unfoldingWord® Translation Questions
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| The words of Amos, who was among the sheepbreeders from Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, the king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, the king of Israel, two years to the face of the earthquake. | This is the message that Yahweh gave to {me,} Amos. I am a man who raises sheep, and I am from {the village of} Tekoa. Yahweh showed me in a vision this message about Israel during the time when Uzziah was the king of Judah and Jeroboam, the son of Jehoash, was the king of Israel. This was two years before the {great} earthquake. |
Amos received the message he spoke concerning Israel in a vision given to him by Yahweh.
Amos was a shepherd.
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| And he said, “Yahweh roars from Zion, and from Jerusalem he gives his voice, and the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the head of Carmel dries up.” | This is the message: Yahweh is speaking powerfully, like the roar of a lion, from Zion, in {the middle of} Jerusalem. He is causing the pastures where shepherds take care of their sheep to dry up, and {even the forests on} the top of Mount Carmel will wither. |
The pastures where shepherds usually feed their sheep and the top of Mount Carmel dry up and wither.
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| Thus says Yahweh, “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn it back, because of their threshing the Gilead with the threshing sledges of iron. | This is what Yahweh says, “The people of Damascus have sinned again and again, so I will certainly punish them and will not change my mind about it, because they cruelly attacked the people of the region of Gilead, destroying them as people crush grain with iron-toothed threshing tools. |
Yahweh declared punishment against Damascus because they cruelly attacked the people of Gilead.
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| And I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, and it will devour the citadels of Ben Hadad. | So I will send fire to {destroy} {that place, including} the palace that {their king} Hazael built, and it will burn down the fortresses where {his son, their king} Ben-Hadad, has his armies. |
He said he would send a fire that would destroy the house of Hazael and the citadels of Ben Hadad.
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| And I will break the bar of Damascus, and I will cut off the seated {one} from the Valley of Aven and the one grasping the scepter from Beth Eden, and the people of Aram will go into exile to Kir,” says Yahweh. | I will smash the {gate} bars {that protect the city} of Damascus, and I will get rid of the one who sits {on the throne} in the Valley of Aven and the king who rules in {the region of} Beth Eden. The people of Aram will become captives and will go to the land of Kir,” says Yahweh. |
They will go into exile to the land of Kir.
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| Thus says Yahweh, “For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn it back, because of their taking into exile a complete exile, to hand {them} over to Edom. | This is what Yahweh says, “The people of the city of Gaza have sinned again and again, so I will certainly punish them and will not change my mind about it, because they captured whole people groups and took them away in order to sell them {as slaves} to the people of Edom. |
Yahweh said he would punish Gaza because they captured whole people groups and sold them as slaves to Edom.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it will devour her citadels. | So I will send fire to {destroy} the walls of Gaza, and it will burn down the fortresses of that city. |
Yahweh declared he would burn down the fortresses of Gaza.
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| And I will cut off the seated {one} from Ashdod, and the one grasping the scepter from Ashkelon, and I will turn back my hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines will perish,” says my Lord Yahweh. | I will get rid of the one who sits {on the throne} in the city of Ashdod and the king who rules in {the city of} Ashkelon. I will also powerfully punish the people of {the city of} Ekron, and all the people of {the region of} Philistia who are still alive will die,” says my Lord Yahweh. |
All the Philistines who are still alive will die.
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| Thus says Yahweh, “For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not turn it back, because of their handing over a complete exile to Edom, and they did not remember the covenant of brothers. | This is what Yahweh says, “The people of {the city of} Tyre have sinned again and again, so I will certainly punish them and will not change my mind about it, because they {also} captured whole people groups and took them away to Edom, and they ignored the treaty that they had made with another nation. |
Yahweh declared punishment against Tyre because they exiled whole people groups to Edom and broke their treaty.
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| And I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, and it will devour her citadels.” | So I will send fire to {destroy} the walls of Tyre, and it will burn down the fortresses of that city.” |
He declared he would send a fire that would destroy the walls of Tyre.
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| Thus says Yahweh, “For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn it back, because of his pursuing his brother with the sword, and he destroyed his compassions, and his nose tore perpetually, and his fury, he kept it continually. | This is what Yahweh says, “The people of Edom have sinned again and again, so I will certainly punish them and will not change my mind about it, because they attacked the people {of Israel,} who descended from Esau’s brother Jacob, {and killed them} with swords. They did not act mercifully toward them at all. They were constantly wrathful {to the people of Israel}, and they kept encouraging each other to stay angry {with the people of Israel} always. |
Yahweh declared punishment against Edom because he killed their own kinsmen.
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| And I will send a fire on Teman, and it will devour the citadels of Bozrah.” | So I will send fire to {destroy} {the region of} Teman, and it will burn down the fortresses of {the city of} Bozrah.” |
He declared he would send a fire on Teman that would also burn down the citadels of Bozrah.
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| Thus says Yahweh, “For three transgressions of the sons of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn it back, because of their ripping open the pregnant women of the Gilead, in order to enlarge their border. | This is what Yahweh says, “The people of Ammon have sinned again and again, so I will certainly punish them and will not change my mind about it, because their soldiers {even} ripped open the pregnant women of {the region of} Gilead {when they attacked it} in order to enlarge their own territory. |
Yahweh declared punishment against Ammon because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead.
| ULT | UST |
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| And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it will devour her citadels, with a shout in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind. | So I will start a fire that will destroy the walls of the city of Rabbah, and it will burn down the fortresses of that city. During that battle, the enemies will shout loudly. They will come as quickly and violently as a strong windstorm. |
Yahweh declared he would completely destroy the walls of the city of Rabbah and burn down her citadels.
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| And their king will go into the exile, he and his officials together,” says Yahweh. | Then the king of Ammon will become a captive and will go to another country, and his officials will go with him,” says Yahweh. |
Yahweh declared the king of Ammon would be exiled with all his officials.
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| Thus says Yahweh, “For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn it back, because of his burning the bones of the king of Edom to lime. | This is what Yahweh says, “The people of Moab have sinned again and again, so I will certainly punish them and will not change my mind about it, because they burned the bones of the king of Edom until only lime remained. |
Yahweh declared punishment against Moab because they burned the bones of the king of Edom.
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| And I will send a fire into Moab, and it will devour the citadels of Kerioth, and Moab will die in an uproar, with a war cry, with the sound of the shofar. | So I will send a fire to {destroy} {the nation of} Moab, and it will burn down the fortresses of {the city of} Kerioth. Many people of Moab will die while soldiers shout, blow the ram’s horn, and destroy Moab. |
Yahweh said he would send a fire that would destroy the fortresses of the city of Kerioth.
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| And I will cut off the judge from her midst, and all of her officials I will kill with him,” says Yahweh. | I will get rid of the ruler of Moab, and I will kill all of Moab’s leaders along with him. That is what I, Yahweh, say.” |
Yahweh declared that he would kill the judge and officials of Moab.
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| Thus says Yahweh, “For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn it back, because of their rejecting the law of Yahweh, and they did not keep his statutes, and their lies led them astray, which their fathers walked after them. | This is what Yahweh says, “The people of Judah have sinned again and again, so I will certainly punish them and will not change my mind about it, because they have rejected the instructions that I, Yahweh, gave them, and they have not obeyed my commands. The false gods that they worship have deceived them, the same false gods that their ancestors chose to worship. |
Yahweh declared punishment against Judah because Judah rejected the law of Yahweh.
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| And I will send a fire into Judah, and it will devour the citadels of Jerusalem.” | So I will send a fire to {destroy} {the nation of} Judah, and it will completely burn down the fortresses of {the city of} Jerusalem.” |
Yahweh declared he would burn down the fortresses of Jerusalem.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Thus says Yahweh, “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn it back, because of their selling the righteous for silver, and the needy in exchange for a pair of sandals, | This is what Yahweh says, “The people of Israel have sinned again and again, so I will certainly punish them and will not change my mind about it, because they sell good people in order to get silver, and {they sell} needy people to get a pair of sandals. |
The people of Israel sold the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.
| ULT | UST |
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| the ones trampling on the head of the poor to the dust of the earth, and they turn aside the way of the afflicted, and a man and his father go to the girl, in order to profane the name of my holiness. | They oppress poor people as though they are crushing them into the dirt, and they are unjust to people who are suffering. A man and his father both have sexual relations with the same {servant} girl, and so they dishonor me, the holy God. |
Yahweh declared punishment against Israel because Israel was oppressing poor people.
| ULT | UST |
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| And on garments taken in pledge they stretch out beside every altar, and the wine of the fined {ones} they drink in the house of their God. | They take the cloaks from poor people {as a guarantee that those people would repay what they had borrowed}. Then{, instead of returning them at the end of the day,} they lie down on them beside the altars {where they worship}. They force people to pay fines to them, and then {use the money to} buy wine that they drink in the temple of their God. |
They drank wine bought with fines in the temple of their God.
| ULT | UST |
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| But I, I destroyed the Amorite from their faces, who like the height of cedars {was} his height, and he {was} strong as the oaks, and I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from beneath. | But I am the one who destroyed the Amorite people group on behalf of your ancestors, even though those people were very tall like cedar trees and very strong like oak trees. I destroyed them completely. |
The Israelites had been able to defeat the Amorites because Yahweh destroyed the Amorites for them.
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| And I, I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and I led you in the wilderness forty years, to possess the land of the Amorite. | I am the one who brought you Israelite people from {being slaves in} the land of Egypt, and then I led your ancestors through the wilderness for forty years, so that I could give you the land of the Amorite people as your own. |
Yahweh led the Israelites in the wilderness for forty years and gave them the land of the Amorites as their own.
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| And I raised up from your sons as prophets, and from your young men as Nazirites. Is it not even so, sons of Israel?”—the declaration of Yahweh. | {Over the years,} I chose some of your young men to become prophets, and others to be Nazirites. You Israelite people certainly know that this is true! This is what I, Yahweh, declare. |
Yahweh chose some of their young men to be prophets and others to be Nazirites.
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| “But you made the Nazirites drink wine, and on the prophets you commanded, saying, ‘You shall not prophesy!’ | But you forced the Nazirites to drink wine, and you commanded the prophets to not tell people the messages that I, Yahweh, give to them! |
The Israelites commanded the prophets not to prophesy.
The Israelites forced the Nazirites to break their vows not to drink wine.
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| Behold, I am pressing down in your place, just as the cart presses down, the one that is full of sheaves for it. | So now I will make you unable to escape what will happen to you right where you are, just as a cart loaded with too much grain cannot move from where it is. |
Yahweh declared he would make them unable to escape his punishment.
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| And retreat will perish from the swift, and the strong will not strengthen his power, and the mighty will not save his life, | {At that time,} {even} people who can run quickly will not be able to escape, and {even} strong people will not be strong enough, and {even} warriors will not be able to rescue themselves. |
The swift person will not be able to run fast enough to escape, the strong person will not be able to add to his own strength, and the mighty person will not be able to rescue himself.
| ULT | UST |
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| and the one grasping the bow will not stand, and the swift on his feet will not save {himself}, and the one riding the horse will not save his life. | {Even} those who shoot arrows will not be able to stand {and do so}, and {even} those who can run quickly will not be able to escape, and {even} those who have a horse to ride will not be able to save themselves. |
Yahweh declared that none of them would be able to save themselves when he comes to punish the nation.
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| And the strong of his heart among the mighty, naked he will flee in that day”—the declaration of Yahweh. | At that time, {even} the bravest of the mighty men will run away naked. This is what I, Yahweh, declare.” |
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| Hear this word that Yahweh has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against all of the family that I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, | You people of Israel, listen to this message that Yahweh has spoken against you. He is speaking against all of the descendants of the people whom he brought up out of the land of Egypt. He says this: |
This word of Yahweh is against the people of Israel, the descendants of those who Yahweh brought up out of Egypt.
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| “Only you have I known from all of the families of the ground. Therefore I will visit upon you all of your iniquities. | “From among all of the families of people on the earth, I chose only you to belong to me. That is why I must now punish you for all of the ways that you have sinned.” |
Yahweh chose Israel from all the people groups of the earth.
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| Will two walk together, unless they have agreed? | Two people do not travel together unless they have agreed to do that. |
Two persons must agree in order to walk together.
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| Will a lion roar in the forest when there is no prey for him? Will a young lion give his voice from his den, unless he has caught {something}? | A lion does not roar in the forest unless it has caught an animal to eat, and a young lion does not growl in its den unless it has caught something. |
A lion roars in the forest only when it has caught prey.
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| Will a bird fall into a snare {on} the ground when there is no trap for it? Will a snare spring up from the ground, when capturing, it will not capture? | A bird does not get caught in a trap on the ground unless someone has set a trap for it, and a trap does not spring up to catch {an animal} if there is nothing to catch. |
A bird gets caught in a trap on the ground only when someone has set a trap for it.
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| Or a shofar is blown in a city, and the people do not tremble? Or disaster happens in a city, and Yahweh has not done {it}? | If someone blows {an alarm} on a ram’s horn in a city, the people there become afraid, and if something terrible happens in a city, then Yahweh has done it. |
When disaster comes on a city, Yahweh has sent it.
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| For the Lord Yahweh will not do a thing unless he has revealed his secret counsel to his servants the prophets. | In the same way, the Lord Yahweh does not do something unless he has first revealed his plans to his servants the prophets. |
Yahweh reveals his plan to his prophets before he takes action.
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| The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord Yahweh has spoken; who will not prophesy? | When a lion roars, everyone is afraid; similarly, when the Lord Yahweh speaks, the prophets must proclaim what he says. |
When the Lord Yahweh speaks, the prophets must proclaim what he says.
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| Cause {people} to hear on the citadels in Ashdod, and on the citadels in the land of Egypt, and say, ‘Be gathered on the mountains of Samaria, and see the great uproars in her midst, and the oppressed within her.’ | {Yahweh says,} “Announce this to the rulers who live in the fortresses in the city of Ashdod and to the rulers who live in the fortresses in the land of Egypt. Say to them, ‘Gather together on the hills around the city of Samaria, and see how the people there are panicking, and how the powerful people are oppressing the other people there.’” |
They would see how the people are panicking and how the rulers are oppressing the people of Samaria.
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| And they do not know to do right”—the declaration of Yahweh— “those storing up violence and destruction in their citadels.” | Yahweh declares, “The people who live in Samaria do not know how to do what is right. They violently rob other people, and they fill their fortresses with the things that they steal.” |
Samaria was storing up the things they obtained through violence and destruction in their fortresses.
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| Therefore, thus says the Lord Yahweh, “An adversary—and around the land! And he will bring down from you your strength, and your citadels will be plundered.” | So this is what the Lord Yahweh says {to them}, “An enemy army will come and surround your land. They will tear down your fortifications, and they will carry away the valuable things in your fortresses.” |
Yahweh declares that an enemy will plunder and tear down the fortresses of Israel.
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| Thus says Yahweh: “As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, thus will the sons of Israel be rescued, the ones dwelling in Samaria, with a side of a bed and with a cover of a couch. | This is what Yahweh says, “When a lion attacks a sheep, sometimes a shepherd can grab from the lion only two legs of the sheep or a piece of its ear. Similarly, only a few of you people of Israel who live in Samaria will survive, along with only a side of a bed or a piece of a couch.” |
Only a few will escape Yahweh’s punishment.
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| Hear, and testify against the house of Jacob”—the declaration of the Lord Yahweh, the God of Armies— | The Lord Yahweh, the God who commands the armies of angels, declares, “Listen, and warn the descendants of Jacob: |
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| “for in the day of my visiting the transgressions of Israel upon him, I will also visit upon the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar will be cut off, and they will fall to the ground. | Be aware that when I punish the people of Israel for the sins that they have committed, I will also destroy the altars at Bethel. I will cut off the horns that are on {the corners of} the {main} altar, and they will fall to the ground. |
Yahweh will also destroy the altars where they worship at Bethel.
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| And I will strike the winter house with the summer house, and the houses of ivory will perish, and great houses will come to an end”—the declaration of Yahweh. | I will tear down the houses where people live in the winter and the houses where they live in the summer. I will destroy the {beautiful} houses that they have decorated with ivory. I will destroy the mansions. This will surely happen, because I, Yahweh, have said it.” |
Yahweh will destroy all the big fancy houses of the wealthy.
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| Listen to this word, cows of Bashan, who are in the mountain of Samaria, the ones oppressing the poor, the ones crushing the needy, the ones saying to their masters, “Bring, and let us drink.” | Listen to this message, you {wealthy} women of {the city of} Samaria! You have indulged yourselves and grown fat, just as the cattle in {the region of} Bashan grow fat. You oppress poor people, and you cause needy people to suffer. Then you say to your husbands, “Bring us {more wine} to drink!” |
Yahweh calls the rich women of Samaria cows of Bashan.
The rich women are oppressing the poor and causing the needy to suffer.
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| The Lord Yahweh has sworn by his holiness that, behold, the days are coming upon you when he will lift you up with hooks, and the last of you with hooks of fishery. | {But} Yahweh our Lord says, “Because I am holy, I solemnly promise this: Indeed the time is coming when your enemies will capture you and take you away, {as easily} as someone catches fish with hooks. They will do this to every last one of you. |
Yahweh declares that he allow their enemies to take these women away as captives.
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| And {through} the breaches you will go out, a woman in front of her, and you will throw {yourselves} out toward Harmon —the declaration of Yahweh. | The enemies will break through your city walls, and then each of you women will go straight out through the gap in front of her. Each of you will flee toward Harmon. I, Yahweh, declare that this will happen. |
Each woman will go out through the gap in the wall.
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| Go to Bethel and transgress, to Gilgal and multiply to transgress, and bring your sacrifices in the morning, your tithes every three days. | {You act like I am telling you this:} Go to {the town of} Bethel and sin! Go to {the town of} Gilgal and sin even more! Bring your animal sacrifices {to the altars there} every morning, and bring a tenth of your crops every third day! |
The people of Israel loved to bring sacrifices and tithes and announce their freewill offerings but not in the way that Yahweh commanded them to do.
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| And make a thank offering smoke from what is leavened, and call out freewill offerings; make {people} hear! For thus you have loved, sons of Israel —the declaration of the Lord Yahweh. | Burn bread that contains yeast as an offering to thank me, and announce the offerings that you bring willingly! Make sure to loudly brag {about them}! I say these things because that is what you Israelite people love to do. I, Yahweh your Lord, declare this. |
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| And even I, I gave to you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return as far as me —the declaration of Yahweh. | I am also the one who caused you to have no food at all in any of your cities and towns, yet you did not stop sinning and become loyal to me again. I, Yahweh, declare this. |
Yahweh caused a famine so that the people of Israel had no food in any of their cities.
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| And also I, I withheld from you the rain with still three months to the harvest. And I made it rain on one city, and on one city I did not make it rain; one portion was rained on, and a portion which it did not rain on it dried up. | I am also the one who kept you from getting rain when there were still three months before {your crops were ready to} harvest. {Sometimes} I sent rain on one town and held it back from another town. I made it rain on some fields, but I gave no rain to other fields, so the crops there dried up. |
Yahweh withheld rain from Israel so that the people of Israel would return to him.
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| And two–three cities staggered to one city to drink water, but they were not satisfied, yet you did not return as far as me —the declaration of Yahweh. | People from towns without water would stagger to a town that did have water, but they could not get enough water to drink. But even so you did not stop sinning and become loyal to me again. I, Yahweh, declare this. |
The people staggered to another city to get water, but they did not get enough.
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| I struck you with blight and with mildew; the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured, yet you did not return as far as me —the declaration of Yahweh. | I made your crops dry up and have disease. Locusts ate up everything in your many gardens and vineyards and on your fig trees and olive trees, yet you did not stop sinning and become loyal to me again. I, Yahweh, declare this. |
Yahweh caused locusts to eat all their gardens, vineyards, and fig and olive trees.
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| I sent among you a plague in the way of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, along with the captivity of your horses, and I made the stench of your camp come up, and into your nostrils, yet you did not return as far as me —the declaration of Yahweh. | I made many of you become diseased, just as I had done to {the people of} Egypt {long ago}. I caused your enemies to kill your young men in wars, and I let your enemies capture your horses. I made you smell the stench {of their corpses} in the camps {where they died}, yet you did not stop sinning and become loyal to me again. I, Yahweh, declare this. |
Yahweh allowed their enemies to kill the young men in wars so that the people of Israel would return to him.
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|---|---|
| I overthrew among you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand snatched from a burning, yet you did not return as far as me —the declaration of Yahweh. | I destroyed some of you, just as I destroyed {the cities of} Sodom and Gomorrah {long ago}. {Those of} you {who survived} were like a burning stick that someone grabs out of a fire {before it burns up completely}, yet you did not stop sinning and become loyal to me again. I, Yahweh, declare this. |
Yahweh destroyed some of the people of Israel so that they would return to him.
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|---|---|
| Therefore, thus I will do to you, Israel; for the reason that I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, Israel! | Because of that, you people of Israel, this is what I am going to do to you. And because I am going to do this to you, prepare to {truly} meet me, your God, people of Israel!” |
Yahweh tells the people of Israel they must now prepare to meet their God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For behold, the {one} forming the mountains and creating the wind, and declaring to man what {is} his thought, making dawn darkness, and treading on the high places of the earth— Yahweh, God of Armies, {is} his name. | Prepare yourselves, because this is who he is: he is the one who formed the mountains and who creates the wind. He reveals to people what they are thinking. He makes the morning light and the darkness. Even the highest mountains are small things to him. He is Yahweh, God who commands the heavenly armies; that is his name! |
Yahweh, God of Armies, formed the mountains and revealed what people are thinking.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Hear this word that I am lifting up over you, a lamentation, house of Israel: | You people of Israel, listen to this sad funeral song that I am singing about you: |
The people of Israel are the ones the prophet is mourning over.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| She has fallen; she will not repeat to rise, the virgin Israel. She is forsaken on her land; there is no one raising her up. | Enemies have devastated my dear people of Israel, and they are unable to defend themselves. The enemies have come into their land and can do to them whatever they want to do there. There is no one to help them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For thus says the Lord Yahweh, “The city going out a thousand will leave a hundred remaining, and the one going out a hundred will leave ten remaining for the house of Israel.” | You will need this sad funeral song because Yahweh our Lord says this about Israel, “When your enemies attack you, a town that sends out a thousand soldiers to fight will have only a hundred who survive, and a town that sends out a hundred soldiers will have only ten who survive.” |
A town that sends out a thousand soldiers to fight will have only a hundred who survive.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel, “Seek me and live, | But Yahweh also says this to you people of Israel, “Sincerely worship me again, and then you will live. |
Yahweh tells the people of Israel to sincerely worship him again him so they can live.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and do not seek Bethel, and do not go to Gilgal, and do not cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal, going into exile, will go into exile, and Bethel will become iniquity.” | Do not go to the town of Bethel {to worship anything there}, and do not go to the town of Gilgal, and do not travel to the town of Beersheba {to worship there, either}. Your enemies will certainly take the people of Gilgal away to a foreign country, and the people of Bethel will experience evil things because they worship evil things.” |
Yahweh tells them not to go to Bethel, Gilgal, or Beersheba.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Seek Yahweh and live, lest he break out like fire {in} the house of Joseph, and it consumes, and there is no extinguisher for Bethel, | Sincerely worship Yahweh again, and then you will live. If you do not do that, Yahweh will punish you descendants of Joseph as suddenly and fiercely as a fire spreads. Yahweh will punish you like a fire that destroys everything, and that no one in Bethel will be able to stop. |
Yahweh will destroy them completely, and no one will be able to stop it.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the {ones} turning justice into wormwood, and they cast righteousness to the ground! | {I am talking to you} people who do not decide things fairly. Instead, you make life {as bitter as the taste of} wormwood for people. You consider that living in the right way is {as worthless as trash} on the ground. |
They make unjust decisions, and they completely reject right living.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The maker of the Pleiades and Orion, turning deep darkness into morning; he darkens day into night; calling for the waters of the sea, he pours them out on the face of the earth— Yahweh is his name— | There is one who created {the star groups that people call} the Pleiades and Orion. {Every morning} he turns the darkness into daylight, and {every evening} he turns the daylight into darkness. He summons the waters in the sea and pours them out {as rain} on the surface of the earth. The name of that one is Yahweh! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the one making destruction flash against the strong, and destruction comes against the fortress. | He suddenly destroys strong people, and destroys the strong walls of cities. |
Yahweh brings sudden destruction on the strong.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They hate the reprover in the gate, and they abhor the one speaking blamelessly. | You people hate any leader who officially corrects people who do wrong, and you hate anyone who tells the truth. |
The strong hate those who correct them, and abhor anyone who speaks the truth.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore, because of your trampling on the poor and you take a tax of grain from him: you have built houses of hewn stone, but you will not dwell in them; you have planted vineyards of desire, but you will not drink their wine. | So, because you oppress poor people and force them to give you part of their grain, this is what will happen: Although you have built large mansions out of cut stone, you will not live in them. Although you have planted pleasant vineyards, you will not drink the wine that comes from them. |
Those who oppress the poor will not benefit from the things they work for.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For I know your transgressions {are} many, and your sins {are} mighty— oppressors of the righteous, takers of a bribe, and they turn aside the needy in the gate. | This will happen because I know that you have sinned very many times, and that the things that you have done are terrible. You oppress people who do what is right, and you accept bribes {to do what is wrong}, and at the city gate {where leaders decide legal matters} you treat poor people unjustly and send them away. |
They treat the needy unjustly and send them away when they bring their legal matters to the leaders to decide.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore the prudent will be still in that time, for it {is} an evil time. | So at that time, wise people will be quiet, because it will be customary in that time for people to do evil things. |
A prudent person stays silent at such an evil time.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Seek good, and not evil, so that you may live; and thus may Yahweh, God of Armies, be with you, just as you have said. | Start doing what is good, and stop doing what is evil, in order that you may stay alive. If you do that, Yahweh, God {the commander} of the heavenly armies, will help you, just as you claim that he does. |
The people should try to do good and not evil, so that Yahweh will be with them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; perhaps Yahweh, God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. | Hate what is evil, and love what is good, and make sure that people decide things fairly at the city gate{where leaders decide legal matters}. If you do that, maybe Yahweh, God {the commander} of the heavenly armies, will act kindly toward you descendants of Joseph who are still alive. |
Yahweh tells them to hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the gate.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore thus says Yahweh, God of Armies, the Lord, “In all plazas {there will be} wailing, and in all streets they will say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ And they will call the farmer to mourning, and wailing to those knowing a lament. | So this is what Yahweh, God {the commander} of the heavenly armies, our Lord, says, “People will be weeping loudly in all the public squares, and in all the streets people will cry out, ‘This is terrible! This is terrible!’ People will summon the farmers to come and mourn, and they will summon those who lament at funerals to wail. |
Wailing and cries of mourning will be heard in all the public places when Yahweh passes through the people’s midst to punish them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And in all the vineyards {there will be} wailing, for I will pass through your midst,” says Yahweh. | People will be weeping in all the vineyards, because I will come and punish you.” That is what Yahweh says. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Woe to the ones desiring the day of Yahweh! What {is} this to you, the day of Yahweh? It {is} darkness and not light. | Terrible things will happen to you people who long for the day when Yahweh comes! You should not think that the day when Yahweh comes will be good for you. On that day Yahweh will punish you severely, and nothing good will happen to you. |
Terrible things will happen to them; the day of Yahweh will be darkness, not light.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| As when a man flees from the face of the lion, and the bear meets him; or goes into the house and rests his hand on the wall, and the snake bites him. | On that day, you will be like a man who runs away from a lion but then meets a bear; or who flees into his house and rests his hand on the wall, and a snake bites him. |
He flees the lion only to have a bear meet him, and he goes into his house to be safe only to have a snake bite him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {Is} not the day of Yahweh darkness, and not light? Even gloom, with no brightness in it? | On the day when Yahweh judges people, he will surely punish you severely and nothing good will happen to you. Yes, it will be a time when you are deeply sad; you will not be happy at all. |
The day of Yahweh will be a time of punishment for his people that will make them deeply sad.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “I hate, I reject your feasts, and I will not smell in your assemblies. | {Yahweh says,} “I hate your religious celebrations; I completely reject them, and your assemblies {when you gather to worship} do not please me at all. |
Yahweh says he hates their religious celebrations and their assemblies.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For if you offer up to me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept {them}; and the peace offering of your fattened animals, I will not look at. | Even if you offer to me animals that you completely burn on the altar, and offerings of grain, I will not accept them. Even if you offer me your best animals as fellowship sacrifices, I will pay no attention to them. |
Yahweh says he will not accept them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Remove from me the noise of your songs; and the music of your harps I will not hear. | Your songs are just noise to me; stop singing them. I refuse to listen to the music that you play on your harps. |
Yahweh says their songs are just noise to him, and he will not listen to their music.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. | Instead, you should be treating people justly, and you should always be doing what is right. You should be doing these things continually, like a stream of water that flows and never stops. |
Yahweh wants to see people treating people fairly and doing what is right.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Did you bring near to me sacrifices and a grain offering in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel? | You people of Israel, when your ancestors traveled through the wilderness for forty years, they did not bring animal sacrifices and grain offerings to me. |
Yahweh says they did not bring him sacrifices and grain offerings.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But you carried Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your images, the star of your gods, which you made for yourselves. | Instead, you have carried the idols that you made for yourselves: Sikkuth, the god you treated as your king, and Kiyyun, the star-god that you worshiped. |
The people had made for themselves idols that were images of the false gods they were worshiping.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So I will exile you from farther than Damascus,” says Yahweh, God of Armies {is} his name. | So I will force you to go far away, beyond the city of Damascus, into exile.” That is what the one whose name is Yahweh, God {the commander} of the heavenly armies, says. |
Yahweh will exile the people beyond Damascus.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Woe to the ones at ease in Zion, and {to} the ones trusting in the mountain of Samaria, designated {ones} of the first of the nations —and to them the house of Israel comes! | Terrible things will happen to you people in Zion who do not worry about anything, and also to you leaders in the city of Samaria who think that you are safe there. You are the prominent men of {Israel,} the nation that thinks it is the most important nation of all. You are the men to whom the people of Israel come {for you to help them}. |
Amos is warning the leaders in Zion and Samaria that terrible things will happen to them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Cross over to Calneh and see, and go from there to Hamath Rabbah, and go down to Gath of the Philistines. {Are} they better than these kingdoms? Or {is} their border greater than your border? | Go and look at the city of Calneh. Then go on to the city of Hamath Rabbah, and then go down to the city of Gath in Philistia. Those cities are not better than your kingdoms, and their territory is not larger than yours. |
Yahweh tells them to go see Calneh, Hamath Rabbah, and Gath of the Philistines.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| —the ones putting far off the evil day, but you bring near a seat of violence; | {Terrible things will happen to} you who refuse to think about the day when Yahweh will punish you, but by your own actions you are shortening the time before violent people will come and rule over you. |
They refuse to think about the time that is coming when Yahweh will punish them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| —the ones lying on beds of ivory, and sprawling on their couches, and eating young rams from the flock, and calves from the midst of the stall; | {Terrible things will happen to} you who lie on expensive beds and lounge on your couches, eating the meat of the most special sheep from your flocks and of the {fattened} calves from your stalls. |
They eat young rams from the flock and calves from the stall.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| —the ones improvising on the mouth of the harp; like David they devised for themselves instruments of song; | {Terrible things will happen to} you who sing idly to the sound of your harps and try to be like King David by inventing musical instruments for yourselves. |
Those being warned are wasting their time idly playing musical instruments, drinking wine, and anointing themselves with the finest oil.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| —the ones drinking from bowls of wine, and they anoint {themselves} with the first of oils, but they are not grieved over the breaking of Joseph. | {Terrible things will happen to}you who drink wine by the bowlful and rub the finest oils on your skin, but who do not grieve at all that the descendants of Joseph are destroying themselves. |
Those being warned are not grieving over the destruction of the descendants of Joseph as they should.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore, now they will go into exile at the head of the exiles, and the revelry of the sprawling ones will depart. | Because of all of that, soon you will be among the first ones whom your enemies will force to go into exile, and your feasting and lounging on couches will come to an end. |
Those being warned are going to be forced to go into exile.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The Lord Yahweh has sworn by his soul—the declaration of Yahweh, the God of Armies— “I am abhorring the pride of Jacob, and his citadels I hate, and I will give over a city and its fullness.” | The Lord Yahweh has solemnly sworn this on his own life. Yes, Yahweh, {the commander} of the heavenly armies, declares it, “I despise {the nation} of which the descendants of Jacob are so proud, and I hate their fortresses. So I will deliver each city and everyone in it {to their enemies}.” |
Yahweh hates the pride and fortresses of these people of Jacob.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And it will happen, if ten men remain in one house, then they will die. | When that happens, even if only ten men remain in a single house, they will all die. |
Even if ten men remain in one house, they will die.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And his kinsman and the one burning him will lift him up to bring out the bones from the house, and he will say to the one who {is} in the innermost parts of the house, “Is there yet {anyone} with you?” and he will say, “None.” Then he will say, “Hush! For not to make mention of the name of Yahweh.” | A dead man’s relative, the one who will burn his corpse, will carry the dead body out of the house. He will call to anyone still {hiding} in the farthest corner of the house, “Is anyone else there with you?” That person will answer, “No one.” Then the relative will say, “Say no more! Especially we must not mention Yahweh’s name!” |
The dead man’s relative, the one who will burn his corpse, will carry the body out of the house.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For, behold, Yahweh is commanding, and he will strike the great house into fragments, and the small house into fissures. | The reason is this: Yahweh is about to command {the enemy soldiers to attack you}, and they will shatter all the houses, from large to small ones, into little pieces. |
Their houses will be smashed to bits.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Do horses run on the cliff? Or does one plow {it} with oxen? For you have turned justice into poisonweed, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood; | Horses do not gallop on rocky cliffs, and no one plows there with oxen. Yet you have done something {even more absurd}: instead of treating people justly, you kill them, and instead of doing good things for each other, you make each other angry and resentful. |
Instead of treating people justly, they have killed them, and instead of doing good for each other, they have made each other angry and resentful.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| —the ones rejoicing over Lo Debar, the ones saying, “Have we not by our strength taken Karnaim for ourselves?” | You are proud because you captured the town of Lo Debar, and you boast, “We captured the town of Karnaim for ourselves because we are so strong!” |
They boast about capturing the towns of Lo Debar and Karnaim by their own strength.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “For behold me raising up against you, house of Israel”—the declaration of Yahweh, the God of Armies— “a nation, and they will oppress you, from Lebo Hamath to the brook of the Arabah.” | But this is what Yahweh, {the commander} of the heavenly armies, declares, “Listen, you people of Israel! I am about to bring a foreign nation to attack you. Its army will oppress you {throughout your entire land,} from Lebo Hamath {in the far north} to the brook of the Arabah {in the far south}.” |
Yahweh declares he will bring a foreign nation to attack Israel.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Thus the Lord Yahweh made me see, and behold, {he} was forming a locust swarm at the beginning of the coming up of the latter growth. And behold, the latter growth {was} after the mowings of the king. | Yahweh our Lord showed me a vision. In the vision, he was forming a swarm of locusts {to destroy our crops}. This was happening right after the workers had harvested the king’s share of the hay, when the second crop of the season was just starting to grow. |
Amos saw Yahweh forming a locust swarm that would destroy the crop.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And it happened, when it had finished eating the vegetation of the land, that I said, “Lord Yahweh, please forgive! How will Jacob stand? For he {is} small.” | In the vision, when the locusts had finished eating everything green in the land, I cried out, “Yahweh our Lord, please forgive {us}! We people of Jacob are weak and helpless; we will not be able to survive this!” |
Yahweh changed his mind and declared that this disaster would not happen.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Yahweh relented concerning this. “It will not be,” said Yahweh. | So Yahweh changed his mind about this. Yahweh said, “This will not happen.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Thus the Lord Yahweh made me see, and behold, the Lord Yahweh was calling to contend by fire. And it devoured the great deep and was devouring the portion. | Then Yahweh our Lord showed me another vision. In it, Yahweh our Lord was summoning fire to punish {his people}. The fire dried up the great deep waters and then was burning up the land. |
Amos saw Yahweh bringing fire to punish his people.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And I said, “Lord Yahweh, please cease! How will Jacob stand? For he {is} small.” | Then I cried out, “Yahweh our Lord, please stop! We people of Jacob will not be able to survive this, because we are weak and helpless!” |
Yahweh again relented and declared that this disaster would not happen either.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Yahweh relented concerning this. “This also will not be,” said the Lord Yahweh. | So Yahweh changed his mind about this also. Lord Yahweh said, “This will not happen, either.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Thus he made me see, and behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall of a plumb line, and in his hand {was} a plumb line. | Then Yahweh showed me another vision. In it, I saw the Lord standing beside a wall. Someone had built the wall very straight, using a plumb line. Yahweh was holding a plumb line in his hand. |
Amos saw the Lord standing beside a wall with a plumb line in his hand.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Yahweh said to me, “What are you seeing, Amos?” And I said, “A plumb line.” And the Lord said, “Behold me placing a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel. I will not again repeat to pass over him. | Yahweh asked me, “Amos, what do you see?” I replied, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Look, I am about to test my people the Israelites to see if they are living rightly, just as a builder uses a plumb line to see if a wall is straight. I will no longer hold back from punishing them {for their sin}. |
The Lord said the plumb line meant he was going to test whether the Israelites were living rightly and this time, he would not hold back from punishing them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the high places of Isaac will be deserted, and the sanctuaries of Israel will be desolate, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.” | I will destroy the hilltop shrines where the descendants of Isaac worship {idols}, and I will demolish the other holy places in Israel, and I will send men with swords to end the dynasty of King Jeroboam.” |
Yahweh declared he would destroy the hilltop shrines and other holy places in Israel.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to contain all of his words. | Then Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, sent {a message} to Jeroboam, the king of Israel. {In the message} he said, “Amos is plotting against you {right here} among the people of Israel. He is saying so much against you that the people of this land cannot bear to hear it. |
Amaziah accused Amos of conspiring against Jeroboam, king of Israel.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For thus Amos says, ‘By the sword Jeroboam will die, and Israel, going into exile, will go into exile from upon his ground.’” | In fact, this is what Amos keeps saying, ‘Someone will kill Jeroboam with a sword, and an army will force the people of Israel to leave their own land and become exiles in a foreign country.’” |
Amos had prophesied that Jeroboam would be killed in battle.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Amaziah said to Amos, “Seer, go, flee for yourself to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and there you shall prophesy. | Then Amaziah said to Amos, “You seer, get out of here! Run away to the country of Judah! Earn your living there, and do your prophesying there! |
Amos was told to flee to the land of Judah and prophesy there.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But {at} Bethel you shall not repeat to prophesy again, for it {is} a sanctuary of the king, and it {is} a house of a kingdom.” | But you have prophesied {here} at Bethel for the last time, because this is the king’s holy place; it is a royal temple.” |
Amaziah told Amos not to prophesy at Bethel again, because it is the king’s sanctuary and a royal temple.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I {am} not a prophet, and I {am} not a son of a prophet, for I {am} a herdsman, and a tender of sycamore figs. | Then Amos replied to Amaziah, “I am not a {professional} prophet, and I do not belong to any group of prophets. Instead, I take care of sheep, and I also take care of sycamore-fig trees. |
Amos was a herdsman and keeper of sycamore fig trees.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Yahweh took me from after the flock, and Yahweh said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ | But Yahweh took me away from tending the flock, and Yahweh said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people in Israel.’ |
Yahweh took him away from tending his sheep when he told him to go prophesy to the people of Israel.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And now, hear the word of Yahweh. You are saying, ‘You shall not prophesy against Israel, and you shall not drip against the house of Isaac.’ | So now listen to what Yahweh has to say {to you}. You keep telling me, ‘Do not prophesy against the people of Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac!’ |
Amaziah was telling him not to prophesy against Israel or preach against the descendants of Isaac.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore, thus says Yahweh, ‘Your wife will prostitute herself in the city, and your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword, and your ground will be divided by the measuring line, and you, you will die on unclean ground, and Israel, going into exile, will go into exile from upon his ground.’” | Therefore, this is what Yahweh says {to you}, ‘{When your enemies come,} your wife will become a prostitute in this city, and they will kill your sons and your daughters with their swords, and they will measure your land with a rope and divide it up {among themselves}. As for you, you will die in a foreign, pagan country, and your enemies will certainly force the people of Israel to become exiles, far from their own land.’” |
Yahweh declared that Amaziah would die in an foreign land, his wife would be a prostitute, his sons and daughters would be killed, and his land would be divided up.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Thus the Lord Yahweh made me see, and behold, a basket of summer fruit! | Yahweh, my Lord, showed me a vision. I looked, and in the vision I saw a basket of ripe fruit. |
Yahweh showed Amos a basket of summer fruit.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he said, “What are you seeing, Amos?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” And Yahweh said to me, “The end has come to my people Israel; I will not repeat again to pass over him. | He said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” I replied, “I see a basket of ripe fruit.” Then Yahweh said to me, “It is time for me to put an end to my people, the Israelites! I will no longer hold back from punishing them {for their sin}. |
Yahweh said the end had come for his people Israel.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the songs of the temple will wail in that day”—the declaration of the Lord Yahweh— “many {are} the corpses; in every place one has thrown {them}. Hush!” | At that time, the people who sing songs in the temple will wail loudly instead of singing. There will be so many corpses that people will throw them everywhere. {Everyone,} be silent!” This is what Yahweh, my Lord, declares. |
Yahweh said the songs of the temple would turn into wailing because of the many corpses everywhere.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Hear this, the ones trampling the needy and to cause the afflicted of the land to cease, | Listen to this, you people who oppress needy people and get rid of the poor people in the land! |
The people of Israel had oppressed needy people and gotten rid of poor people in the land.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| saying, “When will the new moon pass, that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath, that we may open wheat, to make the ephah small and to make the shekel great, and to pervert balances of deceit, | You say to yourselves, “We wish the new moon festival would be over, so that we could start selling our grain again! We wish the Sabbath day would be over, so that we could start selling our wheat again! Then we can cheat people by making the baskets that we measure our grain in smaller than standard, and by making the weights for measuring the buyer’s silver heavier than standard, and we can also make our scales weigh dishonestly. |
The people were anxious because they wanted to sell grain again and cheat their customers.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| to buy the poor with silver and the needy in exchange for a pair of sandals, and the refuse of grain we will sell?” | Then we can use our silver to buy poor people {to be our slaves}. We can buy needy people for {only} a pair of sandals. We can even sell the worthless chaff mixed in with the wheat!” |
They were buying poor and needy people as slaves and selling worthless chaff along with the wheat.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob, “If I ever forget all of their deeds. | Yahweh has solemnly sworn by the very land that he gave to you descendants of Jacob, “I will certainly never forget any of the {evil} things that you have done. |
Yahweh said he would never forget any of the people’s evil actions.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Will not the land tremble over this, and everyone dwelling in it mourn? And all of it will rise like the Nile, and be cast up and sunk, like the Nile of Egypt. | Because of the evil things that you have done, {it will be as though} the land itself will writhe, and everyone who lives in the land will mourn. {It will be as though} the whole land will heave up and down, just as the Nile River in Egypt floods and then sinks back down again.” |
Yahweh said the land would tremble, heaving up and down, and everyone in it would mourn.
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| And it will happen in that day”—the declaration of the Lord Yahweh— “that I will make the sun set at noon, and I will darken the land in a day of light. | Yahweh, my Lord, declares this, “At that time, {when I punish you,} I will make the sun go down at noon. Yes, I will make the earth become dark during the daytime. |
In that day, Yahweh said he would make the sun set at noon.
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| And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all of your songs into a lament. And I will bring up sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head. And I will make it like the mourning for an only child, and its end like a bitter day. | Because of what I will do, your {religious} festivals will become times when you mourn, and instead of singing joyful songs you will wail funeral dirges. All of you will wear rough sackcloth and shave your heads {to show that you are grieving}. Because of what I will do, you will be as sorrowful as when parents grieve for their only son who has died. By the time I stop punishing you, you will be grieving bitterly.” |
The people would wear sackcloth to show that they were grieving.
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| Behold, days are coming”—the declaration of the Lord Yahweh— “when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread, and not a thirst for water, but rather to hear the words of Yahweh. | Yahweh, my Lord, declares this, “Listen! There will soon be a time when I will cause something to become very scarce in the land. It will not be a time when people lack food or thirst for water. Instead, it will be a time when people will not be able to hear any message from me, Yahweh. |
Yahweh said he would send a famine in the land, not a famine of food or water, but a famine of hearing the words of Yahweh.
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| And they will stagger from sea to sea, and from the north and to the sunrise; they will rove about to seek the word of Yahweh, but they will not find it. | People will wander everywhere, staggering from one coastline to another and from the north to the east. They will roam around, searching for a message from me, Yahweh, but they will not get one. |
The people would search for a message from Yahweh but would not find it.
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|---|---|
| In that day, the beautiful virgins will faint, and the young men, from thirst— | At that time, even the beautiful young women and the strong young men will faint because they are so thirsty. |
At that time, even the young women men would faint from thirst.
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|---|---|
| the ones swearing by the guilt of Samaria, and they say, ‘By the life of your god, Dan!’ and, ‘By the life of the way of Beersheba!’— and they will fall, and they will not rise again.” | These are the people who make solemn promises using the name of the shameful idol in Samaria. Some of them make promises using the name of the god that people worship in Dan, and others make promises using the name of the god that people travel to worship in Beersheba. All of those people will fall down and die, and they will never get up again.” |
Those who swear by the idols and false gods would never rise again.
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| I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said, “Strike the capital so that the thresholds shake, and cut them off on the head of all of them, and their end I will kill with the sword. A fleeing one will not flee for them, and a fugitive will not escape for them. | {In another vision,} I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said, “Strike the tops of the pillars {of the temple} so hard that the thresholds shake, and shatter them so that the pieces fall down on all the people there {and crush them}. I will cause enemies to kill with swords anyone who survives. None of them will be able to run away and escape. |
Not one of them will escape the Lord’s judgment.
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| If they dig into Sheol, from there my hand will take them. And if they go up to the heavens, from there I will bring them down. | Even if they dig down to the place where dead people go {as they try to escape from me}, I will reach down there and seize them. Even if they climb up to the sky, I will bring them down from there. |
No matter where they try to hide, the Lord will find them.
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| And if they hide themselves in the head of Carmel, from there I will search out and take them. And if they are hidden from before my eyes in the floor of the sea, from there I will command the serpent and it will bite them. | Even if they hide themselves on the top of Mount Carmel, I will search for them there and capture them. Even if they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, I will command the {sea} snake there to bite them. |
The Lord will give orders to the sea serpent to bite them.
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| And if they go in captivity to the face of their enemies, from there I will command the sword and it will kill them. And I will set my eye on them for evil and not for good.” | Even if their enemies capture them and force them to march away as exiles, I will command those enemies to kill them there with their swords. I will continually do things to harm them, not to help them.” |
The Lord will watch over Israel to bring them harm or punishment.
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|---|---|
| And the Lord Yahweh of Armies, the one touching the earth and it melts, and all of the dwellers in it mourn, and all of it goes up like the Nile, and it sinks like the Nile of Egypt; | Yahweh our Lord, {the commander} of the heavenly armies, is the one who can make the earth melt by touching it, so that everyone who lives in it mourns. He can make the whole land rise up and then sink down again, just as the Nile River in Egypt rises and falls. |
The people will mourn when Yahweh touches the earth to melt it.
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| the one building his stairs in the heavens, and his vault, over the earth he founded it, the one calling to the waters of the sea, and he pours them out upon the face of the earth— Yahweh {is} his name. | He made the stairway {to his palace} in the sky, and he set his dome {of the sky} firmly in place above the earth. He gathers up the water from the sea and pours it out {as rain} on the surface of the ground. The name of the one who does all this is Yahweh! |
His name is Yahweh.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Are you not like the sons of the Cushites to me, sons of Israel?”—the declaration of Yahweh— “Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir? | Yahweh declares this, “You people of Israel, you are just like the people of Cush to me. It is true that I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from the land of Caphtor and the Arameans from the region of Kir. |
Yahweh brought Israel from the land of Egypt.
Yahweh brought the Philistines from Caphtor.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Behold, the eyes of the Lord Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from upon the face of the ground. Nevertheless, destroying, I will not destroy the house of Jacob”—the declaration of Yahweh. | Listen! I, Yahweh your Lord, am fully aware of how sinful you people are in the kingdom {of Israel}, so I will destroy your kingdom and remove it from existing on the earth. However, I will not completely destroy all of the descendants of Jacob.” That is what Yahweh declares. |
No, Yahweh says he will not totally destroy the people of Israel but only the sinful northern kingdom.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “For behold, I am commanding, and I will shake the house of Israel among all of the nations, just as it is shaken in the sieve, and a pebble will not fall to the earth. | Yahweh also says, “Listen! This will happen because I am giving the command to send you people of Israel to live among all the nations, and there {it will be as though} I am shaking you in a sieve{to sort you out into those who are faithful and those who are not faithful, just as a farmer shakes a sieve to separate grain from the stones}. {It will be as though} not one pebble slips through the sieve and falls to the ground, because not one of the unfaithful people among you will escape. |
Yahweh will shake the house of Israel among the nations like grain in a sieve to determine who is faithful and who is not.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| By the sword all of the sinners of my people will die, the ones saying, ‘The evil will not approach or reach as far as us.’ | All of the sinful ones among my people will die as enemies kill them with swords. They are the ones who say that nothing bad will ever happen to them. |
The sinners were saying that nothing bad will happen to them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| In that day, I will raise up the fallen booth of David, and I will wall up their breaches, and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as {in} the days of antiquity, | At that time, I will restore the kingdom that King David once ruled, the kingdom that sinners have ruined. I will repair it and rebuild it, and I will cause it to prosper again, as it did long ago, |
In that day, Yahweh says that he will restore the kingdom that King David once ruled.
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|---|---|
| so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all of the nations whom my name is called over them”— the declaration of Yahweh, the one doing this. | so that the kingdom of my people may contain those who remain in Edom and those who belong to me in all of the nations.” That is what Yahweh declares, and he is the one who will do it. |
According to Yahweh, they will possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that belong to him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Behold, days are coming”—the declaration of Yahweh— “and the plower will approach the reaper, and the treader of grapes to the sower of the seed, and the mountains will drip sweet wine, and all of the hills will melt. | Yahweh declares this, “Listen! The time is coming when {your crops will grow so well it will be as if} those who plow the ground will catch up with those who are still harvesting the grain, and those who tread on the grapes will still be working when the sowers are ready to start planting the seed. There will be so much sweet wine that {it will seem as if} it will flow down from the mountains and that all of the hills will melt {with it}. |
In the coming days, it will seem as if the mountains will drip and the hills will melt with sweet wine.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And I will restore the restoration of my people Israel, and they will build desolated cities and dwell {there}, and they will plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they will make gardens and eat their fruit. | For my people Israel I will make things as good as they were before they became captives {in other nations}. They will rebuild the cities that now lie in ruins, and they will live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink the wine that comes from them, and they will plant gardens and eat the fruit that grows in them. |
Yahweh promises to bring Israel back from captivity.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And I will plant them upon their ground, and they will not be uprooted again from upon their ground that I gave to them,” says Yahweh your God. | I will settle my people securely in their own land, and no one will ever remove them again from the land that I gave to them.” That is what Yahweh your God says. |
After Yahweh brings Israel back, no one will be able to remove them completely.