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 8:10
Context8:10 I will turn your festivals into funerals, 6
and all your songs into funeral dirges.
I will make everyone wear funeral clothes 7
and cause every head to be shaved bald. 8
I will make you mourn as if you had lost your only son; 9
when it ends it will indeed have been a bitter day. 10
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 “mourning.”
7 tn Heb “I will place sackcloth on all waists.”
sn Mourners wore sackcloth (funeral clothes) as an outward expression of grief.
8 tn Heb “and make every head bald.” This could be understood in a variety of ways, while the ritual act of mourning typically involved shaving the head (although occasionally the hair could be torn out as a sign of mourning).
sn Shaving the head or tearing out one’s hair was a ritual act of mourning. See Lev 21:5; Deut 14:1; Isa 3:24; 15:2; Jer 47:5; 48:37; Ezek 7:18; 27:31; Mic 1:16.
9 tn Heb “I will make it like the mourning for an only son.”
10 tn Heb “and its end will be like a bitter day.” The Hebrew preposition כְּ (kaf) sometimes carries the force of “in every respect,” indicating identity rather than mere comparison.
