Amos 1:15

1:15 Ammon’s ¹  king will be deported; ² 

he and his officials ³  will be carried off ⁴  together.”

The Lord has spoken!

Amos 3:8

3:8 A lion has roared! ⁵  Who is not afraid?

The sovereign Lord has spoken! Who can refuse to prophesy? ⁶ 

Amos 3:13

3:13 Listen and warn ⁷  the family ⁸  of Jacob! ⁹ 

The sovereign Lord, the God who commands armies, ¹⁰  is speaking!

Amos 5:17

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

for I will pass through ¹¹  your midst,” says the Lord.

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 7:15

7:15 Then the Lord took me from tending ¹²  flocks and gave me this commission, ¹³  ‘Go! Prophesy to my people Israel!’

Amos 8:7

8:7 The Lord confirms this oath ¹⁴  by the arrogance of Jacob: ¹⁵ 

“I swear ¹⁶  I will never forget all you have done! ¹⁷ 

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¹ tn Heb “their”; the referent (Ammon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “will go into exile.”

³ tn Or “princes” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NLT); TEV “officers”; CEV “leaders.”

⁴ tn The words “will be carried off” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁵ sn The roar of the lion is here a metaphor for impending judgment (see 1:2; cf. 3:4, 12). Verses 7-8 justify Amos’ prophetic ministry and message of warning and judgment. The people should expect a prophetic message prior to divine action.

⁶ sn Who can refuse to prophesy? When a message is revealed, the prophet must speak, and the news of impending judgment should cause people to fear.

⁷ tn Or “testify against.”

⁸ tn Heb “house.”

⁹ tn These words are spoken to either the unidentified heralds addressed at the beginning of v. 9, or to the Egyptians and Philistines (see v. 9b). Another possibility is that one is not to look for a specific addressee but rather appreciate the command simply as a rhetorical device to grab the attention of the listeners and readers of the prophetic message.

¹⁰ tn Traditionally, “the God of hosts.”

¹¹ 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.

¹² tn Heb “from [following] after.”

¹³ tn Heb “and the Lord said to me.”

¹⁴ tn Or “swears.”

¹⁵ sn In an oath one appeals to something permanent to emphasize one’s commitment to the promise. Here the Lord sarcastically swears by the arrogance of Jacob, which he earlier had condemned (6:8), something just as enduring as the Lord’s own life (see 6:8) or unchanging character (see 4:2). Other suggestions include that the Lord is swearing by the land, his most valuable possession (cf. Isa 4:2; Ps 47:4 [47:5 HT]); that this is a divine epithet analogous to “the Glory of Israel” (1 Sam 15:29); or that an ellipsis should be understood here, in which case the meaning is the same as that of 6:8 (“The Lord has sworn [by himself] against the arrogance of Jacob”).

¹⁶ tn The words “I swear” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation because a self-imprecation is assumed in oaths of this type.

¹⁷ tn Or “I will never forget all your deeds.”