Amos 7:6

7:6 The Lord decided not to do this. ¹  The sovereign Lord said, “This will not happen either.”

Amos 4:6-7

4:6 “But surely I gave ²  you no food to eat in any of your cities;

you lacked food everywhere you live. ³ 

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

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

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

One field ⁵  would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up.

[7:6]  ¹ tn Or “changed his mind about this.”

[4:6]  ² tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic (pronoun + verb). It underscores the stark contrast between the judgments that the Lord had been sending with the God of blessing Israel was celebrating in its worship (4:4-5).

[4:6]  ³ tn Heb “But I gave to you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of food in all your places.” The phrase “cleanness of teeth” is a vivid way of picturing the famine Israel experienced.

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

[4:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “portion”; KJV, ASV “piece”; NASB “part.” The same word occurs a second time later in this verse.