Amos 2:3

2:3 I will remove ¹  Moab’s leader; ² 

I will kill all Moab’s ³  officials ⁴  with him.”

The Lord has spoken!

Amos 5:10

5:10 The Israelites ⁵  hate anyone who arbitrates at the city gate; ⁶ 

they despise anyone who speaks honestly.

Amos 4:12

4:12 “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel.

Because I will do this to you,

prepare to meet your God, Israel! ⁷ 

[2:3]  ¹ tn Heb “cut off” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NAB “root out”; NCV “bring to an end.”

[2:3]  ² tn Heb “the leader [traditionally, “judge”] from her midst.”

[2:3]  ³ tn Heb “her”; the referent (Moab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:3]  ⁴ tn Or “princes” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NLT); TEV, CEV “leaders.”

[5:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:10]  ⁶ sn In ancient Israelite culture, legal disputes were resolved in the city gate, where the town elders met.

[4:12]  ⁷ tn The Lord appears to announce a culminating judgment resulting from Israel’s obstinate refusal to repent. The following verse describes the Lord in his role as sovereign judge, but it does not outline the judgment per se. For this reason F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman (Amos [AB], 450) take the prefixed verbal forms as preterites referring to the series of judgments detailed in vv. 6-11. It is more likely that a coming judgment is in view, but that its details are omitted for rhetorical effect, creating a degree of suspense (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 149-50) that will find its solution in chapter 5. This line is an ironic conclusion to the section begun at 4:4. Israel thought they were meeting the Lord at the sanctuaries, yet they actually had misunderstood how he had been trying to bring them back to himself. Now Israel would truly meet the Lord – not at the sanctuaries, but face-to-face in judgment.