Discovery BoxAmos 5:2 
Context5:2 “The virgin 1 Israel has fallen down and will not get up again.
She is abandoned on her own land
with no one to help her get up.” 2
Amos 5:25
Context5:25 You did not bring me 3 sacrifices and grain offerings during the forty years you spent in the wilderness, family 4 of Israel.
Amos 7:2
Context7:2 When they had completely consumed the earth’s vegetation, I said,
“Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! 5
How can Jacob survive? 6
He is too weak!” 7
Amos 7:9
Context7:9 Isaac’s centers of worship 8 will become desolate;
Israel’s holy places will be in ruins.
I will attack Jeroboam’s dynasty with the sword.” 9
Amos 7:11
Context7:11 As a matter of fact, 10 Amos is saying this: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel will certainly be carried into exile 11 away from its land.’”
Amos 7:16
Context7:16 So now listen to the Lord’s message! You say, ‘Don’t prophesy against Israel! Don’t preach 12 against the family of Isaac!’
1 tn Or “young lady.” The term “Israel” is an appositional genitive.
2 tn Or “with no one to lift her up.”
3 tn Heb “Did you bring me…?” This rhetorical question expects a negative answer. The point seems to be this: Since sacrifices did not characterize God’s relationship with Israel during the nation’s formative years, the people should not consider them to be so fundamental. The
sn Like Jer 7:22-23, this passage seems to contradict the Pentateuchal accounts that indicate Israel did offer sacrifices during the wilderness period. It is likely that both Amos and Jeremiah overstate the case to emphasize the relative insignificance of sacrifices in comparison to weightier matters of the covenant. See R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 428.
4 tn Heb “house.”
5 tn “Israel” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “stand” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).
7 tn Heb “small.”
8 tn Traditionally, “the high places” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “pagan shrines.”
9 tn Heb “And I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with a sword.”
10 tn Or “for.”
11 tn See the note on the word “exile” in 5:5.
12 tn The verb, which literally means “to drip,” appears to be a synonym of “to prophesy,” but it might carry a derogatory tone here, perhaps alluding to the impassioned, frenzied way in which prophets sometimes delivered their messages. If so, one could translate, “to drivel; to foam at the mouth” (see HALOT 694 s.v. נטף).
