Amos 8:10

8:10 I will turn your festivals into funerals, ¹ 

and all your songs into funeral dirges.

I will make everyone wear funeral clothes ² 

and cause every head to be shaved bald. ³ 

I will make you mourn as if you had lost your only son; ⁴ 

when it ends it will indeed have been a bitter day. ⁵ 

Amos 8:8

8:8 Because of this the earth ⁶  will quake, ⁷ 

and all who live in it will mourn.

The whole earth ⁸  will rise like the River Nile, ⁹ 

it will surge upward ¹⁰  and then grow calm, ¹¹  like the Nile in Egypt. ¹² 

Amos 9:5

9:5 The sovereign Lord who commands armies will do this. ¹³ 

He touches the earth and it dissolves; ¹⁴ 

all who live on it mourn.

The whole earth ¹⁵  rises like the River Nile, ¹⁶ 

and then grows calm ¹⁷  like the Nile in Egypt. ¹⁸ 

Amos 5:16

5:16 Because of Israel’s sins ¹⁹  this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, ²⁰  says:

“In all the squares there will be wailing,

in all the streets they will mourn the dead. ²¹ 

They will tell the field workers ²²  to lament

and the professional mourners ²³  to wail.

Amos 1:2

God Will Judge the Surrounding Nations

1:2 Amos ²⁴  said:

“The Lord comes roaring ²⁵  out of Zion;

from Jerusalem ²⁶  he comes bellowing! ²⁷ 

The shepherds’ pastures wilt; ²⁸ 

the summit of Carmel ²⁹  withers.” ³⁰ 

[8:10]  ¹ tn Heb “mourning.”

[8:10]  ² tn Heb “I will place sackcloth on all waists.”

[8:10]  sn Mourners wore sackcloth (funeral clothes) as an outward expression of grief.

[8:10]  ³ tn Heb “and make every head bald.” This could be understood in a variety of ways, while the ritual act of mourning typically involved shaving the head (although occasionally the hair could be torn out as a sign of mourning).

[8:10]  sn Shaving the head or tearing out one’s hair was a ritual act of mourning. See Lev 21:5; Deut 14:1; Isa 3:24; 15:2; Jer 47:5; 48:37; Ezek 7:18; 27:31; Mic 1:16.

[8:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “I will make it like the mourning for an only son.”

[8:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “and its end will be like a bitter day.” The Hebrew preposition כְּ (kaf) sometimes carries the force of “in every respect,” indicating identity rather than mere comparison.

[8:8]  ⁶ tn Or “land” (also later in this verse).

[8:8]  ⁷ tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.

[8:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “all of it.”

[8:8]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Or “churn.”

[8:8]  ¹¹ tn Or “sink back down.” The translation assumes the verb שָׁקַע (shaqa’), following the Qere.

[8:8]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn The words “will do this” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:5]  ¹⁴ tn Or “melts.” The verb probably depicts earthquakes and landslides. See v. 5b.

[9:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all of it.”

[9:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the Nile.” The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:5]  ¹⁷ tn Or “sinks back down.”

[9:5]  ¹⁸ sn See Amos 8:8, which is very similar to this verse.

[5:16]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[5:16]  ²¹ 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]  ²² tn Or “farmers” (NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[5:16]  ²³ 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.

[1:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “he;” the referent (Amos) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:2]  ²⁵ sn The Lord, in his role of warrior-king, is compared to a lion. See 3:4, 8.

[1:2]  ²⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “gives his voice.”

[1:2]  ²⁸ tn Lexicographers debate whether there are two roots אָבַל (’aval), one signifying “mourn” and the other “be dry,” or simply one (“mourn”). The parallel verb (“withers”) might favor the first option and have the meaning “wilt away.” It is interesting to note, however, that the root appears later in the book in the context of lament (5:16; 8:8, 10; 9:5). Either 1:2 is a possible wordplay to alert the reader to the death that will accompany the judgment (the option of two roots), or perhaps the translation “mourns” is appropriate here as well (cf. KJV, NASB, NKJV, NJPS; see also D. J. A. Clines, “Was There an ’BL II ‘Be Dry’ in Classical Hebrew?” VT 42 [1992]: 1-10).

[1:2]  ²⁹ sn Carmel was a region known for its abundant plants and trees. See Isa 33:9; 35:2; Jer 50:19.

[1:2]  ³⁰ sn Loss of a land’s fertility is frequently associated with judgment in the OT and ancient Near Eastern literature.