1:8 I will remove 1 the ruler 2 from Ashdod, 3
the one who holds the royal scepter from Ashkelon. 4
I will strike Ekron 5 with my hand; 6
the rest of the Philistines will also die.” 7
The sovereign Lord has spoken!
2:9 For Israel’s sake I destroyed the Amorites. 8
They were as tall as cedars 9
and as strong as oaks,
but I destroyed the fruit on their branches 10
and their roots in the ground. 11
3:14 “Certainly when 12 I punish Israel for their 13 covenant transgressions, 14
I will destroy 15 Bethel’s 16 altars.
The horns 17 of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.
8:2 He said, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end 18 has come for my people Israel! I will no longer overlook their sins. 19
9:4 Even when their enemies drive them into captivity, 20
from there 21 I will command the sword to kill them.
I will not let them out of my sight;
they will experience disaster, not prosperity.” 22
9:7 “You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight,” 23 says the Lord.
“Certainly I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt,
but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor 24 and the Arameans from Kir. 25
9:8 Look, the sovereign Lord is watching 26 the sinful nation, 27
and I will destroy it from the face of the earth.
But I will not completely destroy the family 28 of Jacob,” says the Lord.
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. 29
9:11 “In that day I will rebuild the collapsing hut 30 of David.
I will seal its 31 gaps,
repair its 32 ruins,
and restore it to what it was like in days gone by. 33
1 tn Heb “cut off.”
2 tn Heb “the one who sits.” Some translations take this expression as a collective singular referring to the inhabitants rather than the ruler (e.g., NAB, NRSV, NLT).
3 sn Ashdod was one of the five major Philistine cities (along with Ashkelon, Ekron, Gaza, and Gath).
4 sn Ashkelon was one of the five major Philistine cities (along with Ashdod, Ekron, Gaza, and Gath).
5 sn Ekron was one of the five major Philistine cities (along with Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gaza, and Gath).
6 tn Heb “I will turn my hand against Ekron.” For other uses of the idiom, “turn the hand against,” see Ps 81:14; Isa 1:25; Jer 6:9; Zech 13:7.
7 tn Heb “and the remnant of the Philistines will perish.” The translation above assumes that reference is made to other Philistines beside those living in the cities mentioned. Another option is to translate, “Every last Philistine will die.”
8 tn Heb “I destroyed the Amorites from before them.” The translation takes מִפְּנֵי (mippÿney) in the sense of “for the sake of.” See BDB 818 s.v. פָּנֻה II.6.a and H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos (Hermeneia), 134. Another option is to take the phrase in a spatial sense, “I destroyed the Amorites, [clearing them out] from before them [i.e., Israel]” (cf. NIV, NRSV).
9 tn Heb “whose height was like the height of cedars.”
10 tn Heb “his fruit from above.”
11 tn Heb “and his roots from below.”
12 tn Heb “in the day.”
13 tn Heb “his.” With the referent “Israel” here, this amounts to a collective singular.
14 tn Traditionally, “transgressions, sins,” but see the note on the word “crimes” in 1:3.
15 tn Heb “punish” (so NASB, NRSV).
16 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
17 sn The horns of an ancient altar projected upwards from the four corners and resembled an animal’s horns in appearance. Fugitives could seek asylum by grabbing hold of these corners (see Exod 21:14; 1 Kgs 1:50; 2:28). When the altar’s horns were cut off, there would be no place of asylum left for the
18 tn There is a wordplay here. The Hebrew word קֵץ (qets, “end”) sounds like קָיִץ (qayits, “summer fruit”). The summer fruit arrived toward the end of Israel’s agricultural year; Israel’s national existence was similarly at an end.
19 tn Heb “I will no longer pass over him.”
20 tn Heb “Even if they go into captivity before their enemies.”
21 tn Or perhaps simply, “there,” if the מ (mem) prefixed to the adverb is dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem).
22 tn Heb “I will set my eye on them for disaster, not good.”
23 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.
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.
24 sn Caphtor may refer to the island of Crete.
25 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.
26 tn Heb “the eyes of the sovereign
27 tn Or “kingdom.”
28 tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).
29 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).
30 tn The phrase translated “collapsing hut” refers to a temporary shelter (cf. NASB, NRSV “booth”) in disrepair and emphasizes the relatively weakened condition of the once powerful Davidic dynasty. Others have suggested that the term refers to Jerusalem, while still others argue that it should be repointed to read “Sukkoth,” a garrison town in Transjordan. Its reconstruction would symbolize the rebirth of the Davidic empire and its return to power (e.g., M. E. Polley, Amos and the Davidic Empire, 71-74).
31 tc The MT reads a third feminine plural suffix, which could refer to the two kingdoms (Judah and Israel) or, more literally, to the breaches in the walls of the cities that are mentioned in v. 4 (cf. 4:3). Some emend to third feminine singular, since the “hut” of the preceding line (a feminine singular noun) might be the antecedent. In that case, the final nun (ן) is virtually dittographic with the vav (ו) that appears at the beginning of the following word.
32 tc The MT reads a third masculine singular suffix, which could refer back to David. However, it is possible that an original third feminine singular suffix (יה-, yod-hey) has been misread as masculine (יו-, yod-vav). In later Hebrew script a ה (he) resembles a יו- (yod-vav) combination.
33 tn Heb “and I will rebuild as in days of antiquity.”