Amos 1

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

The words of Amos

¹ The words of Amos, who was among the sheep breeders of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. ² And he said: Yahweh roars from Zion, and utters His voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers.

Judgment on the nations

³ Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn back its punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. ⁴ So I will send fire on the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the citadels of Ben-hadad. ⁵ I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the Valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Aram shall go into exile to Kir, says Yahweh.

⁶ Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn back its punishment, because they carried into exile a whole people, to deliver them up to Edom. ⁷ So I will send fire on the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour her citadels. ⁸ I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; I will turn My hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, says Adonai Yahweh.

⁹ Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not turn back its punishment, because they delivered up a whole people to Edom, and did not remember the covenant of brothers. ¹⁰ So I will send fire on the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour her citadels.

¹¹ Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn back its punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all compassion; his anger tore continually, and he kept his wrath forever. ¹² So I will send fire on Teman, and it shall devour the citadels of Bozrah.

¹³ Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn back its punishment, because they have ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border. ¹⁴ So I will kindle a fire on the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour her citadels, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind. ¹⁵ Their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together, says Yahweh.

Notes

• 1:1 Amos came from Tekoa, a village in the hills of Judah south of Bethlehem, yet he was sent north to the kingdom of Israel. He calls himself a noqed, a "sheep breeder," the word used of Mesha king of Moab (2 Kings 3:4), and later "a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs" (7:14). The reigns of Uzziah and Jeroboam son of Joash (Jeroboam II) overlap in the first half of the eighth century BC, so Amos is usually dated to about 760-750 BC; "the earthquake" was remembered for centuries (Zechariah 14:5), though its exact year is not known.
• 1:2 The first words of Amos are the same as Joel 3:16: Yahweh roars like a lion from Zion, His dwelling in Jerusalem, not from the shrines of the northern kingdom. A shepherd like Amos knew what a lion's roar meant (3:4, 3:8). Carmel, the green ridge by the sea, stands for the most fertile land; when its top withers, nothing is left untouched.
• 1:3 "For three transgressions, and for four" is a Hebrew number pattern (compare Proverbs 30:18, "three things… and four"): the sins have piled up beyond the full measure. The Hebrew says literally "I will not turn it back," meaning the decree of judgment will not be revoked. "Transgression" (pesha) is rebellion against authority. Damascus, the capital of Aram, had crushed Gilead east of the Jordan in the days of Hazael, making Israel "like the dust at threshing" (2 Kings 13:7).
• 1:9 "The covenant of brothers" was a treaty between allies who called each other "brother." Hiram king of Tyre and Solomon made such a covenant (1 Kings 5:12), and Hiram called Solomon "my brother" (1 Kings 9:13). Tyre sold captives to Edom as if that bond had never existed.
• 1:11 Edom descended from Esau, Jacob's twin, so "his brother" is Israel. The grudge goes back to Genesis: "Esau said in his heart… then I will kill Jacob my brother" (Genesis 27:41). The Hebrew "cast off all compassion" is literally "destroyed his compassion" (rachamim, from the same root as rechem, "womb"): he stifled the love one feels for a brother born of the same womb.
• 1:15 "Their king" (malkam) sounds like Milcom, the god of the Ammonites (1 Kings 11:5), and some ancient translations read it that way; Jeremiah repeats these words about Ammon (Jeremiah 49:3). The TRB follows the Hebrew "their king," while the sound may well hint that their god would go into exile with him.

Joel 3 · Amos 2

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