Discovery BoxAmos 4:13 
Context4:13 For here he is!
He 1 formed the mountains and created the wind.
He reveals 2 his plans 3 to men.
He turns the dawn into darkness 4
and marches on the heights of the earth.
The Lord, the God who commands armies, 5 is his name!”
Amos 5:16
Context5:16 Because of Israel’s sins 6 this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, 7 says:
“In all the squares there will be wailing,
in all the streets they will mourn the dead. 8
They will tell the field workers 9 to lament
and the professional mourners 10 to wail.
Amos 6:8
Context6:8 The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his very own life. 11
The Lord, the God who commands armies, is speaking:
“I despise Jacob’s arrogance;
I hate their 12 fortresses.
I will hand over to their enemies 13 the city of Samaria 14 and everything in it.”
Amos 8:14
Context8:14 These are the ones who now take oaths 15 in the name of the sinful idol goddess 16 of Samaria.
They vow, 17 ‘As surely as your god 18 lives, O Dan,’ or ‘As surely as your beloved one 19 lives, O Beer Sheba!’
But they will fall down and not get up again.”
1 tn Heb “For look, the one who.” This verse is considered to be the first hymnic passage in the book. The others appear at 5:8-9 and 9:5-6. Scholars debate whether these verses were originally part of a single hymn or three distinct pieces deliberately placed in each context for particular effect.
2 tn Or “declares” (NAB, NASB).
3 tn Or “his thoughts.” The translation assumes that the pronominal suffix refers to God and that divine self-revelation is in view (see 3:7). If the suffix refers to the following term אָדַם (’adam, “men”), then the expression refers to God’s ability to read men’s minds.
4 tn Heb “he who makes dawn, darkness.” The meaning of the statement is unclear. The present translation assumes that allusion is made to God’s approaching judgment, when the light of day will be turned to darkness (see 5:20). Other options include: (1) “He makes the dawn [and] the darkness.” A few Hebrew
5 tn Traditionally, “God of hosts.”
6 tn Heb “Therefore.” This logical connector relates back to the accusation of vv. 10-13, not to the parenthetical call to repentance in vv. 14-15. To indicate this clearly, the phrase “Because of Israel’s sins” is used in the translation.
7 tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
8 tn Heb “they will say, ‘Ah! Ah!’” The Hebrew term הוֹ (ho, “ah, woe”) is an alternate form of הוֹי (hoy), a word used to mourn the dead and express outwardly one’s sorrow. See 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5. This wordplay follows quickly, as v. 18 begins with הוֹי (“woe”).
9 tn Or “farmers” (NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
10 tn Heb “those who know lamentation.”
sn Professional mourners are referred to elsewhere in the OT (2 Chr 35:25; Jer 9:17) and ancient Near Eastern literature. See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 180.
11 tn Heb “swears by his life”; or “swears by himself.”
12 tn Heb “his,” referring to Jacob, which stands here for the nation of Israel.
13 tn The words “to their enemies” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
14 tn Heb “the city”; this probably refers to the city of Samaria (cf. 6:1), which in turn, by metonymy, represents the entire northern kingdom.
15 tn Heb “those who swear.”
16 tn Heb “the sin [or “guilt”] of Samaria.” This could be a derogatory reference to an idol-goddess popular in the northern kingdom, perhaps Asherah (cf. 2 Chr 24:18, where this worship is labeled “their guilt”), or to the golden calf at the national sanctuary in Bethel (Hos 8:6, 10:8). Some English versions (e.g., NEB, NRSV, CEV) repoint the word and read “Ashimah,” the name of a goddess worshiped in Hamath in Syria (see 2 Kgs 17:30).
17 tn Heb “say.”
18 sn Your god is not identified. It may refer to another patron deity who was not the God of Israel, a local manifestation of the Lord that was worshiped by the people there, or, more specifically, the golden calf image erected in Dan by Jeroboam I (see 1 Kgs 12:28-30).
19 tc The MT reads, “As surely as the way [to] Beer Sheba lives,” or “As surely as the way lives, O Beer Sheba.” Perhaps the term דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, “the way”) refers to the pilgrimage route to Beersheba (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 272) or it may be a title for a god. The notion of pilgrimage appears elsewhere in the book (cf. 4:4-5; 5:4-5; 8:12). The translation above assumes an emendation to דֹּדְךְ (dodÿkh, “your beloved” or “relative”; the term also is used in 6:10) and understands this as referring either to the Lord (since other kinship terms are used of him, such as “Father”) or to another deity that was particularly popular in Beer Sheba. Besides the commentaries, see S. M. Olyan, “The Oaths of Amos 8:14” Priesthood and Cult in Ancient Israel, 121-49.
