Footnotes

1. Amos 5:4 tn Heb “house.”
2. Amos 5:4 sn The following verses explain what it meant to seek the Lord. Israel was to abandon the mere formalism and distorted view of God and reality that characterized religious activity at the worship sites, as well as the social injustice that permeated Israelite society. Instead the people were to repent and promote justice in the land. This call to seek the Lord echoes the challenge in 4:13 to prepare to meet him as he truly is.
3. Amos 5:5 sn Ironically, Israel was to seek after the Lord, but not at Bethel (the name Bethel means “the house of God” in Hebrew).
4. Amos 5:5 tn Heb “cross over.”sn To worship at Beer Sheba, northern worshipers had to journey down (i.e., cross the border) between Israel and Judah. Apparently, the popular religion of Israel for some included pilgrimage to holy sites in the South.
5. Amos 5:5 tn Heb “For Gilgal.” By metonymy the place name “Gilgal” is used instead of referring directly to the inhabitants. The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
6. Amos 5:5 tn In the Hebrew text the statement is emphasized by sound play. The name “Gilgal” sounds like the verb גָּלָה (galah, “to go into exile”), which occurs here in the infinitival + finite verb construction (גָּלֹה יִגְלֶה, galoh yigleh). The repetition of the “ג” (g) and “ל” (l) sounds draws attention to the announcement and suggests that Gilgal’s destiny is inherent in its very name.sn That the people of Gilgal would be taken into exile is ironic, for Gilgal was Israel’s first campsite when the people entered the land under Joshua and the city became a symbol of Israel’s possession of the promised land.
7. Amos 5:5 tn Heb “disaster,” or “nothing”; cf. NIV “Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”sn Again there is irony. The name Bethel means “house of God” in Hebrew. How surprising and tragic that Bethel, the “house of God” where Jacob received the inheritance given to Abraham, would be overrun by disaster.
8. Amos 5:6 tn Heb “rush.” The verb depicts swift movement.
9. Amos 5:6 sn Here Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.
10. Amos 5:6 tn Heb “house.”
11. Amos 5:6 tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
12. Amos 5:6 tn Heb “to/for Bethel.” The translation assumes that the preposition indicates advantage, “on behalf of.” Another option is to take the preposition as vocative, “O Bethel.”
13. Amos 5:7 tn Heb “Those who”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity. In light of vv. 11-13, it is also possible that the words are directed at a more limited group within the nation—those with social and economic power.
14. Amos 5:7 tn There is an interesting wordplay here with the verb הָפַךְ (hafakh, “overturn, turn”). Israel “turns” justice into wormwood (cf. 6:12), while the Lord “turns” darkness into morning (v. 8; cf. 4:11; 8:10). Israel’s turning is for evil, whereas the Lord’s is to demonstrate his absolute power and sovereignty.
15. Amos 5:7 tn Heb “they throw righteousness.”
16. Amos 5:7 sn In v. 7 the prophet begins to describe the guilty Israelites but then interrupts his word picture with a parenthetical, yet powerful, description of the judge they must face (vv. 8-9). He resumes his description of the sinners in v. 10.
17. Amos 5:8 tn Heb “darkens the day into night.”
18. Amos 5:9 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew verb בָּלַג (balag, translated here “flashes”) is uncertain.
19. Amos 5:9 tn Heb “comes upon.” Many prefer to repoint the verb as Hiphil and translate, “he brings destruction upon the fortified places.”
20. Amos 5:10 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
21. Amos 5:10 sn In ancient Israelite culture, legal disputes were resolved in the city gate, where the town elders met.
22. Amos 5:11 tn Traditionally, “because you trample on the poor” (cf. KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). The traditional view derives the verb from בּוּס (bus, “to trample”; cf. Isa. 14:25), but more likely it is cognate to an Akkadian verb meaning “to exact an agricultural tax” (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 49; S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 172-73).
23. Amos 5:11 tn Or “lovely”; cf. KJV, NASB, NRSV “pleasant,” NAB “choice,” NIV “lush.”
24. Amos 5:11 tn Heb “Houses of chiseled stone you built, but you will not live in them. Fine vineyards you planted, but you will not drink their wine.”
25. Amos 5:12 tn Or “for.”
26. Amos 5:12 tn Or “I know” (so most English versions).
27. Amos 5:12 tn Or “transgressions,” “sins.” See the note on the word “crimes” in 1:3 and on the phrase “covenant violations” in 2:4.
28. Amos 5:12 tn Heb “Those who.”
29. Amos 5:12 tn Heb “turn aside.” They “turn aside” the needy by denying them the justice they deserve at the city gate (where legal decisions were made, and therefore where justice should be done).
30. Amos 5:12 sn Legal disputes were resolved in the city gate, where the town elders met.
31. Amos 5:13 tn Or “the wise”; or “the prudent.” Another option is to translate “the successful, prosperous” and understand this as a reference to the rich oppressors. See G. V. Smith, Amos, 169-70. In this case the following verb will also have a different nuance, that is, the wealthy remain silent before the abuses they perpetuate. See the note on the verb translated “keeps quiet” later in this verse.
32. Amos 5:13 tn Or “moans, laments,” from a homonymic verbal root. If the rich oppressors are in view, then the verb (whether translated “will be silenced” or “will lament”) describes the result of God’s judgment upon them. See G. V. Smith, Amos, 170.
33. Amos 5:13 tn If this is a judgment announcement against the rich, then the Hebrew phrase עֵת רָעָה (ʿet raʿah) must be translated, “[a] disastrous time.” See G. V. Smith, Amos, 170.
34. Amos 5:15 tn Heb “set up, establish.” In the ancient Near East it was the responsibility especially of the king to establish justice. Here the prophet extends that demand to local leaders and to the nation as a whole (cf. 5:24).
35. Amos 5:15 sn Legal disputes were resolved in the city gate (see the note in v. 12). This repetition of this phrase serves to highlight a deliberate contrast to the injustices cited in vv. 11-13.
36. Amos 5:15 tn Or “will show favor to.”
37. Amos 5:15 tn Or “the remnant of” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); cf. CEV “what’s left of your people.”
38. Amos 5:15 sn Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.