Amos 4:11

4:11 “I overthrew some of you the way God ¹  overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. ² 

You were like a burning stick ³  snatched from the flames.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 5:16

5:16 Because of Israel’s sins ⁴  this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, ⁵  says:

“In all the squares there will be wailing,

in all the streets they will mourn the dead. ⁶ 

They will tell the field workers ⁷  to lament

and the professional mourners ⁸  to wail.

[4:11]  ¹ tn Several English versions substitute the first person pronoun (“I”) here for stylistic reasons (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[4:11]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “like that which is burning.”

[5:16]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[5:16]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Or “farmers” (NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[5:16]  ⁸ 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.