1. you complacent in Zion. The reference to Zion—which is to say, Jerusalem, the capital of the southern kingdom—is something of a puzzle because Amos’s mission has been to the northern kingdom. Some scholars want to see this as the interpolation of the Judahite editor, but if one removes this verset, there is no longer a line of parallelistic poetry. We should not exclude the possibility that Amos had in view a similar group of smugly self-satisfied people in his home kingdom, even if he was addressing a northern audience.

the first of nations. This appears to be a designation—perhaps sardonic—for Israel.

the house of Israel came to them. The meaning is not transparent, but the sense may be that the people would come for guidance to the elite of the nation, the “eminent.”

2. Calneh. A distant city in Syria.

great Hammath. A city in central Syria.

is your territory larger than theirs? The received Hebrew text reads, “is their territory larger than yours?,” but the context surely requires that these terms be reversed.

3. but bring on disaster and outrage. The first of these two nouns in the Masoretic Text is shevet, “dwelling” or “sitting,” which makes little sense. This translation assumes, as do many scholars, that this is a scribal error for either shever or shod, either of which suggests disaster.

4. who lie on ivory-inlaid beds. Amos, a farmer and pastoralist, is no doubt repelled by the indolent life of luxury he observes among the northern aristocratic class, but he also has in mind the exploitation of the vulnerable that is the source of the wealth.

5. like David they devise song’s instruments. The tone is sarcastic. David’s legendary skill as a lyre player and “sweet singer” was by this time ensconced as an item of popular culture.

6. Who drink from bowls of wine. Pointedly, they are said to drink not from flasks but from large bowls.

and with the finest oils anoint themselves. Rubbing the body with oil was one of the pleasures of the good life, as in Homer’s Greece. But the verb mashaḥ, “anoint,” is generally reserved for sacral or royal use of oil, so its employment here adds to the invective.

Joseph. The house of Joseph, one should recall, is an equivalent for the house of Israel.

7. at the head of exiles. That is, they shall lead the rest of the people into exile, a bitterly ironic turn of their leadership.

10. And a handful of men shall remain. The first three words of the Masoretic Text, unasʾu dodo umesarfo, are not intelligible, and there is no grammatical agreement between the initial verb and the two words that follow. A literal rending would be: and they shall-carry his-uncle and-his-mesaref, the meaning of this last noun remaining unknown. The present translation adopts the reading of the Septuagint, which evidently had a Hebrew text with three different (and intelligible) Hebrew words: wenishʾaru metey mispar.

to him who is in the far corners of the house. Apparently, there is a single survivor, huddled, perhaps hiding, in a remote corner of the house.

so as not to mention the name of the LORD. People often greeted each other in the name of the LORD, as Boaz does with his laborers in Ruth 2:4. The speaker wants to make sure this will not happen in this place of death and devastation, for that would be a violation of the sanctity of the divine name.

12. can one plow with an ox in the sea? The received text reads ʾim-yaḥarosh babeqarim, “can one plow in the mornings?” A small, widely accepted emendation breaks out the last word into two, babaqar yam, yielding the meaning shown in this translation.

13. Lo-Dabar. This is a town in the northern part of Gilead, but the name could also be understood to mean “nothing,” and a pun is clearly intended.

Karnaim. A town in the Bashan region. Both Gilead and Bashan were part of the northern kingdom but at times were contested.

14. a nation. Though the verb “raise against” occurs at the beginning of this verse, its object, as a kind of ominous revelation, is withheld to the very end of the sentence.

from Lebo-Hammath / to the Wadi of Arabah. Lebo-Hammath is in the Lebanon valley; the Wadi of Arabah is far to the south, in the rift descending from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea.