Amos 7:7

7:7 He showed me this: I saw ¹  the sovereign One ²  standing by a tin ³  wall holding tin in his hand.

Amos 9:2

9:2 Even if they could dig down into the netherworld, ⁴ 

my hand would pull them up from there.

Even if they could climb up to heaven,

I would drag them down from there.

Amos 1:8

1:8 I will remove ⁵  the ruler ⁶  from Ashdod, ⁷ 

the one who holds the royal scepter from Ashkelon. ⁸ 

I will strike Ekron ⁹  with my hand; ¹⁰ 

the rest of the Philistines will also die.” ¹¹ 

The sovereign Lord has spoken!

Amos 5:19

5:19 Disaster will be inescapable, ¹² 

as if a man ran from a lion only to meet a bear,

then escaped ¹³  into a house,

leaned his hand against the wall,

and was bitten by a poisonous snake.

[7:7]  ¹ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[7:7]  ² tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here and in the following verse is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[7:7]  ³ tn The Hebrew word אֲנָךְ (’anakh, “tin”) occurs only in this passage (twice in this verse and twice in the following verse). (Its proposed meaning is based on an Akkadian cognate annaku.) The tin wall of the vision, if it symbolizes Israel, may suggest weakness and vulnerability to judgment. See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 233-35. The symbolic significance of God holding tin in his hand and then placing tin among the people is unclear. Possibly the term אֲנָךְ in v. 8b is a homonym meaning “grief” (this term is attested in postbiblical Hebrew). In this case there is a wordplay, the אֲנָךְ (“tin”) of the vision suggesting the אֲנָךְ (“grief”) that judgment will bring upon the land. See F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos (AB), 759. Another option is to maintain the meaning “tin” and understand that the Lord has ripped off a piece of the tin wall and placed it in front of all to see. Their citadels, of which the nation was so proud and confident, are nothing more than tin fortresses. The traditional interpretation of these verses (reflected in many English versions) understands the term אֲנָךְ to mean “lead,” and by extension, “plumb line.” In this case, one may translate: “I saw the sovereign one standing by a wall built true to plumb holding a plumb line in his hand. The Lord said to me, ‘What do you see, Amos?’ I said, ‘A plumb line.’ The sovereign one then said, ‘Look, I am about to place a plumb line among my people…’” According to this view, the plumb line symbolizes God’s moral standards by which he will measure Israel to see if they are a straight or crooked wall.

[9:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “into Sheol” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV), that is, the land of the dead localized in Hebrew thought in the earth’s core or the grave. Cf. KJV “hell”; NCV, NLT “the place of the dead”; NIV “the depths of the grave.”

[1:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “cut off.”

[1:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “the one who sits.” Some translations take this expression as a collective singular referring to the inhabitants rather than the ruler (e.g., NAB, NRSV, NLT).

[1:8]  ⁷ sn Ashdod was one of the five major Philistine cities (along with Ashkelon, Ekron, Gaza, and Gath).

[1:8]  ⁸ sn Ashkelon was one of the five major Philistine cities (along with Ashdod, Ekron, Gaza, and Gath).

[1:8]  ⁹ sn Ekron was one of the five major Philistine cities (along with Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gaza, and Gath).

[1:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I will turn my hand against Ekron.” For other uses of the idiom, “turn the hand against,” see Ps 81:14; Isa 1:25; Jer 6:9; Zech 13:7.

[1:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and the remnant of the Philistines will perish.” The translation above assumes that reference is made to other Philistines beside those living in the cities mentioned. Another option is to translate, “Every last Philistine will die.”

[5:19]  ¹² tn The words “Disaster will be inescapable” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “went” (so KJV, NRSV).