Discovery BoxAmos 5:19 
Context5:19 Disaster will be inescapable, 1
as if a man ran from a lion only to meet a bear,
then escaped 2 into a house,
leaned his hand against the wall,
and was bitten by a poisonous snake.
Amos 7:8
Context7:8 The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” I said, “Tin.” The sovereign One then said,
“Look, I am about to place tin among my people Israel.
I will no longer overlook their sin. 3
Amos 8:2
Context8:2 He said, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end 4 has come for my people Israel! I will no longer overlook their sins. 5
Amos 8:8
Context8:8 Because of this the earth 6 will quake, 7
and all who live in it will mourn.
The whole earth 8 will rise like the River Nile, 9
it will surge upward 10 and then grow calm, 11 like the Nile in Egypt. 12
Amos 9:5
Context9:5 The sovereign Lord who commands armies will do this. 13
He touches the earth and it dissolves; 14
all who live on it mourn.
1 tn The words “Disaster will be inescapable” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
2 tn Heb “went” (so KJV, NRSV).
3 tn Heb “And I will no longer pass over him.”
4 tn There is a wordplay here. The Hebrew word קֵץ (qets, “end”) sounds like קָיִץ (qayits, “summer fruit”). The summer fruit arrived toward the end of Israel’s agricultural year; Israel’s national existence was similarly at an end.
5 tn Heb “I will no longer pass over him.”
6 tn Or “land” (also later in this verse).
7 tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the
8 tn Heb “all of it.”
9 tc The MT reads “like the light” (כָאֹר, kha’or; note this term also appears in v. 9), which is commonly understood to be an error for “like the Nile” (כִּיאוֹר, ki’or). See the parallel line and Amos 9:5. The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity. If this emendation is correct, in the Hebrew of Amos “Nile” is actually spelled three slightly different ways.
sn The movement of the quaking earth is here compared to the annual flooding and receding of the River Nile.
10 tn Or “churn.”
11 tn Or “sink back down.” The translation assumes the verb שָׁקַע (shaqa’), following the Qere.
12 tn The entire verse is phrased in a series of rhetorical questions which anticipate the answer, “Of course!” (For example, the first line reads, “Because of this will the earth not quake?”). The rhetorical questions entrap the listener in the logic of the judgment of God (cf. 3:3-6; 9:7). The rhetorical questions have been converted to affirmative statements in the translation for clarity.
13 tn The words “will do this” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
14 tn Or “melts.” The verb probably depicts earthquakes and landslides. See v. 5b.
15 tn Heb “all of it.”
16 tn Heb “the Nile.” The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
17 tn Or “sinks back down.”
