Discovery BoxAmos 7:2-6 
Context7:2 When they had completely consumed the earth’s vegetation, I said,
“Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! 1
How can Jacob survive? 2
He is too weak!” 3
7:3 The Lord decided not to do this. 4 “It will not happen,” the Lord said.
7:4 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw 5 the sovereign Lord summoning a shower of fire. 6 It consumed the great deep and devoured the fields.
7:5 I said, “Sovereign Lord, stop!
How can Jacob survive? 7
He is too weak!” 8
7:6 The Lord decided not to do this. 9 The sovereign Lord said, “This will not happen either.”
1 tn “Israel” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “stand” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).
3 tn Heb “small.”
4 tn Or “changed his mind about this.”
5 tn Heb “behold” or “look.”
6 tc The Hebrew appears to read, “summoning to contend with fire,” or “summoning fire to contend,” but both are problematic syntactically (H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos [Hermeneia], 292; S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 230-31). Many emend the text to לרבב אשׁ, “(calling) for a shower of fire,” though this interpretation is also problematic (see F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos [AB], 746-47).
7 tn Heb “stand.”
8 tn Heb “small.”
9 tn Or “changed his mind about this.”
