{"id":77264,"date":"2020-07-12T12:42:09","date_gmt":"2020-07-12T09:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=77264"},"modified":"2020-07-12T12:42:09","modified_gmt":"2020-07-12T09:42:09","slug":"carried-off-in-fish-baskets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/carried-off-in-fish-baskets\/","title":{"rendered":"Carried Off In Fish Baskets!"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"77264","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":64450,"related_cahpter":"522","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Or is it pots, hooks, or boats?\r\n\r\n","content":"

In chapter 3, Amos castigates those wealthy people who oppress the poor. In the beginning of chapter 4, he criticizes their wives and warns of the punishment they will receive:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHear this word, you cows of Bashan On the hill of Samaria\u2014 Who defraud the poor, Who rob the needy; Who say to your husbands, \u2018Bring, and let\u2019s carouse!\u2019 My Lord GOD swears by His holiness: Behold, days are coming upon you When you will be carried off in baskets, And, to the last one, in fish baskets, And taken out [of the city]\u2014 Each one through a breach straight ahead\u2014 And flung on the refuse heap \u2014declares the LORD.\u201d (Amos 4:1-3)<\/span><\/p>\n

The cattle imagery in verse 1 is appropriate \u2013 the Bashan was a region known for its quality cattle. But verse 2 is difficult to understand. What does it mean to be \u201ccarried off in baskets,\u201d and why, in this landlocked region would there be mention of \u201cfish baskets\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a look at the Hebrew words for \u201cfish baskets\u201d \u2013 <\/span>sirot dugah<\/span><\/em>. There are many suggested translations for this phrase. <\/span>Dugah<\/span><\/em> would appear to be related to the Hebrew word for \u201cfish\u201d \u2013 <\/span>dag<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/i> So the key word is <\/span>sirot<\/span><\/em>. The translation \u201cbaskets\u201d comes from a parallel with the first half of the verse, and linguists have found a similar metaphor used in Mesopotamia. Since the audience Amos was addressing would be exiled to Assyria, that metaphor is apt.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another translation is \u201cfish pots.\u201d So instead of the baskets used to catch fish, this image is of the pots used to cook fish. In Hebrew a <\/span>sir<\/span><\/em>\u00a0(pronounced closer to “sear”) is a cooking pot, and so this theory connects <\/span>sir<\/span><\/em>\u00a0and <\/span>sirot<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The Koren Jerusalem Bible translation uses a different allegory. It writes, \u201cwhen you will be taken with hooks, and your remnant with fishhooks.\u201d This was earlier suggested by the medieval commentator Ibn Ezra. He says that <\/span>sirot\u00a0<\/span><\/em>is like the word <\/span>sirim<\/span><\/em>\u00a0\u00ad\u00ad<\/span><\/i>\u00ad\u2013 \u201cthorns.\u201d Thorns are like hooks, and so the image, according to this opinion, is that they will be taken out of the land like fish are caught with hooks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another translation, based on Rashi\u2019s commentary, has the phrase read, \u201cin fishing boats.\u201d Rashi based this interpretation on a Talmudic passage, where <\/span>dugit<\/span><\/em> is a type of small boat.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most modern scholars say this is not the correct reading of the verse. While the other translations used imagery of removing fish from water, the exile to Assyria was via land and would not carry the people off in boats.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though \u201csmall boats\u201d is the least plausible translation, it managed to enter modern Hebrew. Today there are three main words for boats in Hebrew: <\/span>oniya<\/span><\/em>\u00a0is a large ship, a <\/span>sefina<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>is a smaller ship, and the smallest type of vessel is a <\/span>sira<\/span><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 officially 7 meters long or less.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":77265,"id":77265,"title":"amos4-fish","filename":"amos4-fish.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/amos4-fish.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/carried-off-in-fish-baskets\/amos4-fish\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"amos4-fish","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":77264,"date":"2020-07-12 09:40:04","modified":"2020-07-12 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