Amos 5:1-17

The Impending Punishment. The prophet gives his next few words the form of a dirge (kî nah, Amos 5:1). This (Amos 5:2) is characterised by the peculiar kî nah-metre, consisting of three beats or stresses followed by two. In the prophetic vision Israel appears as already overthrown irretrievably. She lies forsaken on the ground, and nothing can raise her. How she has come to this pass is explained in the following verse (Amos 5:3). Her army is almost annihilated in war. This must inevitably happen if Israel will not take warning, but there is still time to seek Yahweh and live (Amos 5:4). Let the corrupt worship at Bethel and Beersheba be forsaken (Amos 5:5), for Gilgal shall taste the gall of exile (G. A. Smith), and Bethel (the house of God) shall become (Beth) aven (the house of idols, Harper). If Yahweh is still forsaken (Amos 5:6), He will burst forth like an unquenchable fire against Israel (represented here as the House of Joseph and as Bethel). The prophet then seems to add a description of the House of Joseph. But it is better to place Amos 5:7 after Amos 5:9, prefixing the words Alas for! Amos 5:8 f. then comes in more suitably as a description of Yahweh, who is mentioned in Amos 5:6. He it is (Amos 5:8) who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turneth deep darkness into morning and darkeneth day into night, etc. Warning is next given to those who pervert or dethrone justice and righteousness, and (Amos 5:10) hate and abominate anyone who reproves them. The prophet then reverts to Israel's oppression of the poor. Those who trample down and rob the poor (Amos 5:11) will never inhabit the luxurious houses they build for themselves; they will never enjoy the wine of the delightful vineyards they plant. Their crimes are manifest to Yahweh (Amos 5:12). They afflict the righteous, take bribes, and thrust aside the poor when these present themselves at the place of justice (Job 5:4 *, Psalms 127:5 *). One who has an insight into the days of calamity that are coming would prefer to keep silent (this is preferable to the usual interpretation that in times so evil the prudent will keep silent). The prophet pauses, hesitating to describe the catastrophe, and before he proceeds to do so, he utters another call to repentance (Amos 5:14 f.). The description follows in Amos 5:16 f. On all sides shall be heard the sounds of wailing and lamentation for the dead.

Amos 5:3. to the house of Israel: omit, as mistaken insertion from Amos 5:4.

Amos 5:5. Harper thinks that by -â ven (see mg.) we are to understand Beth-aven.

Amos 5:8. the Pleiades (Heb. kî mah) and Orion (Heb. kesî l). In Arabic kû mat means a heap. This suggests that Heb. kî mah denotes a cluster of stars. This cluster is usually understood to be the Pleiades. M. A. Stern and others, however, think that another term, - ayish (cf. Job 38:32), denotes the Pleiades (see EBi., s.v. Stars). In that case kî mah may, as Stern suggests, denote Canis major with its bright star Sirius. The root of the word translated Orion perhaps denotes primarily, to be thick, fat. Orion seems to be thought of as a dull-witted, obstinate giant. Since the word kesî l means also fool, it is thought that there is some allusion to a myth in which a giant strove with God and was chained to the sky for his impiety.

Amos 5:9. Render perhaps, Who causeth (LXX - distributeth-') destruction (reading shebher for shodh) to burst forth upon the strong, and brings (reading yâ bhî-' ; cf. LXX) ruin upon the fortress.

Amos 5:16. Or and the husbandmen shall summon to mourning (so Harper).