V. 1. This is what Amos saw (Verba Amos).
"The words of Amos" is spoken in the Hebrew manner; we must translate it in Latin thus: Haec sunt, quae vidit Amos ["This is what Amos saw"].
Who was among the shepherds of Thekoa.
It is also said later [Cap. 7, 14] that Amos was not a prophet, but a shepherd, that is, that he was not of the lineage or status of the prophets. For there were various ranks among the Israelite people; some were prophets, others priests, still others wise men. According to their discretion the people was governed; they presided over the office of the word; everything was accepted as inviolable, which they only always ordered or taught. 1) Therefore they were puffed up and relied on their reputation; it was considered a blasphemy if one opposed them, because, as it is said in Jeremiah Cap. 18, 18: "The priests (they said) cannot err in the law, and the wise cannot fail in counsel, the prophets cannot teach wrong." But the Lord, in order to prove His contempt for those who were so arrogant, often raised up lowly men and men of low estate, who did not belong to the prophetic or priestly estate, that they should resist them all, blasting them for their ungodliness, as can be seen everywhere in the prophets. But this is the foolishness of God, by which He makes the world and the wisdom of the flesh foolishness [1 Cor. 1:21]. They were quite worthless people and of low estate, so it seemed to be a nonsense that they should have been so close to the kings and so many prophets and priests who presided over the ministry of the Word, and to one so understanding and versed in the law of the
1) Here D. continues like this: Therefore they surely despised and persecuted, like today our adversaries under the name of the church, puffed up by this prerogative, all who taught against them, as it says in Jeremiah Cap. 18, 18. 2c.
They wanted to resist the people, who were well instructed by the Lord, and teach something new against the customary way. Therefore, they were considered fools, and their word was despised and blasphemed. Therefore even nowadays to the wise of the world seems to be quite strange (παράδοξα) what is said or written by the gospel of Christ against the so mighty kingdom of the pope, so long praised by holy men, 2) on whose side stand the kings, the princes, the most learned, even the whole world 2c. And this is what the prophet wants, since he calls himself a shepherd of Thekoa, by which he indicates a low estate and a lowly person. But this is what the apostle Paul says 1 Cor. 1, 27. that God chose what is foolish and weak in the sight of the world, to put to shame the wise and mighty of the world 2c. The Hebrew word translated here by "shepherd" does not actually mean a shepherd, but one who has much cattle, a lord over cattle, 3) as if to say: a cattle owner.
What he saw two years before the earthquake.
Here he indicates the time when he prophesied, namely under Uzziah, the king of Judah, and Jeroboam, the king of Israel. When this earthquake happened is not mentioned in the Scriptures, 4) but it is undoubtedly mentioned in the book of the events in the days of the kings of Israel, 5) whose
2) The words: "which is so long - praised" are missing in D.
3) D. omits the following words.
4) Here D. continues like this (until the end of the paragraph): except for a passage in Zechariah, Cap. 14, 5. But it was without a doubt a sign of future misfortune, which also always happened with the Gentiles, as the HiMria of the Gentiles testify, that such signs were followed by great and terrifying changes of things. So 2c.
5) in lilrro rerurn diernni re^nin Israkel. In contrast, in the Vulgate we find: in lidro verdornin diernni rsANin IsrasI, I Kings 16, 14. 20. 27. 22, 46. 2 Kings 10, 34. In other places: in IU>ro serinonnni the-
The earthquake is mentioned so often in the books of Kings, but we do not have it. Zechariah also remembers this earthquake in the fourteenth chapter, v. 5. Without a doubt, this earthquake, whenever it may have happened, was a sign of future misfortune, which also always happened with the Gentiles, as the histories of the Gentiles testify. Thus the prophet authenticates his sermon as it were with a past sign.
V. 2. The LORD will roar out of Zion.
This is the subject (thema) and the purpose (scopus) or the main part of the whole first chapter, yes, of this whole book. And because it is the custom of the prophets to use poetic images and ways of speaking, the prophet moves here completely in this way and is completely poetic. So it is a metaphor or rather an allegory when he says: "The Lord will roar", by which he indicates the great anger and the threat of God, as if he wanted to say: The Lord, who is from Zion, who lives in Zion or has his seat in Jerusalem, this Lord will roar, he is angry, he raises his mane like an enraged lion: beware, he threatens you with destruction. For as much as you despise him, yet he threatens that he will devour you all. 2) But he will use the Assyrian's jaws and teeth to devour you. It will be done for all of you if you do not repent 2c.
ruva Israel, as, 1 Kings 22, 39. 2 Kings 1, 18. Luther translated both in our Bible: "in the chronicles of the kings of Israel". At the time Luther gave these lectures, he was of the opinion that a lost book was meant, and only later realized that the books of Chronicles were so called. This has moved D. to omit it.
1) It begins like this: The first chapter threatens the neighboring Gentiles, who plagued the Jews in many ways, who hated them the most because of their different religion. Satan also helped and incited them because of his hatred against the future Christ and against the present worship that the Jews had. But because this is the custom of the prophets, that they use poetic images and ways of speaking, so the prophet here is completely poetic and moves in images. It is therefore a metaphor 2c.
2) Instead of the following to the end of the paragraph D. has: "If you reverse the construction: 'The LORD will roar from Zion, and make his voice heard from Jerusalem,' the meaning remains the same." This sentence becomes understandable by what the Zwickau manuscript offers: "He will make his voice heard and roar."
That the pastures of the shepherds will stand miserable.
As if to say, This is what the LORD threatens you with: He will devour you like this, 3) He will make the land a wasteland, the dwellings desolate and ruined; mourning will be in the tents, and destruction where there are shepherds now.
And the Carmel will wither on top.
This is again figuratively speaking. Carmel is twofold. Firstly 4) the one where Nabal dwelt [1 Sam. 25, 2], the foolish man, as the scripture calls him 1 Sam. 25, 25; and its location is toward the south. Here, however, the prophet speaks of that great and all-known mountain, which is famous by the good prosperity of all kinds of fruits. Hence the opinion: Carmel will become a desert, it will not be cultivated, it, which is now vast and spacious, very fertile and productive, will lie there completely uncultivated. With these prophetic expressions the prophet understands at the same time that the whole people 5) shall be desolate; by the dwellings of the shepherds he understands the people of low origin and low status; by Carmel he has designated the nobles, the princes and priests. And of all these he says that they will perish at the same time. Thus, according to their way, the so-called minor prophets use more images than the major ones.
V. 3. For three and four vices of Damascus I will not spare them, because they have threshed Gilead with iron prongs (Super tribus sceleribus Damasci).
Now he continues to interpret in particular what he wants to be understood by the shepherds' huts and Carmel. 6) By the way, according to the Hebrew it should be read more correctly: "For three and four vices Damascus" 2c. Likewise, by what we read [in the Vulgate]: with iron chariots (plaustris), something else is signified in Hebrew; not a
3) D.: vo6aturu8 instead of voruturu8.
iä 68t: the latter is also often expressed by i.
5) Instead of "all the people" D. has: all ranks of the people, the highest and the lowest.
6) D. t: For he threatens the kingdom of Syria that it will be devastated by the Assyrian.
It was not a wagon, but a tool with teeth by which the straw was chopped into fodder for the cattle; this tool is not in use here. I call it a flail. The same word is found in 1 Chron. 21, 3: "iron hooks" 2c. - [V. 5. 1) "The people of Syria shall be carried away to Kir."] It is badly read [in the Vulgate] Syriae Cyrenen, and it is also badly translated, for Cyrene is between Egypt and the smaller Africa, but the king of Assyria never subdued Africa and held it. Therefore, instead of: to Cyrene, it must be read "gen Kir" (in Cira). So much of the grammar.
This passage has been treated in various ways by our commentators. Lyra thinks, perhaps according to the opinion of the Hebrew interpreters, that by the three vices are to be understood the sins against the Holy Spirit, which cannot be forgiven. Jerome interprets even more inconsistently [the four sins] thus: the first is the remembrance of sin, the second consent, the third works, the fourth impenitence. But since the text is clear enough in itself, what need is there to invent improper things? For it is nothing that these people think it is to be understood of four sins, for he says of seven sins. Therefore, in my opinion, this is a way of speaking of the Scriptures, the like of which we read in Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24, where it is repeated several times: "I will make it seven times more to punish you; I will make it seven times more to strike you, I will punish you with seven plagues" [v. 21, freely adapted from the Vulgate]. The number "seven" indicates the perseverance in punishing and visiting them, as if he wanted to say: I will destroy you completely, 2) I will not let you go.
1) Because Luther, as he himself notes in the following, is at the word explanation, he reaches a little ahead. - Instead of (Irenas in the editions (Jena Eirene) is to be read with the Vulgate 6^i-6Q6n. - Cyrene is in Tripoli.
2) D. leaves out the following in this passage except for the last sentence and adds: This passage of Amos is also to be understood as if he wanted to say: Because of three or four sins, that is, because of their extreme and highest ungodliness, I will destroy them. But this consists in the fact that they persist in sinning against God, that they do not stop nor repent, but continue with extreme persistence to sin ungodly.
I will not lessen my plague against you. This passage of the prophet Amos is to be understood as if the Lord wanted to say: "Because they have persisted in finding against me, because they have not ceased and have not repented of their ungodliness, but have continued to act ungodly with extraordinary persistence, therefore I will utterly destroy and annihilate them. This is my recent opinion of this place and I see no better.
That they threshed Gilead with iron prongs.
He tells the shameful deeds or vices of Damascus, as if he wanted to say: it has crushed and crushed this country Gilead and made it like dust, it has crushed it like chaff is crushed on the threshing floor. Now Gilead is in the half tribe of Manasseh.
I don't want to spare theirs.
This has been referred to conversion to repentance, which I do not approve of, but seems to me to be the opinion: I will not deliver you from the hand of the Assyrian, I will not lessen my punishment nor avert it, nor will I have mercy on you; I will let the Assyrian rage against you, just as you have continued to ravage Gilead 2c. And so this word [XXX] 3) is frequently used everywhere in the Psalms. Ps. 6, 5: "Turn, O Lord, and save my soul"; likewise Ps. 90, 13: "O Lord, turn again to us."
to act. But it is clear that this image is taken from the fact that the number "seven" in the Scriptures is a perfect and principal number, according to which one begins to count again, as it is seen in the reckoning of the days, the years 2c. Therefore, three or four sins are the most extreme sin, which is not recognized, but in which the wicked continue, and of which they boast as if it were something holy. Therefore, they not only do not allow it to be punished and reproved, but defend it by persecuting the true church and the right ministers of the Word. This is recently 2c.
Dietrich's variant).
V. 4. I will send a fire.
By the "fire" he indicates the future devastation by the Assyrians 1) as if he wanted to say: Beware, I will send a fire one day, I will send many evils upon you, 2) which you will not be able to bear at all.
V. 5. And I will break the bars of Damascus.
He figuratively calls the fortifications "bars", likewise the nobles or the strong and those who are able to take up arms against the advancing Assyrians. 3) Over these [the strong], so that they cannot defend themselves, he says, he will send fear and terror when the king of Assyria comes upon them like a fire.
And exterminate the inhabitants.
That is, I will kill them, destroy them.
On the field Aven.
Damascus was situated in a very beautiful plain, not in mountainous regions, but surrounded all around by the loveliest fields, and it is to this loveliness that the prophet alludes here, as if to say: you dwell in a very beautiful and fertile field, the situation of your city is very pleasant, but you will be destroyed, you will be carried over to Assyria. - "Aven" is what the Hebrew language calls everything that is not true godliness, instituted according to the word of GOD. The word is taken from the complaint of the heart, for it actually means "trouble". 4) To these efforts of ungodliness, with which the ungodly are ab-
1) "by the Assyrians" is missing from D.
2) D. continues thus: "by which you will be oppressed."
3) Instead of: "Asfyrians" has D.: enemy.
4) D. brings instead of the following: The prophet seems to have used the word here actually as the name of a place, although he alludes at the same time also to the complaint which arises to the godless from their superstition and self-chosen services, with which they toil in peril. - Instead of "trouble" the original reads: "mueg" (after analogy of Rüge for rest. Cf. Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. XIX, 699); from this word the Erlangen edition has read "inverulu".
The prophet is alluding to the fact that the people of the world are struggling by tormenting their consciences with the godless religion of their own invention.
Together with the one who holds the scepter, from the pleasure house [, I will exterminate them].
This is again a paraphrase, namely: I will take away the king and let him be led away. No matter how many magnificent and splendid buildings he may have built for himself in the most beautiful place, it will be of no use to him: he will not use them, for he will be taken away and cast out.
V. 6. For the sake of three and four vices Gasa.
The prophet goes on to frighten all the Gentiles living around Jerusalem and to make them afraid by the judgment of God, since the king of Assyria, who was sent against them by the judgment of God, would not only attack the Israelite people, but also the godless Gentiles, as the Moabites, Edomites 2c., all of whom the LORD 5) roared at with his roar, indicating that they would perish at the same time as Israel; but yet this prophecy is directed most and chiefly against Israel. What kind of captivity and captivity he remembers here cannot be inferred from the holy story, but from the context of this prophecy one may conclude that this city of Gaza may have captured some Israelites during the battle, whom it handed over as captives to the Edomites. For these heathen, who dwelt round about, raged constantly with continual hatred against Israel, in every way they could; they were in a continual jealousy, missing no opportunity, no time, sparing no pains to harm Israel if they could. So bitter were the godless Gentiles in their hearts against Israel, the people of God. For Jerusalem was situated in the midst of the Gentiles, all around it had the most harmful enemies. And of this sin the Lord says that he will punish it sevenfold.
5) D.: "the prophet" instead of: the HErr.
Therefore, that they continued to capture the prisoners.
As if to say: They have such a hostile and bitter heart against Israel that they cannot satisfy their burning desire to avenge themselves. Nothing is enough for them to take revenge on the people of God who have the word of God. Satan cannot even stand the word of God; he opposes it with all his might, and that is why he agitates the wicked against the godly who have the word of God. So also nowadays our enemies are exceedingly bitter, who dispute the word out of the impulse of Satan, who, when he has taken away the word, easily draws all to himself 2c. So bitter hearts had all these heathen against the people of God. 1)
V. 9. For the sake of three and four vices of the city of Zor.
Without a doubt the inhabitants of Zor acted in agreement with the Philistines concerning the captivity of the children of Israel, of which he said above. Those of Zor handed the Israelites over to the Philistines to be led away, and the Philistines led them away or drove them away. 2)
And not thought of the covenant of the brothers. 3)
As if to say, "Those of Zor, even without being offended, have of their own free will raged against my people and broken the brotherly covenant. There is no doubt that he is speaking of the covenant made between Solomon and Hiram king of Tyre. See 1 Kings 5:12.
V. 11. For three and four vices of Edom [I will not spare him; because he has pursued his brother with the sword, and that
1) The last sentence is missing in D.
2) Instead of this Anzen section D. has: "Zor" is the city which we call Tyre. It indicates therefore that the Tyrians made an agreement with the Philistines and handed over the Israelites to the Philistines to lead them away.
3) D. reads, instead of kratsrni in the manuscript, with the Vulgate: kratrum, and then continues: For the king Hiram calls 1 Kings 9, 13. Solomon "my brother". As if he wanted to say 2c.
he killed their pregnant women, and always torn in his anger, and holds his wrath forever]. 4)
In this passage, St. Jerome again did not get it right, and this is not to be wondered at, for some man was not equal to such a heavy and immense work of translation. For that he translates here: et violaverit misericordiam ejus, is rendered quite unrhymed. But it should have been translated: et perdidit viscera sua, 5) as if he wanted to say: They should have loved each other intimately and ardently as brothers, the highest connection and friendship should have existed between them, but they corrupted each other. We can render in the German language the word [XXX] 6) viscera, quite inappropriate. In Hebrew it is quite actually spoken, and we render this peculiarity to some extent by the Latin word viscera,. Frequently the apostles and evangelists have used this word [σ-ζα^χ^α] also in the New Testament, as, Luc. 1, 78.: "By the hearty (viscera) mercy of our God." And Paul used it many times in his epistles, Phil. 1, 8.: "GOD is my witness, how I long for you all from the bottom of my heart (in visceribus) in JEsu Christo." Likewise Cap. 2, 1.: "heartfelt love (viscera) and mercy" 2c. - Instead of: Tenuerit ultra furorem suum, must be more correctly translated thus: He rages in his anger without end, that is, to take revenge on his brother, in this he knows no measure. For the Edomites came from Esau, who was the brother of Jacob, who is otherwise called Israel, from whom the Israelites [come]. Both are descended from the One Father Isaac. See the first book of Moses [Cap. 25, 21. ff.] The same is that which follows: "And his wrath endureth forever," that is, the wrath of this people vs.
4) Vulgate: 8upsr tridus 86s1sridu8 Ddora st 8Upsr yuatuor non sonvsrtarn surn; so yuod xsrssoutus sit in Zladio tratrsrn suurn, st violavsrit missrisordiarn [sus, st tsnusrit ultra kurorsin suum, st indiAnationsra suam [srvavsrit us^us in ünsni.
5) D.: visesra sjus vsl LIlos sjus.
6) D. f: "2N1" should be set here instead of visssra, which is also indicated by the Zwickau and Hall manuscripts.
Israel is unforgiving. As this hatred began in Esau, it has never ceased in the descendants.
V. 12: I will send a fire to Theman.
"Theman" was a grandson of Esau, and from him the whole country of the Edomites was named after it. For so the scripture uses to call one and the same country with different names, as one can see in the Psalms, where Egyten is called with many names. This country [XXXX = south] has its name from the south and was famous, because it had many excellent and wise people. It is also mentioned in the book of Job, Cap. 6, 19.
[This shall consume the palaces at Bazra.]
"Bazra" is a magnificent and famous city of the Edomites.
V. 13. For the sake of three and four vices of the children of Ammon.
In the explanation of this passage the exegetes differ quite extraordinarily, since of the tearing of the pregnant women is said. It is certain that the word "tear" is translated correctly from the Hebrew, but under the "pregnant women" some want to understand mountains, and for this they bring as proof what follows in this context: "so that they made their borders wider", so that the opinion would be: The Ammomter would have been seized in such a degree by the desire to rule and to extend their borders that they would have torn also the mountains and would have removed them from their place in order to extend their borders. This would certainly have been a useless work, so I hold that these are Jewish and quite arbitrary opinions. I understand it quite simply, as the text reads in and of itself, either of the tearing of the pregnant ones
or as a figurative speech, 1) as here the rural prophet is full of images, and so the opinion would be: the Ammomter have devastated the rich and glorious cities of Gilead. And this picture agrees also exceedingly well with what follows of the widening of the borders. For this peculiar vice was suffered by this people, that they made assaults upon the borders of the Israelites. But if someone wants to understand it also from torn pregnant women, I have nothing against it. But it is inconsistent to attribute such a great cruelty to this people.
V. 14. Within the walls of Rabbah.
In every single country there was a peculiar and glorious city from which the whole country got its name, as can be seen in all the sacred histories.
When one will call.
Instead of in ululatu [in the Vulgate) it should more correctly be read vociferatione. For he speaks of the shouting or rejoicing of the victors, not of those who are defeated, namely that the enemies would rejoice at the destruction 2c.
V. 15 Then their king (Melchom) will be led away captive with distant princes.
It is not a proper name, but an appellative. Therefore, it must be translated like this: Their king will go into captivity. Now Milchon was a god of the Ammonites. For as every country had its peculiar city from which it received its name, so also every nation had its peculiar god, as the Philistines had Dagon, the Ammonites Milchon, the Moabites BaalPeor, as the histories testify 2c.
1) D. f: for the powerful and rich cities.