1:2 Amos 1 said:
“The Lord comes roaring 2 out of Zion;
from Jerusalem 3 he comes bellowing! 4
The shepherds’ pastures wilt; 5
the summit of Carmel 6 withers.” 7
2:11 I made some of your sons prophets
and some of your young men Nazirites. 8
Is this not true, you Israelites?”
The Lord is speaking!
3:1 Listen, you Israelites, to this message which the Lord is proclaiming against 9 you! This message is for the entire clan I brought up 10 from the land of Egypt:
3:6 If an alarm sounds 11 in a city, do people not fear? 12
If disaster overtakes a 13 city, is the Lord not responsible? 14
3:15 I will destroy both the winter and summer houses. 15
The houses filled with ivory 16 will be ruined,
the great 17 houses will be swept away.” 18
The Lord is speaking!
4:3 Each of you will go straight through the gaps in the walls; 19
you will be thrown out 20 toward Harmon.” 21
The Lord is speaking!
4:6 “But surely I gave 22 you no food to eat in any of your cities;
you lacked food everywhere you live. 23
Still you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking!
4:8 People from 24 two or three cities staggered into one city to get 25 water,
but remained thirsty. 26
Still you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking!
6:1 Woe 27 to those who live in ease in Zion, 28
to those who feel secure on Mount Samaria.
They think of themselves as 29 the elite class of the best nation.
The family 30 of Israel looks to them for leadership. 31
7:7 He showed me this: I saw 32 the sovereign One 33 standing by a tin 34 wall holding tin in his hand.
8:12 People 35 will stagger from sea to sea, 36
and from the north around to the east.
They will wander about looking for a revelation from 37 the Lord,
but they will not find any. 38
9:12 As a result they 39 will conquer those left in Edom 40
and all the nations subject to my rule.” 41
The Lord, who is about to do this, is speaking!
1 tn Heb “he;” the referent (Amos) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 sn The
3 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
4 tn Heb “gives his voice.”
5 tn Lexicographers debate whether there are two roots אָבַל (’aval), one signifying “mourn” and the other “be dry,” or simply one (“mourn”). The parallel verb (“withers”) might favor the first option and have the meaning “wilt away.” It is interesting to note, however, that the root appears later in the book in the context of lament (5:16; 8:8, 10; 9:5). Either 1:2 is a possible wordplay to alert the reader to the death that will accompany the judgment (the option of two roots), or perhaps the translation “mourns” is appropriate here as well (cf. KJV, NASB, NKJV, NJPS; see also D. J. A. Clines, “Was There an ’BL II ‘Be Dry’ in Classical Hebrew?” VT 42 [1992]: 1-10).
6 sn Carmel was a region known for its abundant plants and trees. See Isa 33:9; 35:2; Jer 50:19.
7 sn Loss of a land’s fertility is frequently associated with judgment in the OT and ancient Near Eastern literature.
8 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).
9 tn Or “about.”
10 tn One might expect a third person verb form (“he brought up”), since the
11 tn Heb “If the ram’s horn is blown.”
12 tn Or “tremble” (NASB, NIV, NCV); or “shake.”
13 tn Heb “is in”; NIV, NCV, NLT “comes to.”
14 tn Heb “has the
15 tn Heb “the winter house along with the summer house.”
sn Like kings, many in Israel’s wealthy class owned both winter and summer houses (cf. 1 Kgs 21:1,18; Jer 36:22). For a discussion of archaeological evidence relating to these structures, see P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 64-65.
16 tn Heb “houses of ivory.” These houses were not made of ivory, but they had ivory panels and furniture decorated with ivory inlays. See P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 139-48.
17 tn Or “many,” cf. NAB “their many rooms.”
18 tn The translation assumes the form is from the Hebrew verb סָפָה (safah, “to sweep away”) rather than סוּף (suf, “to come to an end”), which is the choice of most versions. Either option effectively communicates the destruction of the structures.
19 tn Heb “and [through the] breaches you will go out, each straight ahead.”
20 tn The Hiphil verb form has no object. It may be intransitive (F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos [AB], 425), though many emend it to a Hophal.
21 tn The meaning of this word is unclear. Many understand it as a place name, though such a location is not known. Some (e.g., H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos [Hermeneia[, 204) emend to “Hermon” or to similarly written words, such as “the dung heap” (NEB, NJPS), “the garbage dump” (NCV), or “the fortress” (cf. NLT “your fortresses”).
22 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).
23 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.
24 tn The words “people from” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
25 tn Heb “to drink.”
26 tn Or “were not satisfied.”
27 tn On the Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy; “ah, woe”) as a term of mourning, see the notes in 5:16, 18.
28 sn Zion is a reference to Jerusalem.
29 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.
30 tn Heb “house.”
31 tn Heb “comes to them.”
32 tn Heb “behold” or “look.”
33 tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here and in the following verse is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
34 tn The Hebrew word אֲנָךְ (’anakh, “tin”) occurs only in this passage (twice in this verse and twice in the following verse). (Its proposed meaning is based on an Akkadian cognate annaku.) The tin wall of the vision, if it symbolizes Israel, may suggest weakness and vulnerability to judgment. See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 233-35. The symbolic significance of God holding tin in his hand and then placing tin among the people is unclear. Possibly the term אֲנָךְ in v. 8b is a homonym meaning “grief” (this term is attested in postbiblical Hebrew). In this case there is a wordplay, the אֲנָךְ (“tin”) of the vision suggesting the אֲנָךְ (“grief”) that judgment will bring upon the land. See F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos (AB), 759. Another option is to maintain the meaning “tin” and understand that the Lord has ripped off a piece of the tin wall and placed it in front of all to see. Their citadels, of which the nation was so proud and confident, are nothing more than tin fortresses. The traditional interpretation of these verses (reflected in many English versions) understands the term אֲנָךְ to mean “lead,” and by extension, “plumb line.” In this case, one may translate: “I saw the sovereign one standing by a wall built true to plumb holding a plumb line in his hand. The
35 tn Heb “they”; the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
36 tn That is, from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Dead Sea in the east – that is, across the whole land.
37 tn Heb “looking for the word of.”
38 tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the
39 sn They probably refers to the Israelites or to the Davidic rulers of the future.
40 tn Heb “take possession of the remnant of Edom”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “possess the remnant of Edom.”
41 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.
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.