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 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 6 has come for my people Israel! I will no longer overlook their sins. 7
Amos 9:5
Context9:5 The sovereign Lord who commands armies will do this. 8
He touches the earth and it dissolves; 9
all who live on it mourn.
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 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.
7 tn Heb “I will no longer pass over him.”
8 tn The words “will do this” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
9 tn Or “melts.” The verb probably depicts earthquakes and landslides. See v. 5b.
10 tn Heb “all of it.”
11 tn Heb “the Nile.” The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
12 tn Or “sinks back down.”
