Passage

Amos 7.14-15

Book: Amos · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

12. Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thou away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: 13. but prophesy not again any more at Beth-el; for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal house.

14. Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was a herdsman, and a dresser of sycomore-trees: 15. and Jehovah took me from following the flock, and Jehovah said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.

Now therefore hear thou the word of Jehovah: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac; 17. therefore thus saith Jehovah: Thy wife shall be a harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou thyself shalt die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land. (Amos 7:12-17, ASV)

WEB

12. Amaziah also said to Amos, “You seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: 13. but don’t prophesy again any more at Bethel; for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a royal house!”

14. Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdsman, and a farmer of sycamore figs; 15. and Yahweh took me from following the flock, and Yahweh said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’

Now therefore listen to Yahweh’s word: ‘You say, Don’t prophesy against Israel, and don’t preach against the house of Isaac.’ 17. Therefore Yahweh says: ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line; and you yourself shall die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.’” (Amos 7:12-17, WEB)

KJV

12. Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: 13. But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court. ^{chapel: or, sanctuary} ^{king's court: Heb. house of the kingdom}

14. Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit: ^{sycomore: or, wild figs} 15. And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. ^{as: Heb. from behind}

Now therefore hear thou the word of the LORD: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac. 17. Therefore thus saith the LORD; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land. (Amos 7:12-17, KJV)

YLT

12. And Amaziah saith unto Amos, 'Seer, go flee for thee unto the land of Judah, and eat there bread, and there thou dost prophesy; 13. and [at] Beth-El do not add to prophesy any more, for it [is] the king's sanctuary, and it [is] the royal house.'

14. And Amos answereth and saith unto Amaziah, 'I [am] no prophet, nor a prophet's son [am] I, but a herdsman I [am], and a cultivator of sycamores, 15. and Jehovah taketh me from after the flock, and Jehovah saith unto me, Go, prophesy unto My people Israel.

And now, hear a word of Jehovah: thou art saying, Do not prophesy against Israel, nor drop [any thing] against the house of Isaac, 17. therefore thus said Jehovah: Thy wife in the city doth go a-whoring, And thy sons and thy daughters by sword do fall, And thy land by line is apportioned, And thou on an unclean land diest, And Israel certainly removeth from off its land.' (Amos 7:12-17, 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. Here he answers Amaziah, priest of Bethel, who has ordered him back to Judah.
Audience: Amaziah the priest of Bethel, who has just reported Amos to King Jeroboam.
Location: Bethel, at the royal sanctuary (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 prophet's answer to the charge of being a paid agitator, and the clearest statement in the Hebrew Bible of what a prophetic call is.

The disclaimer. "I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet." The Hebrew has no verb, so the clause can be read as present ("I am not") or past ("I was not"), and both are defensible; the ASV and KJV take the past, most modern versions the present. Either way the denial is of guild status. "Son of a prophet" (ben-navi) is the standard term for a member of a prophetic band, the groups around Elijah and Elisha (2 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 4:38), who could be understood as speaking for their patrons. Amaziah has just told Amos to go earn his bread in Judah (Amos 7:12), and the reply is that there is no bread in this for him.

The occupation. A boqer (herdsman) and a boles shiqmim, a tender or piercer of sycamore figs, an agricultural task performed to ripen the fruit. With Amos 1:1, which calls him a noqed, sheep breeder, the picture is of a working man of some substance rather than a peasant, which is worth saying since the romantic reading of Amos as a poor shepherd overstates the text.

The call. "The LORD took me from following the flock and the LORD said to me, Go prophesy to My people Israel." The warrant is not training, office, or lineage, but a seizure and a commission. This is why Amos 3:7-8 frames prophecy as compulsion rather than career.

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

Arguments and defeaters:

Passages:

Amos 3.7-8

Notes

Your annotations.

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.