Amos 4:2

4:2 The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his own holy character: ¹ 

“Certainly the time is approaching ² 

when you will be carried away ³  in baskets, ⁴ 

every last one of you ⁵  in fishermen’s pots. ⁶ 

Amos 7:4

7:4 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw ⁷  the sovereign Lord summoning a shower of fire. ⁸  It consumed the great deep and devoured the fields.

Amos 8:8

8:8 Because of this the earth ⁹  will quake, ¹⁰ 

and all who live in it will mourn.

The whole earth ¹¹  will rise like the River Nile, ¹² 

it will surge upward ¹³  and then grow calm, ¹⁴  like the Nile in Egypt. ¹⁵ 

Amos 9:5

9:5 The sovereign Lord who commands armies will do this. ¹⁶ 

He touches the earth and it dissolves; ¹⁷ 

all who live on it mourn.

The whole earth ¹⁸  rises like the River Nile, ¹⁹ 

and then grows calm ²⁰  like the Nile in Egypt. ²¹ 

[4:2]  ¹ tn Heb “swears by his holiness.”

[4:2]  sn The message that follows is an unconditional oath, the fulfillment of which is just as certain as the Lord’s own holy character.

[4:2]  ² tn Heb “Look, certainly days are coming upon you”; NRSV “the time is surely coming upon you.”

[4:2]  ³ tn Heb “one will carry you away”; NASB “they will take you away.”

[4:2]  ⁴ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word translated “baskets” is uncertain. The translation follows the suggestion of S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 128), who discusses the various options (130-32): “shields” (cf. NEB); “ropes”; “thorns,” which leads to the most favored interpretation, “hooks” (cf. NASB “meat hooks”; NIV, NRSV “hooks”); “baskets,” and (derived from “baskets”) “boats.” Against the latter, it is unlikely that Amos envisioned a deportation by boat for the inhabitants of Samaria! See also the note on the expression “fishermen’s pots” later in this verse.

[4:2]  ⁵ tn Or “your children”; KJV “your posterity.”

[4:2]  ⁶ tn The meaning of the Hebrew expression translated “in fishermen’s pots” is uncertain. The translation follows that of S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 128), who discusses the various options (132-33): “thorns,” understood by most modern interpreters to mean (by extension) “fishhooks” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV); “boats,” but as mentioned in the previous note on the word “baskets,” a deportation of the Samaritans by boat is geographically unlikely; and “pots,” referring to a container used for packing fish (cf. NEB “fish-baskets”). Paul (p. 134) argues that the imagery comes from the ancient fishing industry. When hauled away into exile, the women of Samaria will be like fish packed and transported to market.

[4:2]  sn The imagery of catching fish in connection with the captivity of Israel is also found in Jer 16:16 and Hab 1:14.

[7:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[7:4]  ⁸ tc The Hebrew appears to read, “summoning to contend with fire,” or “summoning fire to contend,” but both are problematic syntactically (H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos [Hermeneia], 292; S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 230-31). Many emend the text to לרבב אשׁ, “(calling) for a shower of fire,” though this interpretation is also problematic (see F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos [AB], 746-47).

[8:8]  ⁹ tn Or “land” (also later in this verse).

[8:8]  ¹⁰ tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.

[8:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “all of it.”

[8:8]  ¹² tc The MT reads “like the light” (כָאֹר, kha’or; note this term also appears in v. 9), which is commonly understood to be an error for “like the Nile” (כִּיאוֹר, ki’or). See the parallel line and Amos 9:5. The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity. If this emendation is correct, in the Hebrew of Amos “Nile” is actually spelled three slightly different ways.

[8:8]  sn The movement of the quaking earth is here compared to the annual flooding and receding of the River Nile.

[8:8]  ¹³ tn Or “churn.”

[8:8]  ¹⁴ tn Or “sink back down.” The translation assumes the verb שָׁקַע (shaqa’), following the Qere.

[8:8]  ¹⁵ tn The entire verse is phrased in a series of rhetorical questions which anticipate the answer, “Of course!” (For example, the first line reads, “Because of this will the earth not quake?”). The rhetorical questions entrap the listener in the logic of the judgment of God (cf. 3:3-6; 9:7). The rhetorical questions have been converted to affirmative statements in the translation for clarity.

[9:5]  ¹⁶ tn The words “will do this” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:5]  ¹⁷ tn Or “melts.” The verb probably depicts earthquakes and landslides. See v. 5b.

[9:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “all of it.”

[9:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the Nile.” The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:5]  ²⁰ tn Or “sinks back down.”

[9:5]  ²¹ sn See Amos 8:8, which is very similar to this verse.