” in Hebrew.

[6:2]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “to these,” referring to Judah and Israel (see v. 1a).

[6:2]  ⁸⁰ tn Both rhetorical questions in this verse expect the answer “no.” If these words do come from the leaders, then this verse underscores their self-delusion of power (compare 6:13). The prophet had no such mistaken sense of national grandeur (7:2, 5).

[6:8]  ⁸¹ tn Heb “swears by his life”; or “swears by himself.”

[6:8]  ⁸² tn Heb “his,” referring to Jacob, which stands here for the nation of Israel.

[6:8]  ⁸³ tn The words “to their enemies” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[6:8]  ⁸⁴ tn Heb “the city”; this probably refers to the city of Samaria (cf. 6:1), which in turn, by metonymy, represents the entire northern kingdom.

[6:14]  ⁸⁵ tn Or “raise up” (KJV, NASB); NIV “stir up.”

[6:14]  ⁸⁶ tn Heb “house.”

[6:14]  ⁸⁷ 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]  ⁸⁸ 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]  ⁸⁹ 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.

[9:14]  ⁹⁰ tn This line can also be translated “I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel” and is a common idiom (e.g., Deut 30:3; Jer 30:3; Hos 6:11; Zeph 3:20). This rendering is followed by several modern English versions (e.g., NEB, NRSV, NJPS).

[9:14]  ⁹¹ tn Or “the ruined [or “desolate”] cities.”

[9:14]  ⁹² tn Or “and live [in them].”

[9:14]  ⁹³ tn Heb “drink their wine.”

[9:14]  ⁹⁴ tn Or “gardens.”

[9:14]  ⁹⁵ tn Heb “eat their fruit.”

[2:2]  ⁹⁶ sn The destruction of Moab by fire is an example of a judgment in kind – as the Moabites committed the crime of “burning,” so the Lord will punish them by setting them on fire.

[2:2]  ⁹⁷ sn Kerioth was an important Moabite city. See Jer 48:24, 41.

[2:2]  ⁹⁸ tn Or “die” (KJV, NASB, NRSV, TEV); NAB “shall meet death.”

[2:2]  ⁹⁹ tn Or “in the tumult.” This word refers to the harsh confusion of sounds that characterized an ancient battle – a mixture of war cries, shouts, shrieks of pain, clashes of weapons, etc.

[2:2]  ¹⁰⁰ tn Heb “sound” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).

[2:2]  ¹⁰¹ sn The ram’s horn (used as a trumpet) was blown to signal the approaching battle.

[7:4]  ¹⁰² tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[7:4]  ¹⁰³ tc The Hebrew appears to read, “summoning to contend with fire,” or “summoning fire to contend,” but both are problematic syntactically (H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos [Hermeneia], 292; S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 230-31). Many emend the text to לרבב אשׁ, “(calling) for a shower of fire,” though this interpretation is also problematic (see F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos [AB], 746-47).

[9:12]  ¹⁰⁴ sn They probably refers to the Israelites or to the Davidic rulers of the future.

[9:12]  ¹⁰⁵ tn Heb “take possession of the remnant of Edom”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “possess the remnant of Edom.”

[9:12]  ¹⁰⁶ tn Heb “nations over whom my name is proclaimed.” The Hebrew idiom indicates ownership, sometimes as a result of conquest. See 2 Sam 12:28.

[9:12]  sn This verse envisions a new era of Israelite rule, perhaps patterned after David’s imperialistic successes (see 2 Sam 8-10). At the same time, however, the verse does not specify how this rule is to be accomplished. Note that the book ends with a description of peace and abundance, and its final reference to God (v. 15) does not include the epithet “the Lord who commands armies,” which has militaristic overtones. This is quite a different scene than what the book began with: nations at war and standing under the judgment of God.

[1:1]  ¹⁰⁷ tn Heb “The words of Amos.” Among the prophetic books this opening phrase finds a parallel only at Jer 1:1 but is not that uncommon in other genres (note, e.g., Prov 30:1; 31:1; Eccl 1:1; Neh 1:1).

[1:1]  ¹⁰⁸ tn Heb “who.” Here a new sentence has been started in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:1]  ¹⁰⁹ tn Heb “which he saw concerning Israel.”

[1:1]  ¹¹⁰ tn Heb “in the days of.”

[1:1]  ¹¹¹ tn The Hebrew text repeats, “and in the days of.” This phrase has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:1]  ¹¹² sn This refers to a well-known earthquake that occurred during the first half of the 8th century b.c. According to a generally accepted dating system, Uzziah was a co-regent with his father Amaziah from 792-767 b.c. and ruled independently from 767-740 b.c. Jeroboam II was a co-regent with his father Joash from 793-782 b.c. and ruled independently from 782-753 b.c. Since only Uzziah and Jeroboam are mentioned in the introduction it is likely that Amos’ mission to Israel and the earthquake which followed occurred between 767-753 b.c. The introduction validates the genuine character of Amos’ prophetic ministry in at least two ways: (1) Amos was not a native Israelite or a prophet by trade. Rather he was a herdsman in Tekoa, located in Judah. His mere presence in the northern kingdom as a prophet was evidence that he had been called by God (see 7:14-15). (2) The mighty earthquake shortly after Amos’ ministry would have been interpreted as an omen or signal of approaching judgment. The clearest references to an earthquake are 1:1 and 9:1, 5. It is possible that the verb הָפַךְ (hafakh, “overturn”) at 3:13-15, 4:11, 6:11, and 8:8 also refers to an earthquake, as might the descriptions at 2:13 and 6:9-10. Evidence of a powerful earthquake has been correlated with a destruction layer at Hazor and other sites. Its lasting impact is evident by its mention in Zech 14:5 and 2 Chr 26:16-21. Earthquake imagery appears in later prophets as well (cf. D. N. Freedman and A. Welch, “Amos’s Earthquake and Israelite Prophecy,” Scripture and Other Artifacts, 188-98). On the other hand, some of these verses in Amos could allude to the devastation that would be caused by the imminent military invasion.

[1:5]  ¹¹³ sn The bar on the city gate symbolizes the city’s defenses and security.

[1:5]  ¹¹⁴ tn Heb “cut off.”

[1:5]  ¹¹⁵ 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]  ¹¹⁶ 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]  ¹¹⁷ 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]  ¹¹⁸ sn According to Amos 9:7, the Arameans originally came from Kir. The Lord threatens to reverse their history and send them back there.