Passage

Amos 2.12

Book: Amos · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

10. Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. 11. And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazirites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith Jehovah.

12. But ye gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.

Behold, I will press you in your place, as a cart presseth that is full of sheaves. 14. And flight shall perish from the swift; and the strong shall not strengthen his force; neither shall the mighty deliver himself; (Amos 2:10-14, ASV)

WEB

10. Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. 11. I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites. Isn’t this true, you children of Israel?” says Yahweh.

12. “But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘Don’t prophesy!’

Behold, I will crush you in your place, as a cart crushes that is full of grain. 14. Flight will perish from the swift; and the strong won’t strengthen his force; neither shall the mighty deliver himself; (Amos 2:10-14, WEB)

KJV

10. Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. 11. And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD.

12. But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.

Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves. ^{I am: or, I will press your place, as a cart full of sheaves presseth} 14. Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself: ^{himself: Heb. his soul, or, life} (Amos 2:10-14, KJV)

YLT

10. And I, I have brought you up from the land of Egypt, And cause you to go in a wilderness forty years, To possess the land of the Amorite. 11. And I raise of your sons for prophets, And of your choice ones for Nazarites, Is not this true, O sons of Israel? An affirmation of Jehovah.

12. And ye cause the Nazarites to drink wine, And on the prophets ye have laid a charge, Saying, 'Do not prophecy!'

Lo, I am pressing you under, As the full cart doth press for itself a sheaf. 14. And perished hath refuge from the swift, And the strong strengtheneth not his power, And the mighty delivereth not his soul. (Amos 2:10-14, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Amos of Tekoa, a herdsman (noqed, sheep breeder) and tender of sycamore figs from Judah, speaking the word of the LORD.
Audience: The northern kingdom of Israel, addressed at the height of its prosperity under Jeroboam II.
Location: Delivered in the northern kingdom, principally at Bethel, the royal sanctuary and state temple (Amos 7:13).
Time period: c. 760-750 BC, in the reigns of Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam II of Israel, "two years before the earthquake" (Amos 1:1). Amos is generally reckoned the earliest of the writing prophets.

Theological reading

Two gifts refused. The verse before says the LORD "raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazirites" (2:11). This verse shows what Israel did with each gift: it corrupted the one and silenced the other.

Wine for the Nazirite. The Nazirite vow required a man to "separate himself from wine and strong drink" (Numbers 6:3). Pressing wine on him was pressure to break a vow made to God, making the consecrated life impossible in Israel.

"Prophesy not." The command given to the prophets is acted out later in the book, when Amaziah the priest tells Amos, "prophesy not again any more at Beth-el" (7:13), and Amos quotes it back to him: "Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel" (7:16). Isaiah records the same demand from Judah: "that say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things" (Isaiah 30:10).

An early misuse noted. Jerome, commenting on this verse, records how it was bent into a general ban on wine: "On this, perhaps, Tatian the chief of the Encratites endeavours to build his heresy, asserting that wine is not to be drunk, since it was commanded in the law that the Nazarites were not to drink wine" (Jerome, Commentary on Amos (cited among the Fragments of Tatian), Schaff ANF vol 2). The verse condemns forcing a vowed abstainer to break his vow; it does not forbid wine to everyone.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

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Quoted in

Passages:

Amos 7.16

Notes

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.