Discovery BoxAmos 7:1-4 
Context7:1 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw 1 him making locusts just as the crops planted late 2 were beginning to sprout. (The crops planted late sprout after the royal harvest. 3 ) 7:2 When they had completely consumed the earth’s vegetation, I said,
“Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! 4
How can Jacob survive? 5
He is too weak!” 6
7:3 The Lord decided not to do this. 7 “It will not happen,” the Lord said.
7:4 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw 8 the sovereign Lord summoning a shower of fire. 9 It consumed the great deep and devoured the fields.
1 tn Heb “behold” or “look.”
2 sn The crops planted late (consisting of vegetables) were planted in late January-early March and sprouted in conjunction with the spring rains of March-April. For a discussion of the ancient Israelite agricultural calendar, see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 31-44.
3 tn Or “the mowings of the king.”
sn This royal harvest may refer to an initial mowing of crops collected as taxes by the royal authorities.
4 tn “Israel” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “stand” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).
6 tn Heb “small.”
7 tn Or “changed his mind about this.”
8 tn Heb “behold” or “look.”
9 tc The Hebrew appears to read, “summoning to contend with fire,” or “summoning fire to contend,” but both are problematic syntactically (H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos [Hermeneia], 292; S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 230-31). Many emend the text to לרבב אשׁ, “(calling) for a shower of fire,” though this interpretation is also problematic (see F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos [AB], 746-47).
