Amos 7-8

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Amos 7:1 tn Heb “behold” or “look.”
2. Amos 7:1 sn The crops planted late (consisting of vegetables) were planted in late January-early March and sprouted in conjunction with the spring rains of March-April. For a discussion of the ancient Israelite agricultural calendar, see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 31-44.
3. Amos 7:1 tn Or “the mowings of the king.”sn This royal harvest may refer to an initial mowing of crops collected as taxes by the royal authorities.
4. Amos 7:2 tn “Israel” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
5. Amos 7:2 tn Heb “stand” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).
6. Amos 7:2 tn Heb “small.”
7. Amos 7:3 tn Or “changed his mind about this.”
8. Amos 7:4 tn Heb “behold” or “look.”
9. Amos 7:4 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).
10. Amos 7:5 tn Heb “stand.”
11. Amos 7:5 tn Heb “small.”
12. Amos 7:6 tn Or “changed his mind about this.”
13. Amos 7:7 tn Heb “behold” or “look.”
14. Amos 7:7 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here and in the following verse is אֲדֹנָי (ʾadonay).
15. Amos 7:7 tn The Hebrew word אֲנָךְ (ʾanakh), “tin,” occurs only in this passage (twice in verse 7 and twice in verse 8). The meaning “tin” is based on its Akkadian cognate annaku. The traditional interpretation of these verses (reflected in many English versions) assumed that אֲנָךְ meant “lead.” Since lead might be used for a plumb line, and a plumb line might be used when building wall, the “lead” wall was assumed to be a wall built “true to plumb” while God holds a “lead” weighted plumb line in his hand. In this view the plumb line represents a standard of evaluation. This understanding developed before Akkadian was deciphered and the type of metal clearly identified for annaku. (In Hebrew “lead” is עֹפֶרֶת; ʿoferet.) Realizing that אֲנָךְ (ʾanakh) means “tin” has lead to other proposed interpretations. Some view the tin wall and piece of tin as symbolic. If the tin wall of the vision symbolizes Israel, it may suggest weakness and vulnerability to judgment. See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 233-35. Another option understands the Lord to have 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. Various proposals depend on selecting some quality about tin and suggesting a role for that in this context. However, it is more likely that this is a case of a sound play like the next vision in Amos 8:1-2 (see also Jer 1:11-14). With the presentation technique of a sound play, the vision is not the prophecy, only the occasion for the prophecy. God gets the prophet to say a certain sound and then spins the prophecy off that. See the note at 7:8.
16. Amos 7:8 sn The next vision clearly shows the technique of using a sound play. In 8:1 and 7:7 (cf. Jer 1:11-14) God shows the prophet an object, then asks what he sees. When the prophet responds, the last word becomes the jumping off point for the prophetic word. Based on the similar structure to the vision in 8:1-2 we expect a sound play here as well. But exactly how it works is uncertain. Possibly the term אֲנָךְ (ʾanakh) in v. 8b is a homonym meaning “grief” (this term is attested in post-biblical Hebrew). In this case God is saying that he will put grief in the midst of Israel, meaning that he is sending judgment. Judgment was also threatened in the first two visions of Amos 7. See F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos (AB), 759. Another possibility is that אֲנָךְ is supposed to sound like a pronominal suffix on the verb. While it would not fit the normal verb paradigm exactly, it is close to how a second person masculine singular suffix could sound (more typical of the pausal second masculine singular suffix on nouns or prepositions). In this case God is saying to Amos, “I am about to place you in the midst of Israel.” In the next section of the chapter, Amos relates how God sent him to preach to Israel (7:15). Amaziah the priest rejects Amos’ message, leading to God declaring the “end” (8:2) for Israel.
17. Amos 7:8 tn Heb “And I will no longer pass over him.”
18. Amos 7:9 tn Traditionally, “the high places” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); cf. NLT “pagan shrines.”
19. Amos 7:9 tn Heb “And I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with a sword.”
20. Amos 7:10 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.
21. Amos 7:10 tn Heb “in the middle of the house of Israel.”
22. Amos 7:10 tn Heb “words.”
23. Amos 7:11 tn Or “for.”
24. Amos 7:11 tn See the note on the word “exile” in 5:5.
25. Amos 7:12 tn Traditionally, “seer.” The word is a synonym for “prophet,” though it may carry a derogatory tone on the lips of Amaziah.
26. Amos 7:12 tn Heb “Eat bread there.”
27. Amos 7:13 tn Heb “for it is a temple of a king and it is a royal house.” It is possible that the phrase “royal house” refers to a temple rather than a palace. See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 243.
28. Amos 7:14 tn Heb “replied and said.” The phrase “and said” is pleonastic (redundant) and has not been included in the translation.
29. Amos 7:14 tn Heb “I was not a prophet nor was I the son of a prophet.” The phrase “son of a prophet” refers to one who was trained in a prophetic guild. Since there is no equative verb present in the Hebrew text, another option is to translate with the present tense, “I am not a prophet by profession.” In this case Amos, though now carrying out a prophetic ministry (v. 15), denies any official or professional prophetic status. Modern English versions are divided about whether to understand the past (JB, NIV, NKJV) or present tense (NASB, NEB, NRSV, NJPS) here.
30. Amos 7:14 tn Heb “for.”
31. Amos 7:14 tn Heb “gashed”; or “pierced.”sn For a discussion of the agricultural background, see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 128-29.
32. Amos 7:14 sn It is possible that herdsmen agreed to care for sycamore fig trees in exchange for grazing rights. See P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 116-17. Since these trees do not grow around Tekoa but rather in the lowlands, another option is that Amos owned other property outside his hometown. In this case, this verse demonstrates his relative wealth and is his response to Amaziah; he did not depend on prophecy as a profession (v. 13).
33. Amos 7:15 tn Heb “from [following] after.”
34. Amos 7:15 tn Heb “and the Lord said to me.”
35. Amos 7:16 tn The verb, which literally means “to drip,” appears to be a synonym of “to prophesy,” but it might carry a derogatory tone here, perhaps alluding to the impassioned, frenzied way in which prophets sometimes delivered their messages. If so, one could translate, “to drivel; to foam at the mouth” (see HALOT 694 s.v. נטף).
36. Amos 7:17 tn Heb “in the city,” that is, “in public.”
37. Amos 7:17 tn Heb “will fall by the sword.”
38. Amos 7:17 tn Heb “will be divided up with a [surveyor’s] measuring line.”
39. Amos 7:17 tn Heb “[an] unclean”; or “[an] impure.” This fate would be especially humiliating for a priest, who was to distinguish between the ritually clean and unclean (see Lev 10:10).
40. Amos 7:17 tn See the note on the word “exile” in 5:5.
41. Amos 8:1 tn Heb “behold” or “look.”
42. Amos 8:1 sn The basket of summer fruit (also in the following verse) probably refers to figs from the summer crop, which ripens in August-September. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 115.
43. Amos 8:2 sn There is a sound play here. The Hebrew word קֵץ (qets, “end”) sounds like קָיִץ (qayits, “summer fruit”). Possibly they were pronounced alike in the Northern dialect of Hebrew. This is a case where the vision is not the prophecy, but simply the occasion for a prophecy. The basket of summer fruit is only relevant as a means to get Amos to say qayits (קָיִץ) as an occasion for the Lord to say qets (קֵץ) and make the prophecy. Cf. Jer 1:11-14; Amos 7:7-8.
44. Amos 8:2 tn Heb “I will no longer pass over him.”
45. Amos 8:3 tn Or “palace” (NASB, NCV, TEV).
46. Amos 8:3 tn Heb “Many corpses in every place he will throw out.” The subject of the verb is probably impersonal, though many emend the active (Hiphil) form to a passive (Hophal): “Many corpses in every place will be thrown out.”
47. Amos 8:4 tn See the note on the word “trample” in 2:7.
48. Amos 8:4 tn Or “put an end to”; or “exterminate.”
49. Amos 8:5 sn Apparently work was prohibited during the new moon festival, just as it was on the Sabbath.
50. Amos 8:5 tn Heb “pass by.”
51. Amos 8:5 tn The verb, though omitted in the Hebrew text, is supplied in the translation from the parallel line.
52. Amos 8:5 tn Heb “sell grain.” Here “grain” could stand by metonymy for the bins where it was stored.
53. Amos 8:5 tn Here and in v. 6 the words “we’re eager” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
54. Amos 8:5 tn Heb “to make small the ephah and to make great the shekel.” The “ephah” was a unit of dry measure used to determine the quantity purchased, while the “shekel” was a standard weight used to determine the purchase price. By using a smaller than standard ephah and a heavier than standard shekel, these merchants were able to increase their profit (“sell less for a higher price”) by cheating the buyer.
55. Amos 8:5 tn Heb “and to cheat with deceptive scales”; cf. NASB, NIV “dishonest scales,” NRSV “false balances.”sn Rigged scales may refer to bending the crossbar or shifting the center point of the scales to make the amount weighed appear heavier than it actually was, thus cheating the buyer.
56. Amos 8:6 tn Heb “to buy the poor for silver.”sn The expression trade silver for the poor refers to the slave trade.
57. Amos 8:6 tn See the note on the word “sandals” in 2:6.
58. Amos 8:6 tn Heb “The chaff of the grain we will sell.”
59. Amos 8:7 tn Or “swears.”
60. Amos 8:7 sn In an oath one appeals to something permanent to emphasize one’s commitment to the promise. Here the Lord sarcastically swears by the arrogance of Jacob, which he earlier had condemned (6:8), something just as enduring as the Lord’s own life (see 6:8) or unchanging character (see 4:2). Other suggestions include that the Lord is swearing by the land, his most valuable possession (cf. Isa 4:2; Ps 47:4 [47:5 HT]); that this is a divine epithet analogous to “the Glory of Israel” (1 Sam 15:29); or that an ellipsis should be understood here, in which case the meaning is the same as that of 6:8 (“The Lord has sworn [by himself] against the arrogance of Jacob”).
61. Amos 8:7 tn The words “I swear” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation because a self-imprecation is assumed in oaths of this type.
62. Amos 8:7 tn Or “I will never forget all your deeds.”
63. Amos 8:8 tn Or “land” (also later in this verse).
64. Amos 8:8 tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.
65. Amos 8:8 tn Heb “all of it.”
66. Amos 8:8 tc The MT reads “like the light” (כָאֹר, khaʾor; note this term also appears in v. 9), which is commonly understood to be an error for “like the Nile” (כִּיאוֹר, kiʾor). 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.sn The movement of the quaking earth is here compared to the annual flooding and receding of the Nile River.
67. Amos 8:8 tn Or “churn.”
68. Amos 8:8 tn Or “sink back down.” The translation assumes the verb שָׁקַע (shaqaʿ), following the Qere.
69. Amos 8:8 tn The entire verse is phrased in a series of rhetorical questions that 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.
70. Amos 8:9 tn Heb “in a day of light.”
71. Amos 8:10 tn Heb “mourning.”
72. Amos 8:10 tn Heb “I will place sackcloth on all waists.”sn Mourners wore sackcloth (funeral clothes) as an outward expression of grief.
73. Amos 8:10 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).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.
74. Amos 8:10 tn Heb “I will make it like the mourning for an only son.”
75. Amos 8:10 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.
76. Amos 8:11 tn Heb “behold” or “look.”
77. Amos 8:11 tn Heb “the days are.”
78. Amos 8:11 tn Heb “not a hunger for food or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.”
79. Amos 8:12 tn Heb “they”; the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
80. Amos 8:12 tn That is, from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Dead Sea in the east—namely, across the whole land.
81. Amos 8:12 tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.
82. Amos 8:13 tn Heb “the.”
83. Amos 8:13 tn Or “virgins.”
84. Amos 8:13 tn Heb “the.”
85. Amos 8:13 tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.
86. Amos 8:14 tn Heb “those who swear.”
87. Amos 8:14 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).
88. Amos 8:14 tn Heb “say.”
89. Amos 8:14 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).
90. Amos 8:14 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 דֹּדְךָ (dod^ekha, “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.