Amos 9:12

Hebrew Bible

10 All the sinners among my people will die by the sword—the ones who say, ‘Disaster will not come near, it will not confront us.’ 11 “In that day I will rebuild the collapsing hut of David. I will seal its gaps, repair its ruins, and restore it to what it was like in days gone by. 12 As a result they will conquer those left in Edom and all the nations subject to my rule.” The Lord, who is about to do this, is speaking. 13 “Be sure of this, the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when the plowman will catch up to the reaper, and the one who stomps the grapes will overtake the planter. Juice will run down the slopes; it will flow down all the hillsides. 14 I will bring back my people, Israel; they will rebuild the cities lying in rubble and settle down. They will plant vineyards and drink the wine they produce; they will grow orchards and eat the fruit they produce.

LXX Amos 9:12

Septuagint

11 On that day I will raise up the tent of David that has fallen, and I will rebuild its things that have fallen, and I will raise up its things that have been destroyed, and I will rebuild it just as the days of eternity, 12 so that the remnant of the people, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name was invoked upon them, will search for me,” says the Lord who is making these things. 13 “Look, days are coming,” says the Lord, “and the harvest will overtake the harvest, and the grapes will turn dark at seedtime, and the mountains will drip sweetness, and all the hills will be thickly wooded.

 Notes and References

"... but Luke’s citation from Amos continues, “so that the rest of humanity might seek the Lord, and all the nations on whom my name has been invoked, says the Lord who is doing these things.” When we consult the LXX, we discover the words “the Lord” are absent. The LXX has simply, “the rest of humanity might seek.” Luke apparently has supplied the proper object of the seeking. What is even more striking, however, is the LXX’s having “that they might seek” at all. In the Masoretic text of Amos 9:12, there is instead this: “that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name, says the Lord who does this” ... It appears that the LXX translators read the Hebrew [of Amos 9:12] before them as yîrsu (from yaras´, “possess”) as yidre˘rshû (from daras, “seek”), and they read ’edom (Edom) as ’adam (humanity). The Masoretic text of Amos envisaged a restored Davidic dynasty in an expansionist mode. The LXX changed it to a restored people that attracts humanity to itself. It is this sense, rooted entirely in the LXX but impossible in the Hebrew, that Luke has James exploit as a text that prefigures the attraction of the Gentiles into the “restored people of God” that is the Christian movement ..."

Johnson, Luke Timothy Septuagintal Midrash in the Speeches of Acts (pp. 17-18) Marquette University Press, 2002

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