[325] חמם שׁבת; LXX. σαββάτων ψευδῶν, on which hint Hoffmann renders the verse: "you that daily demand the tribute of evil (cf. Ezek. xvi. 33), and every Sabbath extort by violence." But this is both unnecessary and opposed to viii. 5, which tells us no trade was done on the Sabbath. שבת is to be taken in the common sense of sitting in judgment (rather than with Wellhausen), in the sense of the enthronement of wrong-doing. [326] To this day, in some parts of Palestine, the general fold into which the cattle are shut contains a portion railed off for calves and lambs (cf. Dr. M. Blanckenhorn of Erlangen in the _Mittheilungen u. Nachrichten_ of the D.P.V., 1895, p. 37, with a sketch). It must be this to which Amos refers. [327] Or perhaps _melodies_, _airs_. [328] Of course, it is possible that here again, as in v. 15 and 16, we have prophecy later than the disaster of 734, when Tiglath-Pileser made a great _breach_ or _havoc_ in the body politic of Israel by taking Gilead and Galilee captive. But this is scarcely probable, for Amos almost everywhere lays stress upon the moral corruption of Israel, as her real and essential danger. [329] מתאב for מתעב. [330] Some words must have dropped out here. For these and the following verses 9 and 10 on the pestilence see pp. 178 ff. [331] So Michaelis, יָם בְּבָקָר for בִּבְקָרִים. [332] Gen. xiv. 5; 1 Macc. v. In the days of Eusebius and Jerome (4th century) there were two places of the name: one of them doubtless the present Tell Ashtara south of El-Merkez, the other distant from that fourteen Roman miles. [333] Along this ridge ran, and still runs, one of the most important highways to the East, that from Beth-Shan by Gadera to Edrei. About seven miles east from Gadera lies a village, Ibdar, "with a good spring and some ancient remains" (Schumacher, _N. Ajlun_, 101). Lo-Debar is mentioned in 2 Sam. ix. 45; xvii. 27; and doubtless the Lidebir of Josh. xiii. 26 on the north border of Gilead is the same. [334] With the article, an unusual form of the title. LXX. here κύριος τῶν δυνάμεων. [335] 2 Kings xiv. 25. The Torrent of the 'Arabah can scarcely be the Torrent of the 'Arabim of Isa. xv. 7 for the latter was outside Israel's territory, and the border between Moab and Edom. The LXX. render _Torrent of the West_, τῶν δυσμῶν. [336] Here there is evidently a gap in the text. The LXX. insert καὶ ὑπολειφθήσονται ὁι κατάλοιποι; perhaps therefore the text originally ran _and the survivors die_. [337] Or _uncle_--that is, a distant relative, presumably because all the near ones are dead. [338] Literally _bones_. [339] LXX. τοῖς προεστηκόσι: evidently in ignorance of the reading or the meaning.