Harpercollins study bibl.., p.330
HarperCollins Study Bible, page 330
5.4–7 Exhortations to seek the Lord as the path to life. See also 5.14–15.
5.4 Seek is probably a technical term for inquiring of God or turning to God in a service of prayer.
5.5 Seeking the Lord is contrasted with making pilgrimages to the famous religious centers at Bethel (see 3.14; 4.4; 7.10–17), Gilgal, and Beer-sheba (see 8.14; Gen 21.14, 32–33; 26.23–25), which are destined for exile and destruction.
5.6 House of Joseph, the Northern Kingdom, Israel.
5.7 Justice…righteousness. See 5.24.
5.8–9 Like many of the psalms, this hymn extols the Lord as the creator of the cosmos.
5.8 The Lord made the constellations (Pleiades and Orion), causes day and night, and brings rain from the sea.
5.9 The one who controls natural forces also acts in history to destroy.
5.10–13 Accusations of injustice against the wealthy and powerful members of the community who take advantage of the poor (v. 11) and the needy (v. 12).
5.10 They are the ones addressed as you in v. 11, i.e., the prophet’s audience. The gate is the location of the law court.
5.11 Ironically, the wealthy will lose the very things they have acquired unjustly.
5.12 Push aside the needy in the gate, use the legal process to take advantage of the poor.
5.13 The prophet refers enigmatically to the time of judgment (evil time).
5.14–15 Further exhortations to seek the Lord. See 5.4–7.
5.15 It is possible that it is not too late to change and avert the coming disaster. Be gracious, pardon. Remnant of Joseph, what is left of the Northern Kingdom, Israel.
5.16–20 Contrary to popular expectations, a day of death and destruction lies ahead.
5.16–17 As in vv. 1–2, mourning songs announce the death of Israel. Those skilled in lamentation are professional mourners (Jer 9.17–19; Ezek 8.14; 2 Chr 35.25).
5.18–20 The day of the LORD will be a dark day of judgment. In this earliest prophetic reference to the expectation, Amos repudiates and reverses the false hopes of his hearers through the use of rhetorical questions and metaphorical language. For subsequent understandings of the “day of the LORD” see Ezek 30.1–4; Joel 2.1–2; Zeph 1.14–18.
5.21–27 The prophet has the Lord speaking in the strongest terms (I hate, I despise, v. 21) to reject all kinds of religious practices and to call instead for justice and righteousness (v. 24; see Isa 1.10–17; Mic 6.6–8).
5.21 Festivals and solemn assemblies include both regular and unscheduled gatherings for prayer, sacrifice, and celebration.
5.22 Three common types of sacrifice are rejected.
5.23 The Lord considers sacred music to be noise (see 8.10).
5.24 Amos frequently speaks of justice and righteousness in tandem (see also v. 7; 6.12). Justice is the establishment of the right, and of the person in the right, through fair legal procedures (v. 15; Deut 25.1), in accordance with the will of the Lord. Righteousness is that quality of life in relationship with others in the community that gives rise to justice.
5.25 Contrary to the pentateuchal account of Israel’s history (Ex 19–Num 10), Amos asserts that sacrifices and offerings were not given during the wandering in the wilderness (see also Jer 7.21–26).
5.26 Sakkuth and Kaiwan were Mesopotamian deities.
5.27 Exile beyond Damascus, i.e., to Assyria.
AMOS 6
Complacent Self-Indulgence Will Be Punished
1Alas for those who are at ease in Zion,
and for those who feel secure on Mount Samaria,
the notables of the first of the nations,
to whom the house of Israel resorts!
2Cross over to Calneh, and see;
from there go to Hamath the great;
then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
Are you bettera than these kingdoms?
Or is yourb territory greater than theirc territory,
3O you that put far away the evil day,
and bring near a reign of violence?
4Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory,
and lounge on their couches,
and eat lambs from the flock,
and calves from the stall;
5who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp,
and like David improvise on instruments of music;
6who drink wine from bowls,
and anoint themselves with the finest oils,
but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!
7Therefore they shall now be the first to go into exile,
and the revelry of the loungers shall pass away.
8The Lord GOD has sworn by himself
(says the LORD, the God of hosts):
I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his strongholds;
and I will deliver up the city
and all that is in it.
9If ten people remain in one house, they shall die. 10And if a relative, one who burns the dead,d shall take up the body to bring it out of the house, and shall say to someone in the innermost parts of the house, “Is anyone else with you?” the answer will come, “No.” Then the relativee shall say, “Hush! We must not mention the name of the LORD.”
11See, the LORD commands,
and the great house shall be shattered to bits, and the little house to pieces.
12Do horses run on rocks?
Does one plow the sea with oxen?f
But you have turned justice into poison
and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood—
13you who rejoice in Lo-debar,g
who say, “Have we not by our own strength
taken Karnaimh for ourselves?”
14Indeed, I am raising up against you a nation,
O house of Israel, says the LORD, the God of hosts,
and they shall oppress you from Lebohamath
to the Wadi Arabah.
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a Or Are they better
b Heb their
c Heb your
d Or who makes a burning for him
e Heb he
f Or Does one plow them with oxen
g Or in a thing of nothingness
h Or horns
6.1–7 Indictments of a self-indulgent society conclude (v. 7) with an announcement of judgment.
6.1–3 The powerful and wealthy (notables) are accused of arrogant self-satisfaction.
6.1 Although the message of Amos is to the Northern Kingdom (Israel) and its capital (Samaria) in particular, here he includes the leaders of Jerusalem (Zion) as well.
6.2 Calneh and Hamath were Syrian cities to the north of Israel, perhaps taken by Assyria in 738 BCE; Gath was one of the five Philistine cities to the west.
6.4–6 The upper classes, including the political leadership, indulge themselves with rich food, drink, and entertainment, but have no concern for the troubles of the nation (ruin of Joseph, v. 6).
6.4 Alas does not appear in the Hebrew text.
6.7 The leaders will lead the way into exile.
6.8–14 Diverse materials have been combined to advance the common theme of the Lord’s judgment on the city (v. 8), presumably Samaria.
6.8 The Lord solemnly swears (see 4.2; 8.7) to hand over (deliver up) the city and its inhabitants to its enemies.
6.9–10 A narrative sketches a mysterious and ominous little scene of survivors hiding among the ruins and the bodies of the slain.
6.12 The prophet employs proverbial sayings to show that Israel’s sins are unnatural and ridiculous behavior.
6.13 Israel boasts that its military conquests were achieved through its own strength. The names of cities in the Transjordan conquered by Jeroboam II (2 Kings 14.25) are turned into puns, “not a thing” and “horns,” the sarcastic use of a symbol of strength.
6.14 The Lord promises to bring an unnamed enemy to oppress the people from one end of the land to the other.
AMOS 7
Locusts, Fire, and a Plumb Line
1This is what the Lord GOD showed me: he was forming locusts at the time the latter growth began to sprout (it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings). 2When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said,
“O Lord GOD, forgive, I beg you!
How can Jacob stand?
He is so small!”
3The LORD relented concerning this;
“It shall not be,” said the LORD.
4This is what the Lord GOD showed me: the Lord GOD was calling for a shower of fire,a and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. 5Then I said,
“O Lord GOD, cease, I beg you!
How can Jacob stand?
He is so small!”
6The LORD relented concerning this;
“This also shall not be,” said the Lord GOD.
7This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 8And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,
“See, I am setting a plumb line
in the midst of my people Israel;
I will never again pass them by;
9the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,
and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,
and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
Amaziah Complains to the King
10Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. 11For thus Amos has said,
‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
and Israel must go into exile
away from his land.’”
12And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there, and prophesy there; 13but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”
14Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I amb no prophet, nor a prophet’s son; but I amc a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, 15and the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
16“Now therefore hear the word of the LORD.
You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
17Therefore thus says the LORD:
‘Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city,
and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,
and your land shall be parceled out by line;
you yourself shall die in an unclean land,
and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’”
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a Or for a judgment by fire
b Or was
c Or was
7.1–9.4 Five vision reports organize this section of the book.
7.1–9 Amos reports three visions of divine judgment against Israel. In the first two (7.1–3, 4–6) he intercedes on behalf of the people and the Lord relents, but in the third (7.7–9), as in the fourth and fifth (8.1–3; 9.1–4), he does not intercede and the sentence is not lifted.
7.1 Showed me, technical language in autobiographical style for the introduction of a vision report (7.4, 7; 8.1). Locusts were a familiar threat to crops and therefore to the lives of the people.
7.3 Relented, or “repented.” Reports that God repented or reversed a decision are not uncommon in the Hebrew scriptures (see esp. Jon 3.9–10; 4.2; Joel 2.14, 18–19).
7.4 Shower of fire, better “judgment by fire.” Since it devoured the great deep, the waters believed to surround the earth and heavens (see Gen 1.2), as well as the land, this was no ordinary flame but a cosmic fire.
7.7 The Hebrew word translated plumb line appears only in this context and therefore its meaning is uncertain.
7.9 The high places were the locations of sanctuaries for legitimate worship and sacrifice until they were outlawed in the time of Josiah (2 Kings 23.8). Isaac as a name for the land of Israel is unusual.
7.10–17 Conflict between prophet and priest. The report from the perspective of a third person first gives the background (vv. 10–11) and then reports the dialogue between Amos and Amaziah (vv. 12–15) that concludes with the prophet’s announcement of judgment against the priest, his family, and his people (vv. 16–17).
7.10–11 Amos is accused of conspiracy against the state because of words of judgment such as those found in v. 9.
7.12–13 Amaziah does not challenge the right of Amos to prophesy, but only his authority to speak at the royal sanctuary and, by implication, in the kingdom of Israel.
7.14 I am no prophet. The Hebrew clause could be translated “I was no prophet.” Prophet’s son, member of a prophetic guild (see 2 Kings 2.3; 4.1).
7.15 Amos asserts the authority of his divine vocation against the authority of the priest.
7.16–17 Judgment is announced upon Amaziah and his household because he has opposed the word of God.
AMOS 8
The Basket of Fruit
1This is what the Lord GOD showed me—a basket of summer fruit.a 2He said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”b Then the LORD said to me,
“The endc has come upon my people Israel;
I will never again pass them by.
3The songs of the templed shall become wailings in that day,”
says the Lord GOD;
“the dead bodies shall be many,
cast out in every place. Be silent!”
4Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
5saying, “When will the new moon be over
so that we may sell grain;
and the sabbath,
so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,
and practice deceit with false balances,
6buying the poor for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
and selling the sweepings of the wheat.”
7The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.
8Shall not the land tremble on this account,
and everyone mourn who lives in it,
and all of it rise like the Nile,
and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?
9On that day, says the Lord GOD,
I will make the sun go down at noon,
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10I will turn your feasts into mourning,
and all your songs into lamentation;
I will bring sackcloth on all loins,
and baldness on every head;
I will make it like the mourning for an only son,
and the end of it like a bitter day.
11The time is surely coming, says the Lord GOD,
when I will send a famine on the land;
not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the LORD.
12They shall wander from sea to sea,
and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD,
but they shall not find it.
13In that day the beautiful young women and the young men
shall faint for thirst.
14Those who swear by Ashimah of Samaria,
and say, “As your god lives, O Dan,”
and, “As the way of Beer-sheba lives”—
they shall fall, and never rise again.
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a Heb qayits
b Heb qayits
c Heb qets
d Or palace
8.1–3 The fourth vision report parallels the third one (7.7–9) in form and effect: divine judgment upon Israel.
8.2 The Hebrew for basket of summer fruit (qayits) is a pun on the word for end (qets).
8.4–8 Because of Israel’s corrupt business practices that oppress the needy and the poor (vv. 4–6), the Lord will intervene against the land (vv. 7–8).
8.5 The new moon was obviously a monthly religious festival day when business was suspended.
8.6 Buying the poor, a reference to debt slavery (see 2.6).
8.8 Land, the earth.
8.9–14 The coming day of the LORD (5.18–20) will be a time of darkness, mourning, famine, and thirst.
8.9 The imagery of a solar eclipse is a portent of the darkness of death.
8.11–12 Worse than a famine will be the Lord’s withdrawal of his word.
8.14 Ashimah and the way of Beer-sheba are either the names of gods or pejorative titles applied to gods.
AMOS 9
The Destruction of Israel
1I saw the LORD standing besidea the altar, and he said:
Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake,
and shatter them on the heads of all the people;b
and those who are left I will kill with the sword;
not one of them shall flee away,
not one of them shall escape.
2Though they dig into Sheol,
from there shall my hand take them;
though they climb up to heaven,
from there I will bring them down.
3Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,
from there I will search out and take them;
and though they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea,
there I will command the sea-serpent, and it shall bite them.
4And though they go into captivity in front of their enemies,
there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them;
and I will fix my eyes on them
for harm and not for good.
5The Lord, GOD of hosts,
