Discovery BoxAmos 5:16 
Context5:16 Because of Israel’s sins 1 this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, 2 says:
“In all the squares there will be wailing,
in all the streets they will mourn the dead. 3
They will tell the field workers 4 to lament
and the professional mourners 5 to wail.
Amos 6:8
Context6:8 The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his very own life. 6
The Lord, the God who commands armies, is speaking:
“I despise Jacob’s arrogance;
I hate their 7 fortresses.
I will hand over to their enemies 8 the city of Samaria 9 and everything in it.”
Amos 9:1
Context9:1 I saw the sovereign One 10 standing by the altar 11 and he said, “Strike the tops of the support pillars, 12 so the thresholds shake!
Knock them down on the heads of all the people, 13
and I will kill the survivors 14 with the sword.
No one will be able to run away; 15
no one will be able to escape. 16
1 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.
2 tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
3 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”).
4 tn Or “farmers” (NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
5 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.
6 tn Heb “swears by his life”; or “swears by himself.”
7 tn Heb “his,” referring to Jacob, which stands here for the nation of Israel.
8 tn The words “to their enemies” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
9 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.
10 tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
11 sn The altar is perhaps the altar at Bethel.
12 tn Or “the capitals.” The Hebrew singular form is collective.
13 tn Heb “cut them off on the head of all of them.” The translation assumes the objective suffix on the verb refers to the tops of the pillars and that the following prepositional phrase refers to the people standing beneath. Another option is to take this phrase as referring to the pillars, in which case one could translate, “Knock all the tops of the pillars off.”
14 tn Heb “the remnant of them.” One could possibly translate, “every last one of them” (cf. NEB “to the last man”). This probably refers to those who survive the collapse of the temple, which may symbolize the northern kingdom.
15 tn Heb “a fugitive belonging to them will not run away.”
16 tn Heb “a survivor belonging to them will not escape.”
