Amos 5:25

5:25 You did not bring me ¹  sacrifices and grain offerings during the forty years you spent in the wilderness, family ²  of Israel.

Amos 4:5

4:5 Burn a thank offering of bread made with yeast! ³ 

Make a public display of your voluntary offerings! ⁴ 

For you love to do this, you Israelites.”

The sovereign Lord is speaking!

Amos 5:22

5:22 Even if you offer me burnt and grain offerings, ⁵  I will not be satisfied;

I will not look with favor on your peace offerings of fattened calves. ⁶ 

Amos 4:4

Israel has an Appointment with God

4:4 “Go to Bethel ⁷  and rebel! ⁸ 

At Gilgal ⁹  rebel some more!

Bring your sacrifices in ¹⁰  the morning,

your tithes on ¹¹  the third day!

Amos 7:5

7:5 I said, “Sovereign Lord, stop!

How can Jacob survive? ¹² 

He is too weak!” ¹³ 

Amos 7:2

7:2 When they had completely consumed the earth’s vegetation, I said,

“Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! ¹⁴ 

How can Jacob survive? ¹⁵ 

He is too weak!” ¹⁶ 

Amos 5:26

5:26 You will pick up your images ¹⁷  of Sikkuth, ¹⁸  your king, ¹⁹ 

and Kiyyun, ²⁰  your star god, which you made for yourselves,

Amos 7:8

7:8 The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” I said, “Tin.” The sovereign One then said,

“Look, I am about to place tin among my people Israel.

I will no longer overlook their sin. ²¹ 

Amos 7:10

Amos Confronts a Priest

7:10 Amaziah the priest of Bethel ²²  sent this message ²³  to King Jeroboam of Israel: “Amos is conspiring against you in the very heart of the kingdom of Israel! ²⁴  The land cannot endure all his prophecies. ²⁵ 

Amos 8:2

8:2 He said, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end ²⁶  has come for my people Israel! I will no longer overlook their sins. ²⁷ 

Amos 2:8

2:8 They stretch out on clothing seized as collateral;

they do so right ²⁸  beside every altar!

They drink wine bought with the fines they have levied;

they do so right in the temple ²⁹  of their God! ³⁰ 

Amos 8:14

8:14 These are the ones who now take oaths ³¹  in the name of the sinful idol goddess ³²  of Samaria.

They vow, ³³  ‘As surely as your god ³⁴  lives, O Dan,’ or ‘As surely as your beloved one ³⁵  lives, O Beer Sheba!’

But they will fall down and not get up again.”

Amos 2:4

2:4 This is what the Lord says:

“Because Judah has committed three covenant transgressions ³⁶  –

make that four! ³⁷  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ³⁸ 

They rejected the Lord’s law; ³⁹ 

they did not obey his commands.

Their false gods, ⁴⁰ 

to which their fathers were loyal, ⁴¹ 

led them astray.

[5:25]  ¹ tn Heb “Did you bring me…?” This rhetorical question expects a negative answer. The point seems to be this: Since sacrifices did not characterize God’s relationship with Israel during the nation’s formative years, the people should not consider them to be so fundamental. The Lord places a higher priority on justice than he does on empty ritual.

[5:25]  sn Like Jer 7:22-23, this passage seems to contradict the Pentateuchal accounts that indicate Israel did offer sacrifices during the wilderness period. It is likely that both Amos and Jeremiah overstate the case to emphasize the relative insignificance of sacrifices in comparison to weightier matters of the covenant. See R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 428.

[5:25]  ² tn Heb “house.”

[4:5]  ³ sn For the background of the thank offering of bread made with yeast, see Lev 7:13.

[4:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “proclaim voluntary offerings, announce.”

[5:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “burnt offerings and your grain offerings.”

[5:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “Peace offering[s], your fattened calves, I will not look at.”

[4:4]  ⁷ sn Bethel and Gilgal were important formal worship centers because of their importance in Israel’s history. Here the Lord ironically urges the people to visit these places so they can increase their sin against him. Their formal worship, because it was not accompanied by social justice, only made them more guilty in God’s sight by adding hypocrisy to their list of sins. Obviously, theirs was a twisted view of the Lord. They worshiped a god of their own creation in order to satisfy their religious impulses (see 4:5: “For you love to do this”). Note that none of the rituals listed in 4:4-5 have to do with sin.

[4:4]  map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[4:4]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew word translated “rebel” (also in the following line) could very well refer here to Israel’s violations of their covenant with God (see also the term “crimes” in 1:3 [with note] and the phrase “covenant transgressions” in 2:4 [with note]; 3:14).

[4:4]  ⁹ sn See the note on Bethel earlier in this verse.

[4:4]  ¹⁰ tn Or “for.”

[4:4]  ¹¹ tn Or “for.”

[7:5]  ¹² tn Heb “stand.”

[7:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “small.”

[7:2]  ¹⁴ tn “Israel” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “stand” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[7:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “small.”

[5:26]  ¹⁷ tn This word appears in an awkward position in the Hebrew, following “Kiyyun.” It is placed here for better sense.

[5:26]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew term סִכּוּת (sikkut) apparently refers to Sakkuth, a Mesopotamian star god identified with Ninurta in an Ugaritic god list. The name is vocalized in the Hebrew text after the pattern of שִׁקוּץ (shiqquts, “detestable thing”). See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 195-96. Some English versions, following the LXX, translate as “tent” or “shrine” (NEB, NIV), pointing the term as סֻכַּת (sukkat; cf. 9:11).

[5:26]  ¹⁹ tc LXX, Vulgate, and Acts 7:43 read “Moloch” (cf. KJV). The Hebrew consonants are the same for both “king” and “Moloch” (מֹלֶךְ; molekh).

[5:26]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew term כִּיּוּן (kiyyun) apparently refers to the Mesopotamian god Kayamanu, or Saturn. The name, like “Sikkuth” in the previous line, is vocalized in the Hebrew text after the pattern of שִׁקוּץ (shiqquts, “detestable thing”). See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 195-96. Some versions translate as “pedestal” (NEB, NIV), relating the term to the root כּוּן (kun).

[7:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “And I will no longer pass over him.”

[7:10]  ²² map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[7:10]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ tn Heb “in the middle of the house of Israel.”

[7:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “words.”

[8:2]  ²⁶ tn There is a wordplay here. The Hebrew word קֵץ (qets, “end”) sounds like קָיִץ (qayits, “summer fruit”). The summer fruit arrived toward the end of Israel’s agricultural year; Israel’s national existence was similarly at an end.

[8:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “I will no longer pass over him.”

[2:8]  ²⁸ tn The words “They do so right” are supplied twice in the translation of this verse for clarification.

[2:8]  ²⁹ tn Heb “house.”

[2:8]  ³⁰ tn Or “gods.” The Hebrew term אֱלֹהֵיהֶם (’elohehem) may be translated “their gods” (referring to pagan gods), “their god” (referring to a pagan god, cf. NAB, NIV, NLT), or “their God” (referring to the God of Israel, cf. NASB, NRSV).

[8:14]  ³¹ tn Heb “those who swear.”

[8:14]  ³² tn Heb “the sin [or “guilt”] of Samaria.” This could be a derogatory reference to an idol-goddess popular in the northern kingdom, perhaps Asherah (cf. 2 Chr 24:18, where this worship is labeled “their guilt”), or to the golden calf at the national sanctuary in Bethel (Hos 8:6, 10:8). Some English versions (e.g., NEB, NRSV, CEV) repoint the word and read “Ashimah,” the name of a goddess worshiped in Hamath in Syria (see 2 Kgs 17:30).

[8:14]  ³³ tn Heb “say.”

[8:14]  ³⁴ sn Your god is not identified. It may refer to another patron deity who was not the God of Israel, a local manifestation of the Lord that was worshiped by the people there, or, more specifically, the golden calf image erected in Dan by Jeroboam I (see 1 Kgs 12:28-30).

[8:14]  ³⁵ tc The MT reads, “As surely as the way [to] Beer Sheba lives,” or “As surely as the way lives, O Beer Sheba.” Perhaps the term דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, “the way”) refers to the pilgrimage route to Beersheba (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 272) or it may be a title for a god. The notion of pilgrimage appears elsewhere in the book (cf. 4:4-5; 5:4-5; 8:12). The translation above assumes an emendation to דֹּדְךְ (dodÿkh, “your beloved” or “relative”; the term also is used in 6:10) and understands this as referring either to the Lord (since other kinship terms are used of him, such as “Father”) or to another deity that was particularly popular in Beer Sheba. Besides the commentaries, see S. M. Olyan, “The Oaths of Amos 8:14” Priesthood and Cult in Ancient Israel, 121-49.

[2:4]  ³⁶ tn This is the same Hebrew term that is translated “crimes” in the previous oracles (see at 1:3). The change to “covenant transgressions” reflects the probability that the prophet is condemning the nation of Israel for violating stipulations of the Mosaic Law.

[2:4]  ³⁷ tn Heb “Because of three violations of Judah, even because of four.”

[2:4]  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.

[2:4]  ³⁸ 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.

[2:4]  ³⁹ tn Or “instruction”; NCV “teachings.”

[2:4]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “lies.” This may very well be a derogatory term for idols (perhaps also at Ps. 40:4 [Heb 40:5]). Elsewhere false gods are called “vanities” (Deut 32:21; 1 Kgs 16:13, 26) and a delusion (Isa 66:3). In no other prophetic passages, however, are they called “lies.” The term could refer to the deceptions of false prophets (note Ezek 13:6-9; cf. Hab 2:3). See F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos (AB), 301-6.

[2:4]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “after which their fathers walked.” The expression “to walk after” is an idiom meaning “to be loyal to.” See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 75-76.

[2:4]  sn Here the idolatry of the parents carried over to the children, who persisted in worshiping the idols to which their fathers were loyal.