ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Amos 7.16

Book: Amos · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

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.

16. Now therefore hear thou the word of Jehovah: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac;

  1. 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 7:14-17, ASV)
WEB

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.’

16. Now therefore listen to Yahweh’s word: ‘You say, Don’t prophesy against Israel, and don’t preach against the house of Isaac.’

  1. 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 7:14-17, WEB)
KJV

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

16. 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.

  1. 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 7:14-17, KJV)
YLT

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.

16. And now, hear a word of Jehovah: thou art saying, Do not prophesy against Israel, nor drop [any thing] against the house of Isaac,

  1. 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 7:14-17, 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. Continuing his reply to Amaziah.
  • Audience: Amaziah the priest of Bethel.
  • 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

"Now hear the word of the LORD: you are saying, You shall not prophesy against Israel nor shall you speak against the house of Isaac."

The structure is a countersuit. Amaziah has issued a prohibition; Amos quotes it back and then delivers an oracle addressed to Amaziah personally (Amos 7:17), naming what will happen to his wife, his children, his land, and to him. In prophetic rhetoric, quoting the opponent's words as the ground of the oracle is a standard move, the "because you said... therefore" pattern found also at Amos 8:5 and Isaiah 30:15-16.

"Do not prophesy" is the offense. Amaziah's instruction is not merely a personnel decision. Silencing prophets appears in the list of Israel's transgressions at Amos 2:12, "you commanded the prophets saying, You shall not prophesy", so the priest of Bethel is caught doing precisely the thing the book indicted the nation for in chapter 2.

"The house of Isaac." An unusual designation for Israel, used only here and in Amos 7:9 in the Hebrew Bible. It may be Amaziah's own preferred phrasing, appealing to patriarchal legitimacy over against the covenant obligations Amos keeps invoking.

The exchange is the clearest instance in the prophets of state religion and prophetic word in open collision, and it is why Amos 7 recurs in discussions of the church's freedom to speak against the powers that fund it.

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; see Lexicon Roadmap.

  • TBD

Quoted in

Lexicon:

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.