Amos 4:10-12
New English Translation
10 “I sent against you a plague like one of the Egyptian plagues.[a]
I killed your young men with the sword,
along with the horses you had captured.
I made the stench from the corpses[b] rise up into your nostrils.
Still you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking
11 “I overthrew some of you the way God[c] overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.[d]
You were like a burning stick[e] snatched from the flames.
Still you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking
12 “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel.
Because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, Israel!”[f]
Footnotes
- Amos 4:10 tn Heb “in the manner [or “way”] of Egypt.”
- Amos 4:10 tn Heb “of your camps [or “armies”].”
- Amos 4:11 tn Several English versions substitute the first person pronoun (“I”) here for stylistic reasons (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
- Amos 4:11 tn Heb “like God’s overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.” The divine name may be used in an idiomatic superlative sense here, in which case one might translate, “like the great [or “disastrous”] overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.”sn The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is described in Gen 19:1-29.
- Amos 4:11 tn Heb “like that which is burning.”
- Amos 4:12 tn The Lord appears to announce a culminating judgment resulting from Israel’s obstinate refusal to repent. The following verse describes the Lord in his role as sovereign judge, but it does not outline the judgment per se. For this reason F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman (Amos [AB], 450) take the prefixed verbal forms as preterites referring to the series of judgments detailed in vv. 6-11. It is more likely that a coming judgment is in view, but that its details are omitted for rhetorical effect, creating a degree of suspense (see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 149-50) that will find its resolution in chapter 5. This line is an ironic conclusion to the section begun at 4:4. Israel thought they were meeting the Lord at the sanctuaries, yet they actually had misunderstood how he had been trying to bring them back to himself. Now Israel would truly meet the Lord—not at the sanctuaries, but face-to-face in judgment.
Amos 4:10-12
New International Version
10 “I sent plagues(A) among you
as I did to Egypt.(B)
I killed your young men(C) with the sword,
along with your captured horses.
I filled your nostrils with the stench(D) of your camps,
yet you have not returned to me,”(E)
declares the Lord.(F)
11 “I overthrew some of you
as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.(G)
You were like a burning stick(H) snatched from the fire,
yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the Lord.(I)
12 “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel,
and because I will do this to you, Israel,
prepare to meet your God.”
Amos 4:10-12
King James Version
10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
11 I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
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