‘Only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead,

“Son of man, the house of Israel has become slag to me. All of them are like bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace; ¹  they are the worthless slag of silver.

“‘Tarshish ¹  was your trade partner because of your abundant wealth; they exchanged silver, iron, tin, and lead for your products.

As silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin are gathered in a furnace so that the fire can melt them, so I will gather you in my anger and in my rage. I will deposit you there ¹  and melt you.

By the brush ¹  they would gather ²  herbs from the salt marshes, ³  and the root of the broom tree was their food.

ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell,

I will attack you; ¹  I will purify your metal with flux. ²  I will remove all your slag. ³ 

He showed me this: I saw ¹  the sovereign One ²  standing by a tin ³  wall holding tin in his hand.

Do you wish to torment ¹  a windblown ²  leaf and chase after dry chaff? ³ 

will you, with him, spread out ¹  the clouds, solid as a mirror of molten metal?

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. ¹ 

For who dares make light of small beginnings? These seven eyes ¹  will joyfully look on the tin tablet ²  in Zerubbabel’s hand. (These are the eyes of the Lord, which constantly range across the whole earth.)

I will break your strong pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze.

Many foreign rulers ¹  will ruin the land where I planted my people. ²  They will trample all over my chosen land. ³  They will turn my beautiful land into a desolate wasteland.

You have sinned more than all who came before you. You went and angered me by making other gods, formed out of metal; you have completely disregarded me. ¹ 

He will also take their gods into captivity to Egypt, along with their cast images and prized utensils of silver and gold. Then he will withdraw for some years from ¹  the king of the north.

‘Rather, I will sweep them away in a storm into all the nations they are not familiar with.’ Thus the land had become desolate because of them, with no one crossing through or returning, for they had made the fruitful ¹  land a waste.”