2:9 For Israel’s sake I destroyed the Amorites. 1
They were as tall as cedars 2
and as strong as oaks,
but I destroyed the fruit on their branches 3
and their roots in the ground. 4
4:6 “But surely I gave 5 you no food to eat in any of your cities;
you lacked food everywhere you live. 6
Still you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking!
8:11 Be certain of this, 7 the time is 8 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! 9
8:12 People 10 will stagger from sea to sea, 11
and from the north around to the east.
They will wander about looking for a revelation from 12 the Lord,
but they will not find any. 13
9:7 “You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight,” 14 says the Lord.
“Certainly I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt,
but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor 15 and the Arameans from Kir. 16
9:8 Look, the sovereign Lord is watching 17 the sinful nation, 18
and I will destroy it from the face of the earth.
But I will not completely destroy the family 19 of Jacob,” says the Lord.
1 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).
2 tn Heb “whose height was like the height of cedars.”
3 tn Heb “his fruit from above.”
4 tn Heb “and his roots from below.”
5 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).
6 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.
7 tn Heb “behold” or “look.”
8 tn Heb “the days are.”
9 tn Heb “not a hunger for food or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the
10 tn Heb “they”; the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 tn That is, from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Dead Sea in the east – that is, across the whole land.
12 tn Heb “looking for the word of.”
13 tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the
14 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.
15 sn Caphtor may refer to the island of Crete.
16 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.
17 tn Heb “the eyes of the sovereign
18 tn Or “kingdom.”
19 tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).