Amos 3:14

3:14 “Certainly when ¹  I punish Israel for their ²  covenant transgressions, ³ 

I will destroy ⁴  Bethel’s ⁵  altars.

The horns ⁶  of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.

Amos 4:4

Israel has an Appointment with God

4:4 “Go to Bethel ⁷  and rebel! ⁸ 

At Gilgal ⁹  rebel some more!

Bring your sacrifices in ¹⁰  the morning,

your tithes on ¹¹  the third day!

Amos 5:6

5:6 Seek the Lord so you can live!

Otherwise he will break out ¹²  like fire against Joseph’s ¹³  family; ¹⁴ 

the fire ¹⁵  will consume

and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. ¹⁶ 

Amos 6:1

The Party is over for the Rich

6:1 Woe ¹⁷  to those who live in ease in Zion, ¹⁸ 

to those who feel secure on Mount Samaria.

They think of themselves as ¹⁹  the elite class of the best nation.

The family ²⁰  of Israel looks to them for leadership. ²¹ 

Amos 6:14

6:14 “Look! I am about to bring ²²  a nation against you, family ²³  of Israel.”

The Lord, the God who commands armies, is speaking.

“They will oppress ²⁴  you all the way from Lebo-Hamath ²⁵  to the Stream of the Arabah.” ²⁶ 

Amos 7:16

7:16 So now listen to the Lord’s message! You say, ‘Don’t prophesy against Israel! Don’t preach ²⁷  against the family of Isaac!’

Amos 9:9

9:9 “For look, I am giving a command

and I will shake the family of Israel together with all the nations.

It will resemble a sieve being shaken,

when not even a pebble falls to the ground. ²⁸ 

[3:14]  ¹ tn Heb “in the day.”

[3:14]  ² tn Heb “his.” With the referent “Israel” here, this amounts to a collective singular.

[3:14]  ³ tn Traditionally, “transgressions, sins,” but see the note on the word “crimes” in 1:3.

[3:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “punish” (so NASB, NRSV).

[3:14]  ⁵ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[3:14]  ⁶ sn The horns of an ancient altar projected upwards from the four corners and resembled an animal’s horns in appearance. Fugitives could seek asylum by grabbing hold of these corners (see Exod 21:14; 1 Kgs 1:50; 2:28). When the altar’s horns were cut off, there would be no place of asylum left for the Lord’s enemies.

[4:4]  ⁷ sn Bethel and Gilgal were important formal worship centers because of their importance in Israel’s history. Here the Lord ironically urges the people to visit these places so they can increase their sin against him. Their formal worship, because it was not accompanied by social justice, only made them more guilty in God’s sight by adding hypocrisy to their list of sins. Obviously, theirs was a twisted view of the Lord. They worshiped a god of their own creation in order to satisfy their religious impulses (see 4:5: “For you love to do this”). Note that none of the rituals listed in 4:4-5 have to do with sin.

[4:4]  map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[4:4]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew word translated “rebel” (also in the following line) could very well refer here to Israel’s violations of their covenant with God (see also the term “crimes” in 1:3 [with note] and the phrase “covenant transgressions” in 2:4 [with note]; 3:14).

[4:4]  ⁹ sn See the note on Bethel earlier in this verse.

[4:4]  ¹⁰ tn Or “for.”

[4:4]  ¹¹ tn Or “for.”

[5:6]  ¹² tn Heb “rush.” The verb depicts swift movement.

[5:6]  ¹³ sn Here Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.

[5:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “house.”

[5:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:6]  ¹⁶ 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.”

[6:1]  ¹⁷ tn On the Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy; “ah, woe”) as a term of mourning, see the notes in 5:16, 18.

[6:1]  ¹⁸ sn Zion is a reference to Jerusalem.

[6:1]  ¹⁹ tn The words “They think of themselves as” are supplied in the translation for clarification. In the Hebrew text the term נְקֻבֵי (nÿquvey; “distinguished ones, elite”) is in apposition to the substantival participles in the first line.

[6:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “house.”

[6:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “comes to them.”

[6:14]  ²² tn Or “raise up” (KJV, NASB); NIV “stir up.”

[6:14]  ²³ tn Heb “house.”

[6:14]  ²⁴ 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).

[6:14]  ²⁵ tn Or “from the entrance to Hamath.” The Hebrew term לְבוֹא (lÿvo’) can either be translated or considered a part of the place name.

[6:14]  ²⁶ 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.

[7:16]  ²⁷ tn The verb, which literally means “to drip,” appears to be a synonym of “to prophesy,” but it might carry a derogatory tone here, perhaps alluding to the impassioned, frenzied way in which prophets sometimes delivered their messages. If so, one could translate, “to drivel; to foam at the mouth” (see HALOT 694 s.v. נטף).

[9:9]  ²⁸ tn Heb “like being shaken with a sieve, and a pebble does not fall to the ground.” The meaning of the Hebrew word צְרוֹר (tsÿror), translated “pebble,” is unclear here. In 2 Sam 17:13 it appears to refer to a stone. If it means “pebble,” then the sieve described in v. 6 allows the grain to fall into a basket while retaining the debris and pebbles. However, if one interprets צְרוֹר as a “kernel of grain” (cf. NASB, NIV, NKJV, NLT) then the sieve is constructed to retain the grain and allow the refuse and pebbles to fall to the ground. In either case, the simile supports the last statement in v. 8 by making it clear that God will distinguish between the righteous (the grain) and the wicked (the pebbles) when he judges, and will thereby preserve a remnant in Israel. Only the sinners will be destroyed (v. 10).