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
6:12 Can horses run on rocky cliffs?
Can one plow the sea with oxen? 5
Yet you have turned justice into a poisonous plant,
and the fruit of righteous actions into a bitter plant. 6
8:2 He said, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end 7 has come for my people Israel! I will no longer overlook their sins. 8
9:14 I will bring back my people, Israel; 9
they will rebuild the cities lying in rubble 10 and settle down. 11
They will plant vineyards and drink the wine they produce; 12
they will grow orchards 13 and eat the fruit they produce. 14
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 tc Heb “Does one plow with oxen?” This obviously does not fit the parallelism, for the preceding rhetorical question requires the answer, “Of course not!” An error of fusion has occurred in the Hebrew, with the word יָם (yam, “sea”) being accidentally added as a plural ending to the collective noun בָּקָר (baqar, “oxen”). A proper division of the consonants produces the above translation, which fits the parallelism and also anticipates the answer, “Of course not!”
6 sn The botanical imagery, when juxtaposed with the preceding rhetorical questions, vividly depicts and emphasizes how the Israelites have perverted justice and violated the created order by their morally irrational behavior.
7 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.
8 tn Heb “I will no longer pass over him.”
9 tn This line can also be translated “I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel” and is a common idiom (e.g., Deut 30:3; Jer 30:3; Hos 6:11; Zeph 3:20). This rendering is followed by several modern English versions (e.g., NEB, NRSV, NJPS).
10 tn Or “the ruined [or “desolate”] cities.”
11 tn Or “and live [in them].”
12 tn Heb “drink their wine.”
13 tn Or “gardens.”
14 tn Heb “eat their fruit.”