Discovery BoxAmos 4:1 
Context4:1 Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan 1 who live on Mount Samaria!
You 2 oppress the poor;
you crush the needy.
You say to your 3 husbands,
“Bring us more to drink!” 4
Amos 7:4
Context7:4 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.
Amos 8:3
Context8:3 The women singing in the temple 7 will wail in that day.”
The sovereign Lord is speaking.
“There will be many corpses littered everywhere! 8 Be quiet!”
Amos 8:9
Context8:9 In that day,” says the sovereign Lord, “I will make the sun set at noon,
and make the earth dark in the middle of the day. 9
Amos 8:11
Context8:11 Be certain of this, 10 the time is 11 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! 12
Amos 9:8
Context9:8 Look, the sovereign Lord is watching 13 the sinful nation, 14
and I will destroy it from the face of the earth.
But I will not completely destroy the family 15 of Jacob,” says the Lord.
1 sn The expression cows of Bashan is used by the prophet to address the wealthy women of Samaria, who demand that their husbands satisfy their cravings. The derogatory language perhaps suggests that they, like the livestock of Bashan, were well fed, ironically in preparation for the coming slaughter. This phrase is sometimes cited to critique the book’s view of women.
2 tn Heb “the ones who” (three times in this verse).
3 tn Heb “their.”
4 sn Some commentators relate this scene to the description of the marzeah feast of 6:3-6, in which drinking played a prominent part (see the note at 6:6).
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 Or “palace” (NASB, NCV, TEV).
8 tn Heb “Many corpses in every place he will throw out.” The subject of the verb is probably impersonal, though many emend the active (Hiphil) form to a passive (Hophal): “Many corpses in every place will be thrown out.”
9 tn Heb “in a day of light.”
10 tn Heb “behold” or “look.”
11 tn Heb “the days are.”
12 tn Heb “not a hunger for food or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the
13 tn Heb “the eyes of the sovereign
14 tn Or “kingdom.”
15 tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).
