7:10 Amaziah the priest of Bethel 1 sent this message 2 to King Jeroboam of Israel: “Amos is conspiring against you in the very heart of the kingdom of Israel! 3 The land cannot endure all his prophecies. 4
8:11 Be certain of this, 5 the time is 6 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! 7
9:7 “You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight,” 8 says the Lord.
“Certainly I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt,
but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor 9 and the Arameans from Kir. 10
1 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
2 tn The direct object of the verb translated “sent” is elided in the Hebrew text. The words “this message” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
3 tn Heb “in the middle of the house of Israel.”
4 tn Heb “words.”
5 tn Heb “behold” or “look.”
6 tn Heb “the days are.”
7 tn Heb “not a hunger for food or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the
8 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.
9 sn Caphtor may refer to the island of Crete.
10 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.