Amos 1:13

1:13 This is what the Lord says:

“Because the Ammonites have committed three crimes ¹  –

make that four! ²  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ³ 

They ripped open Gilead’s pregnant women ⁴ 

so they could expand their territory.

Amos 4:10

4:10 “I sent against you a plague like one of the Egyptian plagues. ⁵ 

I killed your young men with the sword,

along with the horses you had captured.

I made the stench from the corpses ⁶  rise up into your nostrils.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 5:16

5:16 Because of Israel’s sins ⁷  this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, ⁸  says:

“In all the squares there will be wailing,

in all the streets they will mourn the dead. ⁹ 

They will tell the field workers ¹⁰  to lament

and the professional mourners ¹¹  to wail.

Amos 7:10

Amos Confronts a Priest

7:10 Amaziah the priest of Bethel ¹²  sent this message ¹³  to King Jeroboam of Israel: “Amos is conspiring against you in the very heart of the kingdom of Israel! ¹⁴  The land cannot endure all his prophecies. ¹⁵ 

Amos 8:11

8:11 Be certain of this, ¹⁶  the time is ¹⁷  coming,” says the sovereign Lord,

“when I will send a famine through the land –

not a shortage of food or water

but an end to divine revelation! ¹⁸ 

Amos 9:6-7

9:6 He builds the upper rooms of his palace ¹⁹  in heaven

and sets its foundation supports ²⁰  on the earth. ²¹ 

He summons the water of the sea

and pours it out on the earth’s surface.

The Lord is his name.

9:7 “You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight,” ²²  says the Lord.

“Certainly I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt,

but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor ²³  and the Arameans from Kir. ²⁴ 

[1:13]  ¹ tn Traditionally, “transgressions” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) or “sins” (NIV). For an explanation of the atrocities outlined in this oracle as treaty violations of God’s mandate to Noah in Gen 9:5-7, see the note on the word “violations” in 1:3.

[1:13]  ² tn Heb “Because of three violations of the Ammonites, even because of four.”
On the three…four style that introduces each of the judgment oracles of chaps. 1-2 see the note on the word “four” in 1:3.

[1:13]  ³ tn Heb “I will not bring it [or “him”] back.” The translation understands the pronominal object to refer to the decree of judgment that follows; the referent (the decree) has been specified in the translation for clarity. For another option see the note on the word “judgment” in 1:3.

[1:13]  ⁴ sn The Ammonites ripped open Gilead’s pregnant women in conjunction with a military invasion designed to expand their territory. Such atrocities, although repugnant, were not uncommon in ancient Near Eastern warfare.

[4:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “in the manner [or “way”] of Egypt.”

[4:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “of your camps [or “armies”].”

[5:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “Therefore.” This logical connector relates back to the accusation of vv. 10-13, not to the parenthetical call to repentance in vv. 14-15. To indicate this clearly, the phrase “Because of Israel’s sins” is used in the translation.

[5:16]  ⁸ tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[5:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “they will say, ‘Ah! Ah!’” The Hebrew term הוֹ (ho, “ah, woe”) is an alternate form of הוֹי (hoy), a word used to mourn the dead and express outwardly one’s sorrow. See 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5. This wordplay follows quickly, as v. 18 begins with הוֹי (“woe”).

[5:16]  ¹⁰ tn Or “farmers” (NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[5:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “those who know lamentation.”

[5:16]  sn Professional mourners are referred to elsewhere in the OT (2 Chr 35:25; Jer 9:17) and ancient Near Eastern literature. See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 180.

[7:10]  ¹² map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[7:10]  ¹³ tn The direct object of the verb translated “sent” is elided in the Hebrew text. The words “this message” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[7:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in the middle of the house of Israel.”

[7:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “words.”

[8:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[8:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the days are.”

[8:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “not a hunger for food or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.”

[9:6]  ¹⁹ tc The MT reads “his steps.” If this is correct, then the reference may be to the steps leading up to the heavenly temple or the throne of God (cf. 1 Kgs 10:19-20). The prefixed מ (mem) may be dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem). The translation assumes an emendation to עֲלִיָּתוֹ (’aliyyato, “his upper rooms”).

[9:6]  ²⁰ tn Traditionally, “vault” (so ASV, NAB, NRSV). The precise meaning of this word in this context is unclear. Elsewhere it refers to objects grouped or held together. F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman (Amos [AB], 845-46) suggest the foundational structure of a building is in view.

[9:6]  ²¹ sn Verse 6a pictures the entire universe as a divine palace founded on the earth and extending into the heavens.

[9:7]  ²² tn The Hebrew text has a rhetorical question, “Are you children of Israel not like the Cushites to me?” The rhetorical question has been converted to an affirmative statement in the translation for clarity. See the comment at 8:8.

[9:7]  sn Though Israel was God’s special covenant people (see 3:2a), the Lord emphasizes they are not inherently superior to the other nations subject to his sovereign rule.

[9:7]  ²³ sn Caphtor may refer to the island of Crete.

[9:7]  ²⁴ tn The second half of v. 7 is also phrased as a rhetorical question in the Hebrew text, “Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir?” The translation converts the rhetorical question into an affirmation for clarity.