Amos 5:3

5:3 The sovereign Lord says this:

“The city that marches out with a thousand soldiers ¹  will have only a hundred left;

the town ²  that marches out with a hundred soldiers ³  will have only ten left for the family of Israel.” ⁴ 

Amos 7:1-2

Symbolic Visions of Judgment

7:1 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw ⁵  him making locusts just as the crops planted late ⁶  were beginning to sprout. (The crops planted late sprout after the royal harvest. ⁷ ) 7:2 When they had completely consumed the earth’s vegetation, I said,

“Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! ⁸ 

How can Jacob survive? ⁹ 

He is too weak!” ¹⁰ 

Amos 9:5

9:5 The sovereign Lord who commands armies will do this. ¹¹ 

He touches the earth and it dissolves; ¹² 

all who live on it mourn.

The whole earth ¹³  rises like the River Nile, ¹⁴ 

and then grows calm ¹⁵  like the Nile in Egypt. ¹⁶ 

[5:3]  ¹ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ² tn Heb “The one.” The word “town” has been used in the translation in keeping with the relative sizes of the armed contingents sent out by each. It is also possible that this line is speaking of the same city of the previous line. In other words, the contingent sent by that one city would have suffered a ninety-nine percent casualty loss.

[5:3]  ³ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “for/to the house of Israel.” The translation assumes that this is a graphic picture of what is left over for the defense of the nation (NEB, NJB, NASB, NKJV). Others suggest that this phrase completes the introductory formula (“The sovereign Lord says this…”; see v. 4a; NJPS). Another option is that the preposition has a vocative force, “O house of Israel” (F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos [AB], 476). Some simply delete the phrase as dittography from the following line (NIV).

[7:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[7:1]  ⁶ 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.

[7:1]  ⁷ tn Or “the mowings of the king.”

[7:1]  sn This royal harvest may refer to an initial mowing of crops collected as taxes by the royal authorities.

[7:2]  ⁸ tn “Israel” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “stand” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[7:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “small.”

[9:5]  ¹¹ tn The words “will do this” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:5]  ¹² tn Or “melts.” The verb probably depicts earthquakes and landslides. See v. 5b.

[9:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “all of it.”

[9:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the Nile.” The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:5]  ¹⁵ tn Or “sinks back down.”

[9:5]  ¹⁶ sn See Amos 8:8, which is very similar to this verse.