Amos 1:9

1:9 This is what the Lord says:

“Because Tyre has committed three crimes ¹  –

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

They sold ⁴  a whole community ⁵  to Edom;

they failed to observe ⁶  a treaty of brotherhood. ⁷ 

Amos 4:7

4:7 “I withheld rain from you three months before the harvest. ⁸ 

I gave rain to one city, but not to another.

One field ⁹  would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up.

Amos 4:11

4:11 “I overthrew some of you the way God ¹⁰  overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. ¹¹ 

You were like a burning stick ¹²  snatched from the flames.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 5:11

5:11 Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops ¹³ 

and exact a grain tax from them,

you will not live in the houses you built with chiseled stone,

nor will you drink the wine from the fine ¹⁴  vineyards you planted. ¹⁵ 

Amos 6:8

6:8 The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his very own life. ¹⁶ 

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

“I despise Jacob’s arrogance;

I hate their ¹⁷  fortresses.

I will hand over to their enemies ¹⁸  the city of Samaria ¹⁹  and everything in it.”

Amos 7:10

Amos Confronts a Priest

7:10 Amaziah the priest of Bethel ²⁰  sent this message ²¹  to King Jeroboam of Israel: “Amos is conspiring against you in the very heart of the kingdom of Israel! ²²  The land cannot endure all his prophecies. ²³ 

Amos 9:7

9:7 “You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight,” ²⁴  says the Lord.

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

but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor ²⁵  and the Arameans from Kir. ²⁶ 

Amos 9:13-14

9:13 “Be sure of this, ²⁷  the time is ²⁸  coming,” says the Lord,

“when the plowman will catch up to the reaper ²⁹ 

and the one who stomps the grapes ³⁰  will overtake ³¹  the planter. ³² 

Juice will run down the slopes, ³³ 

it will flow down all the hillsides. ³⁴ 

9:14 I will bring back my people, Israel; ³⁵ 

they will rebuild the cities lying in rubble ³⁶  and settle down. ³⁷ 

They will plant vineyards and drink the wine they produce; ³⁸ 

they will grow orchards ³⁹  and eat the fruit they produce. ⁴⁰ 

[1:9]  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.

[1:9]  ² tn Heb “Because of three violations of Tyre, even because of four.”

[1:9]  sn 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.

[1:9]  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.

[1:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “handed over.”

[1:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “[group of] exiles.” A similar phrase occurs in v. 6.

[1:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “did not remember.”

[1:9]  ⁷ sn A treaty of brotherhood. In the ancient Near Eastern world familial terms were sometimes used to describe treaty partners. In a treaty between superior and inferior parties, the lord would be called “father” and the subject “son.” The partners in a treaty between equals referred to themselves as “brothers.” For biblical examples, see 1 Kgs 9:13; 20:32-33.

[4:7]  ⁸ sn Rain…three months before the harvest refers to the rains of late March-early April.

[4:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “portion”; KJV, ASV “piece”; NASB “part.” The same word occurs a second time later in this verse.

[4:11]  ¹⁰ tn Several English versions substitute the first person pronoun (“I”) here for stylistic reasons (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[4:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “like God’s overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.” The divine name may be used in an idiomatic superlative sense here, in which case one might translate, “like the great [or “disastrous”] overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.”

[4:11]  sn The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is described in Gen 19:1-29.

[4:11]  ¹² tn Heb “like that which is burning.”

[5:11]  ¹³ tn Traditionally, “because you trample on the poor” (cf. KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). The traditional view derives the verb from בּוּס (bus, “to trample”; cf. Isa. 14:25), but more likely it is cognate to an Akkadian verb meaning “to exact an agricultural tax” (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 49; S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 172-73).

[5:11]  ¹⁴ tn Or “lovely”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “pleasant”; NAB “choice”; NIV “lush.”

[5:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Houses of chiseled stone you built, but you will not live in them. Fine vineyards you planted, but you will not drink their wine.”

[6:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “swears by his life”; or “swears by himself.”

[6:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “his,” referring to Jacob, which stands here for the nation of Israel.

[6:8]  ¹⁸ tn The words “to their enemies” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[6:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the city”; this probably refers to the city of Samaria (cf. 6:1), which in turn, by metonymy, represents the entire northern kingdom.

[7:10]  ²⁰ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[7:10]  ²¹ 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]  ²² tn Heb “in the middle of the house of Israel.”

[7:10]  ²³ tn Heb “words.”

[9:7]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ sn Caphtor may refer to the island of Crete.

[9:7]  ²⁶ 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.

[9:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[9:13]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the days are.”

[9:13]  ²⁹ sn The plowman will catch up to the reaper. Plowing occurred in October-November, and harvesting in April-May (see P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 109.) But in the future age of restored divine blessing, there will be so many crops the reapers will take all summer to harvest them, and it will be time for plowing again before the harvest is finished.

[9:13]  ³⁰ sn When the grapes had been harvested, they were placed in a press where workers would stomp on them with their feet and squeeze out the juice. For a discussion of grape harvesting technique, see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 110-12.

[9:13]  ³¹ tn The verb is omitted here in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation from the parallel line.

[9:13]  ³² sn The grape harvest occurred in August-September, planting in November-December (see P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 109). But in the future age described here there will be so many grapes the workers who stomp them will still be working when the next planting season arrives.

[9:13]  ³³ tn Or “hills,” where the vineyards were planted.

[9:13]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and all the hills will melt.”

[9:14]  ³⁵ tn This line can also be translated “I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel” and is a common idiom (e.g., Deut 30:3; Jer 30:3; Hos 6:11; Zeph 3:20). This rendering is followed by several modern English versions (e.g., NEB, NRSV, NJPS).

[9:14]  ³⁶ tn Or “the ruined [or “desolate”] cities.”

[9:14]  ³⁷ tn Or “and live [in them].”

[9:14]  ³⁸ tn Heb “drink their wine.”

[9:14]  ³⁹ tn Or “gardens.”

[9:14]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “eat their fruit.”