V. 1. [This is what Amos saw (verba,).]
Verba, [the word that means: this is what he saw 1) 2c.
Who was among the shepherds of Thekoa.
Below [Cap. 7, 14.] he says to Amaziah: "I am not a prophet", that is, he was not of the lineage and status of the prophets. See the saying in Jeremiah [Cap. 18, 18.] of the different ranks of priests and prophets: "The priests cannot err in the law, the wise cannot fail in counsel, and the prophets cannot teach unrighteously." Therefore, whoever lies against these prophets is of the devil. And therefore the people were governed by these priestly and prophetic estates, as now the doctors [govern] the universities. The hopefulness of these people [was subdued by GOD]. To prove His contempt for them, He raised up simple peasants, like this prophet. Then the prophets, priests and sages condemn [him]: 2) "This is a shameful thing", that a man dares to stand up against the whole class of priests 2c. By God's command he is thrust into extraordinary dangers 2c. Both the prophet and God seem to be foolish. "What is the appearance of this" 2c.? You cannot imagine what reasons they used against him 2c. Therefore he is not ashamed to call himself a shepherd. This word [in Hebrew] denotes one who has many flocks, although he is not a shepherd. The king of Moab had many cattle, that is, he was among the lords over cattle. "At Thekoa," a hamlet in the tribe of Judah near Betz, 3) "in the wilderness of Man." A small place, a small person, a small word. This is God's work,
1) Instead is to be read with the Altenburg handwriting viäit.
2) Inserted by us instead of "6th".
3) Bet?, maybe Bethlehem? - "Man", maybe Maon?
that he makes the wise into fools and "chooses what is foolish in the sight of the world" [1 Cor. 1:27]. Israel was flourishing at that time and Jeroboam was a happy king. This happiness was the reason why people did not believe.
Two years before the earthquake.
Of this earthquake we have nothing in the holy scriptures [ that made us certain about the time]. 5) Much is no longer extant. 6) Of this earthquake the scripture testifies in Zechariah [Cap. 14, 5.] that there was an earthquake under [Uzziah,] the king of Judah. In which year the earthquake happened [the scripture does not say]. Uzziah was struck with leprosy 2c. [2 Chron. 26, 19. f.] The interpretations say that God, because He was angry, caused the earthquake at that time. That earthquake was a sign of future calamity, as it always tends to be. GOD does not desist from foreshadowing His signs 2c. It was a sign of the future calamity.
V. 2. The LORD will roar out of Zion.
This is the subject of the whole prophecy and especially of this chapter. So it is also said in Joel [Cap. 3, 20.). It is a metaphor or rather an allegory. When a lion roars, he shakes his manes, he seeks prey. This is a threat of wrath: the LORD makes known out of Zion a great displeasure. "Beware, [he] shaketh the comb." Tonabit, "dohnt und schreiet," should be instead of [vocem], dabit [in the Vulgate). He speaks of GOD who dwells, that is, the LORD who dwells in Zion, and has his dwelling place in Zion, who will make his voice heard and roar. Although this LORD is despised by Israel, he will use the teeth and the yoke of the king of the Assyrians, "will devour you; beware!" He wants to say what he will do.
4) Instead of srissrs, the Vulgate reads sliMro.
5) Without this addition, which is taken from the Alteuburg manuscript, there would be a complete contradiction in this section.
6) Compare the previous relation.
That the pastures of the shepherds will stand miserable, and Carmel above will wither.
"The floodplains will stand miserable." Above are the same words in Joel [Cap. 1, 10.). - [Instead of: Luxerunt speciosa pastorum, et exsiccatus est vertex Carmeli in the Vulgate) is to be read thus: Lugebunt habitacula pastorum et exsiccabitur caput Carmeli, that is, he will make the land a wasteland, so that where there are now shepherds there shall be a desert and sadness, without cities, without inhabitants, without worship. "Neither eating nor drinking" will be there, that is, there will be deserts, in figurative speech. "Carmel" is famous for its fruit and fertility; there the herds of Judah's cattle will be pastured. I assume here the [Mount Carmel], which is on the shore of the western sea. That is, this mountain will be made a desert and will not be worked, whereas now it is a mountain that bears fruit, is very fertile, and gives exceedingly abundant yield; it is wide and spacious, has fields, arable land, country houses 2c. These are images and similes. Under the dwellings of the shepherds [he understands] the lowest classes of men, and under the summit of Carmel the nobles. That is, such a great fall and desolation is at hand that everything, both the lowest and the highest, "rich and mighty [and] poor must perish." The minor prophets use more imagery than the major ones. Now he lays out which are the peaks of Carmel and which are the dwellings of the shepherds, saying:
Thus saith the LORD; For three and four vices of Damascus will I not spare them, because they have threshed Gilead with the tines of iron.
Instead of: [tribus sceleribus] it should rather read: propter tres praevaricationes. - Tribulum ferreum, "a flail," a toothed tool with which: Wheat, grain, "fodder shoulder, 1) Heckerling", the fodder for the draught cattle, is threshed with a toothed flail 2c. whereby the fruits are crushed. - Et devorabit [v. 4.) should be et devoret. - Cyrene [v. 5.) should be:
1) In the original: "futterschutter". Perhaps as much as bulk straw, long straw to feed, fodder heaps.
"gen Kir". Cyrene is in Africa, which the Assyrian never seized.
This passage of the "three vices" has been acted in many ways. Lyra means that by the "four" [vices] the sins are understood which are hardly forgiven. Jerome is even more inconsistent here. The prophet mentions one sin, which he attributes to Damascus, that he threshed 2c. It is foolish that one plays his game in such a way and refers it to sins, that one calls the sins by name. Likewise they make four sins. But I say, it is a figurative speech and a way of speaking in Scripture. Read 3 Mos. 26, 18. 21. 24. He names here only One sin, as also in the third book of Moses [only One sin is named]. That is: and I will give you a barren land, and this punishment he calls a sevenfold 2c. That he will send the wild beasts and lay them waste 2c. [3 Mos. 26, 22.], is a plague. Thus he seems to me to call the one sin a sevenfold sin; there is nothing in the fact that he divides it. This number ["seven") indicates the perfection: all around [I will destroy you]. I will smite you, I will not cease, but let my plagues go to the end. It indicates perfection: They have sinned in this way, that they persisted and did not recognize their sin; and just as they have sinned in the highest degree (rotunda), so I will not cease to smite them because of their unceasing transgression, as they are fierce and complete (rotunda) with sins 2c. Judah has forsaken the whole word and transgressed the statutes 2c., and yet he says: a sevenfold. The number "seven" refers to the strength, duration and persistence of sin.
That they threshed Gilead with iron prongs.
He wants to say: Damascus has threshed this land, that is, crushed it and made it completely nothing. He speaks figuratively: as by the flail the fodder [is crushed], so it has crushed this land by the war, so that "animals run through it".
I don't want to spare theirs.
[I] "will let him [, the Assyrian,] go" 2c.
V. 4. I will send a fire.
He indicates, as it were, as a general plague, the devastation of the Assyrian: "I will kindle a fire, you shall see it," which devastates everything. "A fire," that is, the king of Assyria. "Hasael" was exceedingly hostile to the land of Gilead. I will put despondency in their heart, that their strong ones cannot protect themselves.
V. 5. and will break the bars of Damascus.
"The bars," that is, the walls and the defenders, that they cannot defend themselves. - [Disperdam in the Vulgate is as much as] I will tear them out, 1) I will exterminate them, I will kill them, I will exterminate them. Damascus is situated in a plain. The tender inhabitants, "I will lift them out of the beautiful floodplain," I will make them be taken away from the fertile place. - "In the field": in the plain.
Aden.
That is, of ungodliness. This is what idolatry is called in the Hebrew language. "Aven" is complaint, "toil and labor" 2c. It is applied to all the undertakings of ungodliness with which ungodly men labor 2c. Damascus is a very prosperous and very lovely city, but it serves idols.
Eradicate from the pleasure house the one who holds the scepter.
"He who holds the scepter" is a circumlocution, that is, the king who holds the kingdom, "him I will cast" "from the pleasure house," or 2) from the castle in which he has his pleasure, I will take him away 2c. Benhadad 4) or Benhadar. This is the first roar in particular 2c. "He will go through it with his head" 2c.
1) svsllarn cannot be keyword here because it is not in the Vulgate, but is an explanatory word to äispsräaru. The Weimarsche has highlighted it instead of eoutkram m the Vulgate and has drawn it with to the preceding V66t6w, while it belongs to ttakitatorsru.
2) Instead of [sä, We have accepted [su.
3) Both in the Erlanger and in the Weimarschen: Lsu-
V. 6. For the sake of three and four vices Gasa.
The prophet says that God will frighten all the nations around by his roar. In the midst of these lands the kingdom of Israel has its seat. He roars at the surrounding countries. The Scriptures contain nothing about what this history is. This land was even contentious and unconquered. The land was set under five governors. A small tribe (natio) of Philistines, like "counts" under "princes". It indicates that the inhabitants of Gasa captured some Israelites in battle and handed them over to the Edomites 2c. All these pagans have made enemies of Israel. I have put them in the midst, namely Jerusalem, says the Psalm. Israel could not destroy all the surrounding Gentiles, but neither could these destroy Israel 2c. Gasa was not the first among the cities of the Philistines, although at that time 1) God wants to punish that sin sevenfold with fire, that is, with the kingdom of the Assyrians.
[Therefore, that they have continued to imprison the captives and to drive them out into the land of Edom]. 5)
Concludere [resolve] is as much as the verb "to deliver over," as it is usually translated, "The LORD has resolved your enemies into your 6) hand. "2c.
So it is said in the [first] book of Samuelis [Cap. 26, 8.]; that is, that he gives (tradere) the enemy 7) into his hand. Here trälleret is better than concluderet 2c. - Eo quod transtulerint [captivitatem] is a Hebrew way of speaking. As he called "the captives" a captivity (captivitatem), so Zechariah 8) says. [Cap. 6, 10.] transmigrationem; here captivitatem. [In Hebrew it says:] 9) Eo quod transmigrare fecerunt transmigratio-.
4) Here, the Weimar after yuaiuvis tun" has a punctum, which would require us to assume a gap here.
5) Vulgate: Lo huoä traustulsruut eaptivitatsru psrksetaw, ut eouducksrsut saiu in läuluasa.
6) Instead of 8UL8, the Vulgate reads tuas.
7) Instead of iniluies in the Weimar, and iuiruieis in the Erlanger, either iuiiuieuru is to be read according to the Vulgate or iuiruieos according to the preceding text.
8> The Erlanger offers: in Natttt. That which the Weimarsche asked in the text: in Ratturn, is corrected on the last page of the volume.
9) This addition is according to the Hall manuscript.
nem perfectam, while we call it captivitatem, yes, "captives," that is, those who have been led as captives into edomitic 1) captivity. This is a common way of speaking: captivitatem captivare, transmigrationem transmigrare. - Perfectam. By making this captivity a complete one, that is, a final one (consummatam), they have left nothing. This is how Jerome interprets it; but I do not understand it that way. It is said, They are so fervent and have such a hostile heart that they cannot talk out their vengeance with words 2c. In Ezekiel [Cap. 25, 15.] the Philistines are punished because of their vengeance 2c. All these heathen were against Israel, which had the word of GOD. And today those who seek vengeance because of the word burn with an exceedingly hot and bitter desire 2c.
V. 7. This shall consume their palaces.
"Their palaces", their inhabitants) that is the citizens.
V. 8. and turn my hand against Akron (convertam).
Convertam is as much as vertam. This was done by the king of the Assyrians.
V. 9. To three and four vices of the city of Zor.
Eo quod: because she has handed over. - Instead of fratrum it should be fraterni. - The Tyrians had been in agreement with the Philistines concerning the same total Edomite captivity, perfectam, that is, plenam. - "The covenant" is that which King Solomon made with Hiram, that they call one another brethren, as appears from the first book of Kings [Cap. 9, 13.] They are called brothers in harmony. The Tyrians, who raged without cause, broke and dissolved this covenant; they completely surrendered these captives of the people of Israel.
1) In our original: in oaptivitatsru Lad^lonieam. According to the Erlangen edition in the original: in ean: Ladi. - We hold that the last word has been read out and must be assumed instead Läom or länrnasaln, which we again encounter in the interpretation of v. 9: in "andern eaptivitatsrn Idnrnaearn pertsotam.
2) Uaditatorern is highlighted as a keyword by the Weimar edition, but it is not.
V. 10. [But I will send a fire].
Et mittam is as much as: therefore I will send.
V. 11. For the sake of three and four vices of Edom.
Here 3) St. Jerome seems to me to snore. - "His brother," that is, the Israelites. - [Instead of: Et Violaverit] misericordiam [ejus, as Jerome translated it, should be:] perdidit viscera sua, he deserted them, the Israelites. The word viscera occurs frequently in the New Testament; it cannot be rendered by a German word. Viscera is a big word. One should be the other's viscera, "heart." The mother cherishes the fruit; it means the mother (matricem) 2c. Therefore he says, He that should cherish his brother hath corrupted and delivered him up. And his anger has raged without end, and he keeps his wrath forever, that is, it has been an irreconcilable raging of the brother against Israel; from Esau it began, and has propagated. The hatred between brothers is extremely bitter.
V. 12: I will send a fire to Theman.
"Theman" is twofold. Theman is the grandson of Esau of, Eliphaz [Gen. 36, 11.], from whom the whole land of the Edomites has its name, as in the Psalms Egypt [also] Mizraim 2c. [is called]. Soon the land is called Edom after the grandfather, soon Theman after the grandson. As an appellative, Theman means the south. The inhabitants of Theman have been praised very much because of their wisdom, in Job [Cap. 6, 19.]
[This shall consume the palaces at Bazra.]
"Bazra" [means appellatively] munita, "firm." "A fire," that is, the devastator, the king of Assyria.
V. 13. For the sake of three and four vices of the children of Ammon.
[Dissecare is] scindere, [they] "tear from each other" "the pregnant"; Other: the
3) We think that instead of "viäsr" we should read "vidvtnr". The manuscript reads "8. kisro", which the Weimar edition has inappropriately rendered as "8. hisron^w". For how should Luther come to address Jerome here?
mountains. But this does not rhyme; it is more trouble than gain to rend the mountains, I like "the pregnant ones," for XXXX is not XXXX, which means mountains, in figurative speech cities rich, well-built, and glorious. ["They tore them"] only "that they might continue their border," or actually the women of that tribe, which was near these heathen 2c. It was in the manner of this people of Ammon to invade the land of Israel. See the history of Jephthah [Judges 11:4 ff]. They did not desist as long as Ammonites were there. Therefore they did not cease to make their border further.
V. 14. Within the walls of Rabbah.
[Instead of] in muro [it should read: in] muris. Every country will have its capital
given: Jerusalem, Shechem, Rabbah, Zela or Bazra, Damascus in the kingdom of Syria, against which the prophets roar and cry. - are "palaces".
When one will call.
In ululatu, under the shouting of the victors or the enemies; "whoop" means the word. In commotionis, "at the time of the storm". It is a description of the war that is raging.
V. 15 Then their king will be led away captive.
As every country has its own city, so also its own god; they had Milchon. - Instead of Melchom [in the Vulgate], it should read, "their king." This happened in the time of the king of Assyria.