Amos 2:13

Look! I will press you down, like a cart loaded down with grain presses down. ¹ 

"Now then, I will crush you as a cart crushes when loaded with grain.

"Behold, I am weighted down beneath you As a wagon is weighted down when filled with sheaves.

"So I will make you groan as a wagon groans when it is loaded down with grain.

You're too much for me. I'm hard-pressed--to the breaking point. I'm like a wagon piled high and overloaded, creaking and groaning.

See, I am crushing you down, as one is crushed under a cart full of grain.

So, I will press you down in your place, just as a cart presses down when it is full of sheaves.

"Behold, I am weighed down by you, As a cart full of sheaves is weighed down.

Look! I will press you down, like a cart loaded down with grain presses down. ¹ 

¹ tn The precise meaning of this verse is unclear. Various suggested meanings have been proposed (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 94): (1) One option is to relate the verb to an Arabic verb, meaning “to hinder; to hamper,” and translate, “I am making you immobile, like a cart filled with grain is immobile.” In this case, the Lord refers to Israel’s inability to escape his coming judgment (see vv. 14-16; NJPS). (2) Another view relates the verb to a different Arabic verb meaning “to cut in pieces,” translating “I will cut you in pieces as a cart cuts in pieces [the earth],” referring to the ruts and rifts in the ground caused by an earthquake. (3) Some relate the verb to an Arabic root meaning “to groan” with the idea that the Lord causes the ground underneath Israel to groan (cf. NLT). (4) The translation connects the verb to an Aramaism signifying to “press down” (cf. NIV, NRSV). Some English versions translate the verb in an intransitive sense as “I am weighted down” (cf. NASB, NKJV) or “I groan beneath you” (NEB). For this last option, see F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos (AB), 334.