Discovery BoxAmos 2:1 
Context2:1 This is what the Lord says:
“Because Moab has committed three crimes 1 –
make that four! 2 – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. 3
They burned the bones of Edom’s king into lime. 4
Amos 3:5
Context3:5 Does a bird swoop down into a trap on the ground if there is no bait?
Does a trap spring up from the ground unless it has surely caught something?
Amos 5:5
ContextDo not visit Gilgal!
Do not journey down 6 to Beer Sheba!
For the people of Gilgal 7 will certainly be carried into exile; 8
and Bethel will become a place where disaster abounds.” 9
Amos 5:19
Context5:19 Disaster will be inescapable, 10
as if a man ran from a lion only to meet a bear,
then escaped 11 into a house,
leaned his hand against the wall,
and was bitten by a poisonous snake.
Amos 9:2
Context9:2 Even if they could dig down into the netherworld, 12
my hand would pull them up from there.
Even if they could climb up to heaven,
I would drag them down from there.
Amos 9:4
Context9:4 Even when their enemies drive them into captivity, 13
from there 14 I will command the sword to kill them.
I will not let them out of my sight;
they will experience disaster, not prosperity.” 15
1 tn Traditionally, “transgressions” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) or “sins” (NIV). For an explanation of the atrocities outlined in this oracle as treaty violations of God’s mandate to Noah in Gen 9:5-7, see the note on the word “violations” in 1:3.
2 tn Heb “Because of three violations of Moab, even because of four.”
sn On the three…four style that introduces each of the judgment oracles of chaps. 1-2 see the note on the word “four” in 1:3.
3 tn Heb “I will not bring it [or “him”] back.” The translation understands the pronominal object to refer to the decree of judgment that follows; the referent (the decree) has been specified in the translation for clarity. For another option see the note on the word “judgment” in 1:3.
4 sn The Moabites apparently desecrated the tomb of an Edomite king and burned his bones into a calcined substance which they then used as plaster (cf. Deut 27:2, 4). See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 72. Receiving a proper burial was very important in this culture. Desecrating a tomb or a deceased individual’s bones was considered an especially heinous act.
5 sn Ironically, Israel was to seek after the Lord, but not at Bethel (the name Bethel means “the house of God” in Hebrew).
map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.
6 tn Heb “cross over.”
sn To worship at Beer Sheba, northern worshipers had to journey down (i.e., cross the border) between Israel and Judah. Apparently, the popular religion of Israel for some included pilgrimage to holy sites in the South.
7 tn Heb “For Gilgal.” By metonymy the place name “Gilgal” is used instead of referring directly to the inhabitants. The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
8 tn In the Hebrew text the statement is emphasized by sound play. The name “Gilgal” sounds like the verb גָּלָה (galah, “to go into exile”), which occurs here in the infinitival + finite verb construction (גָּלֹה יִגְלֶה, galoh yigleh). The repetition of the “ג” (g) and “ל” (l) sounds draws attention to the announcement and suggests that Gilgal’s destiny is inherent in its very name.
sn That the people of Gilgal would be taken into exile is ironic, for Gilgal was Israel’s first campsite when the people entered the land under Joshua and the city became a symbol of Israel’s possession of the promised land.
9 tn Heb “disaster,” or “nothing”; NIV “Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”
sn Again there is irony. The name Bethel means “house of God” in Hebrew. How surprising and tragic that Bethel, the “house of God” where Jacob received the inheritance given to Abraham, would be overrun by disaster.
10 tn The words “Disaster will be inescapable” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
11 tn Heb “went” (so KJV, NRSV).
12 tn Heb “into Sheol” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV), that is, the land of the dead localized in Hebrew thought in the earth’s core or the grave. Cf. KJV “hell”; NCV, NLT “the place of the dead”; NIV “the depths of the grave.”
13 tn Heb “Even if they go into captivity before their enemies.”
14 tn Or perhaps simply, “there,” if the מ (mem) prefixed to the adverb is dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem).
15 tn Heb “I will set my eye on them for disaster, not good.”
