^7:1The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw¹ him making locusts just as the crops planted late² were beginning to sprout. (The crops planted late sprout after the royal harvest.³) ^7:2When they had completely consumed the earth’s vegetation, I said,

“Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel!⁴

How can Jacob survive?⁵

He is too weak!”⁶

^7:3The Lord decided not to do this.⁷ “It will not happen,” the Lord said.

^7:4The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw⁸ the sovereign Lord summoning a shower of fire.⁹ It consumed the great deep and devoured the fields.

^7:5I said, “Sovereign Lord, stop!

How can Jacob survive?¹⁰

He is too weak!”¹¹

^7:6The Lord decided not to do this.¹² The sovereign Lord said, “This will not happen either.”

^7:7He showed me this: I saw¹³ the sovereign One¹⁴ standing by a tin¹⁵ wall holding tin in his hand. ^7:8The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” I said, “Tin.” The sovereign One then said,

“Look, I am about to place tin among my people Israel.

I will no longer overlook their sin.¹⁶

^7:9Isaac’s centers of worship¹⁷ will become desolate;

Israel’s holy places will be in ruins.

I will attack Jeroboam’s dynasty with the sword.”¹⁸

Amos Confronts a Priest

^7:10Amaziah the priest of Bethel¹⁹ sent this message²⁰ to King Jeroboam of Israel: “Amos is conspiring against you in the very heart of the kingdom of Israel!²¹ The land cannot endure all his prophecies.²²^7:11As a matter of fact,²³ Amos is saying this: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel will certainly be carried into exile²⁴ away from its land.’ ”

^7:12Amaziah then said to Amos, “Leave, you visionary!²⁵ Run away to the land of Judah! Earn your living²⁶ and prophesy there! ^7:13Don’t prophesy at Bethel²⁷ any longer, for a royal temple and palace are here!”²⁸

^7:14Amos replied²⁹ to Amaziah, “I was not a prophet by profession.³⁰ No,³¹ I was a herdsman who also took care of³² sycamore fig trees.³³^7:15Then the Lord took me from tending³⁴ flocks and gave me this commission,³⁵ ‘Go! Prophesy to my people Israel!’ ^7:16So now listen to the Lord’s message! You say, ‘Don’t prophesy against Israel! Don’t preach³⁶ against the family of Isaac!’

^7:17“Therefore this is what the Lord says:

‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the streets³⁷

and your sons and daughters will die violently.³⁸

Your land will be given to others³⁹

and you will die in a foreign⁴⁰ land.

Israel will certainly be carried into exile⁴¹ away from its land.’ ”

More Visions and Messages of Judgment

^8:1The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw¹ a basket of summer fruit.²

^8:2He said, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end³ has come for my people Israel! I will no longer overlook their sins.⁴

^8:3The women singing in the temple⁵ will wail in that day.”

The sovereign Lord is speaking.

“There will be many corpses littered everywhere!⁶ Be quiet!”

^8:4Listen to this, you who trample⁷ the needy,

and do away with⁸ the destitute in the land.

^8:5You say,

“When will the new moon festival⁹ be over,¹⁰ so we can sell grain?

When will the Sabbath end,¹¹ so we can open up the grain bins?¹²

We’re eager¹³ to sell less for a higher price,¹⁴

and to cheat the buyer with rigged scales!¹⁵

^8:6We’re eager to trade silver for the poor,¹⁶

a pair of sandals¹⁷ for the needy!

We want to mix in some chaff with the grain!”¹⁸

^8:7The Lord confirms this oath¹⁹ by the arrogance of Jacob:²⁰

“I swear²¹ I will never forget all you have done!²²

^8:8Because of this the earth²³ will quake,²⁴

and all who live in it will mourn.

The whole earth²⁵ will rise like the River Nile,²⁶

it will surge upward²⁷ and then grow calm,²⁸ like the Nile in Egypt.²⁹

^8:9In that day,” says the sovereign Lord, “I will make the sun set at noon,

and make the earth dark in the middle of the day.³⁰

^8:10I will turn your festivals into funerals,³¹

and all your songs into funeral dirges.

I will make everyone wear funeral clothes³²

and cause every head to be shaved bald.³³

I will make you mourn as if you had lost your only son;³⁴

when it ends it will indeed have been a bitter day.³⁵

^8:11Be certain of this,³⁶ the time is³⁷ coming,” says the sovereign Lord,

“when I will send a famine through the land—

not a shortage of food or water

but an end to divine revelation!³⁸

^8:12People³⁹ will stagger from sea to sea,⁴⁰

and from the north around to the east.

They will wander about looking for a revelation from⁴¹ the Lord,

but they will not find any.⁴²

^8:13In that day your⁴³ beautiful young women⁴⁴ and your⁴⁵ young men will faint from thirst.⁴⁶^8:14These are the ones who now take oaths⁴⁷ in the name of the sinful idol goddess⁴⁸ of Samaria.

They vow,⁴⁹ ‘As surely as your god⁵⁰ lives, O Dan,’ or ‘As surely as your beloved one⁵¹ lives, O Beer Sheba!’

But they will fall down and not get up again.”

Read in Logos

Footnotes

1 Heb “behold” or “look.”
2 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 Or “the mowings of the king.” This royal harvest may refer to an initial mowing of crops collected as taxes by the royal authorities.
4 “Israel” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
5 Heb “stand” (so , , , ).
6 Heb “small.”
7 Or “changed his mind about this.”
8 Heb “behold” or “look.”
9 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], ; S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], ). 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 [], ).
10 Heb “stand.”
11 Heb “small.”
12 Or “changed his mind about this.”
13 Heb “behold” or “look.”
14 Or “the Lord.” The Hebrew term translated “sovereign One” here and in the following verse is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
15 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), . 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 (), . 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.
16 Heb “And I will no longer pass over him.”
17 Traditionally, “the high places” (so , , , , ); “pagan shrines.”
18 Heb “And I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with a sword.”
19 For location see ; ; ; ; .
20 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 Heb “in the middle of the house of Israel.”
22 Heb “words.”
23 Or “for.”
24 See the note on the word “exile” in .
25 Traditionally, “seer.” The word is a synonym for “prophet,” though it may carry a derogatory tone on the lips of Amaziah.
26 Heb “Eat bread there.”
27 For location see ; ; ; ; .
28 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), .
29 Heb “replied and said.” The phrase “and said” is pleonastic (redundant) and has not been included in the translation.
30 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 (, , ) or present tense (, , , ) here.
31 Heb “for.”
32 Heb “gashed”; or “pierced.” For a discussion of the agricultural background, see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 128–29.
33 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).
34 Heb “from [following] after.”
35 Heb “and the Lord said to me.”
36 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 נטף).
37 Heb “in the city,” that is, “in public.”
38 Heb “will fall by the sword.”
39 Heb “will be divided up with a [surveyor’s] measuring line.”
40 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).
41 See the note on the word “exile” in .
1 Heb “behold” or “look.”
2 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.
3 There is a wordplay here. The Hebrew word קֵץ (qets, “end”) sounds like קָיִץ (qayits, “summer fruit”). The summer fruit arrived toward the end of Israel’s agricultural year; Israel’s national existence was similarly at an end.
4 Heb “I will no longer pass over him.”
5 Or “palace” (, , ).
6 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.”
7 See the note on the word “trample” in .
8 Or “put an end to”; or “exterminate.”
9 Apparently work was prohibited during the new moon festival, just as it was on the Sabbath.
10 Heb “pass by.”
11 The verb, though omitted in the Hebrew text, is supplied in the translation from the parallel line.
12 Heb “sell grain.” Here “grain” could stand by metonymy for the bins where it was stored.
13 Here and in v. 6 the words “we’re eager” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
14 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.
15 Heb “and to cheat with deceptive scales”; , “dishonest scales”; “false balances.” 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.
16 Heb “to buy the poor for silver.” The expression trade silver for the poor refers to the slave trade.
17 See the note on the word “sandals” in .
18 Heb “The chaff of the grain we will sell.”
19 Or “swears.”
20 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 ]); 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”).
21 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.
22 Or “I will never forget all your deeds.”
23 Or “land” (also later in this verse).
24 It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.
25 Heb “all of it.”
26 The 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. The movement of the quaking earth is here compared to the annual flooding and receding of the River Nile.
27 Or “churn.”
28 Or “sink back down.” The translation assumes the verb שָׁקַע (shaqa’), following the Qere.
29 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.
30 Heb “in a day of light.”
31 Heb “mourning.”
32 Heb “I will place sackcloth on all waists.” Mourners wore sackcloth (funeral clothes) as an outward expression of grief.
33 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). 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.
34 Heb “I will make it like the mourning for an only son.”
35 Heb “and its end will be like a bitter day.” The Hebrew preposition ךְּ (kaf) sometimes carries the force of “in every respect,” indicating identity rather than mere comparison.
36 Heb “behold” or “look.”
37 Heb “the days are.”
38 Heb “not a hunger for food or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.”
39 Heb “they”; the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
40 That is, from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Dead Sea in the east—that is, across the whole land.
41 Heb “looking for the word of.”
42 It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.
43 Heb “the.”
44 Or “virgins.”
45 Heb “the.”
46 It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.
47 Heb “those who swear.”
48 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., , , ) repoint the word and read “Ashimah,” the name of a goddess worshiped in Hamath in Syria (see 2 Kgs 17:30).
49 Heb “say.”
50 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).
51 The 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], ) 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 דֹּדְךְ (dodékh, “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, .