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LXX Amos

Septuagint

About this book
Chapter 4

1 Hear this word, you heifers of the land of Bashan that are in the mountain of Samaria, that oppress the poor, and trample on the needy, which say to their masters, Give us that we may drink. 2 The Lord swears by his holiness, that, look, the days come upon you, when they shall take you with weapons, and fiery destroyers shall cast those with you into boiling cauldrons. 3 And you shall be brought forth naked in the presence of each other; and you shall be cast forth on the mountain Rimmon, says the Lord God. 4 You went into Bethel, and sinned, and you multiplied sin at Gilgal;⁠ and you brought your grain-offerings in the morning, and your tithes every third day. 5 And they read the law outside, and called for public professions: proclaim aloud that the children of Israel have loved these things, says the Lord God. 6 And I will give you dullness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places: yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. 7 Also I withheld from you the rain three months before the harvest: and I will rain upon one city, and on another city I will not rain: one part shall be rained upon, and the part on which I shall not rain shall be dried up. 8 And the inhabitants of two or three cities shall be gathered to one city to drink water, and they shall not be satisfied: yet you have not returned to me, says the Lord. 9 I struck you with parching, and with blight: you multiplied your gardens, your vineyards, and your fig-grounds, and the caterpillar devoured your olive yards: yet not even thus did you return to me, says the Lord. 10 I sent pestilence among you by the way of Egypt, and killed your young men with the sword, together with your horses that were taken captive; and in my fierce anger against you I set fire to your camps: yet not even thus did you return to me, says the Lord. 11 I overthrew you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you became as a brand plucked out of the fire: yet not even thus did you return to me, says the Lord. 12 Therefore I will do this to you, Israel: but because I will do thus to you, prepare to call on your God, Israel. 13 For, look, I am he that strengthens the thunder, and creates the wind, and proclaims to men his Christ,⁠ forming the morning and the darkness, and mounting on the high places of the earth, The Lord God Almighty is his name.

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Compare Amos 4:4 and LXX Amos 4:4

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

Amos 4 describes God giving ironic commands, urging the people to continue their sin at Bethel and Gilgal as a form of rebellion. The Greek Septuagint changes this to remove the irony, likely to avoid making God look cruel.

Passages

Amos 4:4

Hebrew Bible
3 Each of you will go straight through the gaps in the walls; you will be thrown out toward Harmon.” The Lord is speaking. 4 “Go to Bethel and rebel! At Gilgal rebel some more! Bring your sacrifices in the morning, your tithes on the third day! 5 Burn a thank offering of bread made with yeast! Make a public display of your voluntary offerings! For you love to do this, you Israelites.” The Sovereign Lord is speaking.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Amos

LXX Amos 4:4

Septuagint
3 And you shall be brought forth naked in the presence of each other; and you shall be cast forth on the mountain Rimmon, says the Lord God. 4 You went into Bethel, and sinned, and you multiplied sin at Gilgal; and you brought your grain-offerings in the morning, and your tithes every third day. 5 And they read the law outside, and called for public professions: proclaim aloud that the children of Israel have loved these things, says the Lord God.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Amos

References

"... The concept of God’s goodness, a central issue of Plato’s philosophy, became also important for Jewish theology. Due to this doctrine, transmitters and translators sometimes modified the text. In order to avoid any suspicion of despotism, the Septuagint translator of Amos transmuted the ironic imperatives in Amos 4:4 to indicatives, and he rendered אולי (“perhaps”) in Amos 5:15 by ὅπως: God’s reaction on human repentance is not to be categorized by “perhaps”! In LXX Isaiah 6:9–10, the theory of divine hardening is avoided. The translator of Ezekiel altered Ezekiel 21:3-4 [LXX 8-9] ... According to the Masoretic text, God will destroy the righteous and the wicked whereas the Septuagint alters: God will destroy the unrighteous and the wicked ..."
Martin Meiser, The Septuagint and Its Reception: Collected Essays (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022), 104.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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