Amos 5:1-3

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Amos 5:1 tn Heb “Listen to this word which I am about to take up against you, a funeral song.”
2. Amos 5:1 tn Heb “house.”
3. Amos 5:2 tn Or “young lady.” The term “Israel” is an appositional genitive.
4. Amos 5:2 tn Or “with no one to lift her up.”
5. Amos 5:3 tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
6. Amos 5:3 tn Heb “The one.” The word “town” has been used in the translation in keeping with the relative sizes of the armed contingents sent out by each. It is also possible that this line is speaking of the same city of the previous line. In other words, the contingent sent by that one city would have suffered a ninety percent casualty loss.
7. Amos 5:3 tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
8. Amos 5:3 tn Heb “for/to the house of Israel.” The translation assumes that this is a graphic picture of what is left over for the defense of the nation (NEB, NJB, NASB, NKJV). Others suggest that this phrase completes the introductory formula (“The sovereign Lord says this…”; see v. 4a; NJPS). Another option is that the preposition has a vocative force, “O house of Israel” (F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos [AB], 476). Some simply delete the phrase as dittography from the following line (NIV).