Texts in Conversation
Amos 6 describes an image of total destruction, saying that even if ten people hide in one house, they will still die. The Greek Septuagint changes it to “and the remnant will be left,” softening the threat of total disaster to harmonize it with history.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Amos 6:9
Hebrew Bible
8 The Sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his very own life. The Lord God of Heaven’s Armies is speaking: “I despise Jacob’s arrogance; I hate their fortresses. I will hand over to their enemies the city of Samaria and everything in it.” 9 If 10 men are left in one house, they too will die. 10 When their close relatives, the ones who will burn the corpses, pick up their bodies to remove the bones from the house, they will say to anyone who is in the inner rooms of the house, “Is anyone else with you?” He will respond, “No one.” Then he will say, “Hush! Don’t invoke the Lord’s name!”
Date: 600–501 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Amos 6:9
Septuagint
8 For the Lord has sworn by himself, saying, Because I abhor all the pride of Jacob, I do also hate his countries, and I will cut off his city with all who inhabit it. 9 And if there are ten men left in one house, they will die, and the remnant shall be left behind. 10 And their relations shall take them, and shall strenuously endeavor to carry forth their bones from the house: and one shall say to the heads of the house, Is there yet any one else with you? And he shall say, No one else. And the other shall say, Be silent, that you do not name the name of the Lord.
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The Septuagint of Amos 6:9 (or its Hebrew Vorlage) includes a plus (καὶ λειφθήσονται οἱ καταλοιποί) that diminishes the threat of disaster. This phrase may have been motivated by Israel’s post-exilic history: It is impossible that Amos would have been ignorant of the turn after the exile ..."
Martin Meiser, The Septuagint and Its Reception: Collected Essays (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022), 38.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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