Passage

Amos 3.3

Book: Amos · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

Hear this word that Jehovah hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying, 2. You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities.

3. Shall two walk together, except they have agreed?

Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? 5. Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is set for him? shall a snare spring up from the ground, and have taken nothing at all? (Amos 3:1-5, ASV)

WEB

Hear this word that Yahweh has spoken against you, children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying: 2. “I have only chosen you of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all of your sins.”

3. Do two walk together, unless they have agreed?

Will a lion roar in the thicket, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing? 5. Can a bird fall in a trap on the earth, where no snare is set for him? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when there is nothing to catch? (Amos 3:1-5, WEB)

KJV

Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, 2. You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. ^{punish: Heb. visit upon}

3. Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? ^{cry: Heb. give forth his voice} 5. Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all? (Amos 3:1-5, KJV)

YLT

Hear ye this word that Jehovah hath spoken concerning you, O sons of Israel, concerning all the family that I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying: 2. Only you I have known of all families of the land, Therefore I charge on you all your iniquities.

3. Do two walk together if they have not met?

Roar doth a lion in a forest and prey he hath none? Give out doth a young lion his voice from his habitation, If he hath not caught? 5. Doth a bird fall into a snare of the earth, And there is no gin for it? Doth a snare go up from the ground, And prey it captureth not? (Amos 3:1-5, 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

The first in a chain of questions. "Shall two walk together, except they have agreed?" opens a series of questions (3:3-6) that all expect the answer no. Each describes an effect that implies a cause: a lion does not roar without prey, a snare does not spring without a catch. The chain ends in the prophet's conclusion: "The Lord Jehovah hath spoken; who can but prophesy?" (3:8).

"Agreed." The Hebrew verb (ya'ad) means to meet by appointment; YLT renders it "if they have not met." Two travelers found together on the road have arranged to meet. Applied to the prophet, the point is that Amos is speaking because the LORD has spoken to him, not on his own initiative, which is the answer he later gives when his right to prophesy is challenged (7:14-15).

An early use. Dionysius of Alexandria quotes the verse in the Greek form, "Shall two come to the same lodging unless they know each other?", and turned it against the Epicurean claim that the ordered world arose from atoms meeting by chance, saying that "well has the prophet ranked this matter among things which are impossible and undemonstrable" (Dionysius of Alexandria, Books on Nature (section III), Schaff ANF vol 6). For him, agreement and order imply a mind that arranged them.

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 3.7-8

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.