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For Israel’s sake I destroyed the Amorites.[a]
They were as tall as cedars[b]
and as strong as oaks,
but I destroyed the fruit on their branches[c]
and their roots in the ground.[d]
10 I brought you up from the land of Egypt;
I led you through the wilderness for forty years
so you could take the Amorites’ land as your own.
11 I made some of your sons prophets
and some of your young men Nazirites.[e]
Is this not true, you Israelites?”
The Lord is speaking.

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Footnotes

  1. Amos 2:9 tn Heb “I destroyed the Amorites from before them.” The translation takes מִפְּנֵי (mippeney) in the sense of “for the sake of.” See BDB 818 s.v. פָּנֻה II.6.a and H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos (Hermeneia), 134. Another option is to take the phrase in a spatial sense, “I destroyed the Amorites, [clearing them out] from before them [i.e., Israel]” (cf. NIV, NRSV).
  2. Amos 2:9 tn Heb “whose height was like the height of cedars.”
  3. Amos 2:9 tn Heb “his fruit from above.”
  4. Amos 2:9 tn Heb “and his roots from below.”
  5. Amos 2:11 tn Or perhaps “religious devotees” (also in the following verse). The Hebrew term נָזִיר (nazir) refers to one who is “consecrated” or “devoted” to God (see Num 6:1-21).

“Yet I destroyed the Amorites(A) before them,
    though they were tall(B) as the cedars
    and strong as the oaks.(C)
I destroyed their fruit above
    and their roots(D) below.
10 I brought you up out of Egypt(E)
    and led(F) you forty years in the wilderness(G)
    to give you the land of the Amorites.(H)

11 “I also raised up prophets(I) from among your children
    and Nazirites(J) from among your youths.
Is this not true, people of Israel?”
declares the Lord.

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