Discovery BoxAmos 5:6 
Context5:6 Seek the Lord so you can live!
Otherwise he will break out 1 like fire against Joseph’s 2 family; 3
the fire 4 will consume
and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. 5
Amos 6:14
Context6:14 “Look! I am about to bring 6 a nation against you, family 7 of Israel.”
The Lord, the God who commands armies, is speaking.
“They will oppress 8 you all the way from Lebo-Hamath 9 to the Stream of the Arabah.” 10
1 tn Heb “rush.” The verb depicts swift movement.
2 sn Here Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.
3 tn Heb “house.”
4 tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “to/for Bethel.” The translation assumes that the preposition indicates advantage, “on behalf of.” Another option is to take the preposition as vocative, “O Bethel.”
6 tn Or “raise up” (KJV, NASB); NIV “stir up.”
7 tn Heb “house.”
8 sn Once again there is irony in the divine judgment. The oppressive nation itself will suffer oppression. The verb “oppress” (לָחַץ, lakhats) in this verse is not the same as that used in 4:1 (עָשַׁק, ’ashaq).
9 tn Or “from the entrance to Hamath.” The Hebrew term לְבוֹא (lÿvo’) can either be translated or considered a part of the place name.
10 sn Lebo-Hamath refers to the northern border of Israel, the Stream of the Arabah to its southern border. See 2 Kgs 14:25. Through this invader the Lord would reverse the victories and territorial expansion Israel experienced during the reign of Jeroboam II.
