Amos 9:10

9:10 All the sinners among my people will die by the sword –

the ones who say, ‘Disaster will not come near, it will not confront us.’

Amos 6:1

The Party is over for the Rich

6:1 Woe ¹  to those who live in ease in Zion, ² 

to those who feel secure on Mount Samaria.

They think of themselves as ³  the elite class of the best nation.

The family ⁴  of Israel looks to them for leadership. ⁵ 

Amos 9:1

9:1 I saw the sovereign One ⁶  standing by the altar ⁷  and he said, “Strike the tops of the support pillars, ⁸  so the thresholds shake!

Knock them down on the heads of all the people, ⁹ 

and I will kill the survivors ¹⁰  with the sword.

No one will be able to run away; ¹¹ 

no one will be able to escape. ¹² 

Amos 2:11

2:11 I made some of your sons prophets

and some of your young men Nazirites. ¹³ 

Is this not true, you Israelites?”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 6:4

6:4 They lie around on beds decorated with ivory, ¹⁴ 

and sprawl out on their couches.

They eat lambs from the flock,

and calves from the middle of the pen.

Amos 2:3

2:3 I will remove ¹⁵  Moab’s leader; ¹⁶ 

I will kill all Moab’s ¹⁷  officials ¹⁸  with him.”

The Lord has spoken!

Amos 2:16

2:16 Bravehearted ¹⁹  warriors will run away naked in that day.”

The Lord is speaking!

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. ²⁰ 

Amos 3:3

3:3 Do two walk together without having met? ²¹ 

Amos 4:2

4:2 The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his own holy character: ²² 

“Certainly the time is approaching ²³ 

when you will be carried away ²⁴  in baskets, ²⁵ 

every last one of you ²⁶  in fishermen’s pots. ²⁷ 

Amos 4:10-11

4:10 “I sent against you a plague like one of the Egyptian plagues. ²⁸ 

I killed your young men with the sword,

along with the horses you had captured.

I made the stench from the corpses ²⁹  rise up into your nostrils.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

4:11 “I overthrew some of you the way God ³⁰  overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. ³¹ 

You were like a burning stick ³²  snatched from the flames.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 3:7

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

Amos 5:3

5:3 The sovereign Lord says this:

“The city that marches out with a thousand soldiers ³³  will have only a hundred left;

the town ³⁴  that marches out with a hundred soldiers ³⁵  will have only ten left for the family of Israel.” ³⁶ 

Amos 5:14

5:14 Seek good and not evil so you can live!

Then the Lord, the God who commands armies, just might be with you,

as you claim he is.

Amos 1:9

1:9 This is what the Lord says:

“Because Tyre has committed three crimes ³⁷  –

make that four! ³⁸  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ³⁹ 

They sold ⁴⁰  a whole community ⁴¹  to Edom;

they failed to observe ⁴²  a treaty of brotherhood. ⁴³ 

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 ⁴⁴  at the bottom of the sea,

from there ⁴⁵  I would command the Sea Serpent ⁴⁶  to bite them.

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

[6:1]  ² sn Zion is a reference to Jerusalem.

[6:1]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “house.”

[6:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “comes to them.”

[9:1]  ⁶ tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[9:1]  ⁷ sn The altar is perhaps the altar at Bethel.

[9:1]  ⁸ tn Or “the capitals.” The Hebrew singular form is collective.

[9:1]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a fugitive belonging to them will not run away.”

[9:1]  ¹² tn Heb “a survivor belonging to them will not escape.”

[2:11]  ¹³ 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).

[6:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “beds of ivory.”

[2:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “cut off” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NAB “root out”; NCV “bring to an end.”

[2:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the leader [traditionally, “judge”] from her midst.”

[2:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “her”; the referent (Moab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:3]  ¹⁸ tn Or “princes” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NLT); TEV, CEV “leaders.”

[2:16]  ¹⁹ tn Or “the most stouthearted” (NAB); NRSV “those who are stout of heart.”

[9:9]  ²⁰ 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).

[3:3]  ²¹ sn The rhetorical questions in vv. 3-5 expect the answer, “No, of course not!” Those in v. 6 anticipate the answer, “Yes, of course they do/he is.” They all draw attention to the principle of cause and effect and lay the logical foundation for the argument in vv. 7-8. Also note the progression from a general question in v. 3 to the “meetings” of two animals (v. 4), to that of an animal and a human trap (v. 5), to a climax with the confrontation with the Lord (v. 6). Each of these meetings is disastrous.

[4:2]  ²² 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]  ²³ tn Heb “Look, certainly days are coming upon you”; NRSV “the time is surely coming upon you.”

[4:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “one will carry you away”; NASB “they will take you away.”

[4:2]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tn Or “your children”; KJV “your posterity.”

[4:2]  ²⁷ 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.

[4:10]  ²⁸ tn Heb “in the manner [or “way”] of Egypt.”

[4:10]  ²⁹ tn Heb “of your camps [or “armies”].”

[4:11]  ³⁰ tn Several English versions substitute the first person pronoun (“I”) here for stylistic reasons (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[4:11]  ³¹ 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]  ³² tn Heb “like that which is burning.”

[5:3]  ³³ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ³⁴ 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]  ³⁵ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ³⁶ 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).

[1:9]  ³⁷ 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]  ³⁸ 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]  ³⁹ 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]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “handed over.”

[1:9]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “[group of] exiles.” A similar phrase occurs in v. 6.

[1:9]  ⁴² tn Heb “did not remember.”

[1:9]  ⁴³ 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.

[9:3]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “from before my eyes.”

[9:3]  ⁴⁵ tn Or perhaps simply, “there,” if the מ (mem) prefixed to the adverb is dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem).

[9:3]  ⁴⁶ 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.