Amos 4:10

Amo 4:10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

Ver. 10. I have sent among you the pestilence] That evil angel, Psa 78:49, that το θειον, eminent hand of God, as Hippocrates calleth it; that destruction that walketh in darkness and wasteth at noon day, as the Psalmist styleth it, Psa 91:6. This God sent; for it is a messenger of his sending, an arrow of his shooting, 2Sa 24:15, and may better be called morbus sacer than the falling sickness; as being an extraordinary hand of God, such as was that Sudor Anglicus, in the days of Edward VI the sweating sickness that raged very violently for forty years together here in England (as Sennertus testifieth), and slew so many, that strangers wondered how this island could be so populous as to bear and bury such incredible multitudes. No stranger in England was touched with this disease; and yet the English were chased therewith not only here, but in other countries abroad; which made them, like tyrants, both feared and avoided wherever they came. So long as the ferventness of this plague lasted, there was crying, Peccavi, Peccavi; I have sinned, I have sinned, and some pretences of turning to the Lord. The ministers were sought for in every corner (saith Mr Bradford), Oh, you must come to my lord, you must come to my lady. Thus, "when he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and inquired early after God. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and lied unto him with their tongues," Psa 78:34; Psa 78:36; as the fox, when taken in a snare, looks pitifully, but it is only that he may get out; as ice melts in the day and hardeneth again in the night; or as iron is very soft and malleable while in the fire, but soon after returneth to its former hardness.

After the manner of Egypt] In the way to Egypt (so some read it), as you were trudging down to Egypt for help against enemies, or for corn in time of famine (for Egypt was the world’s granary), I have stretched my net over you: Egypt hath gathered you up, Memphis hath buried you, Hos 9:6. But taking the words as we translate them, "After the manner of Egypt," i.e. so as I plagued the Egyptians, when you were among them {see Exo 12:29} with mortality of men and murrain of cattle, Exo 9:15. The plague of Athens is graphically described by Thucydides; whence Ovid and Virgil are thought to have borrowed their descriptions of the pestilence. The plague of Italy is set forth in lively colours by Dionys. Halicarnass. lib. xi. Antiq. That of Constantinople by Nicephorus and Sigebertus.

Your young men have I slain with the sword] Iuvenes a iuvando, saith Varro: because they are able and apt by arms to defend the commonwealth, and to help it at a dead lift. In Hebrew they have their name a delectu; because they are chosen to fight and do business, as fittest for the purpose, Exo 17:9 2Sa 6:1. These God had slain with the sword, which cutteth its way through a wood of men, and heweth down the youngest and strongest; spareth neither lord nor losel, as they say; is despatched with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood, Isa 9:5.

And I have made the stink of your camps] By means of the slain, both men and horses, that lie unburied, and poison the air; see Joe 2:20 Isa 34:3.

And yet have ye not returned] Nec sic tamen: Vide contumaciam, saith Mercer here. Obstinate men will sooner break than bend. Monoceros interimi potest, non capi. The unicorn is able to be kiiled but not captured.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Amo_4:10

Your young men have I slain with the sword . . . yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord.

Gods dealings with us nationally, and their object

While we are in this state of trial and probation God does not punish us, individually or nationally, in the spirit of vindictiveness or vengeance, but out of love and compassion, and with the view of working in us that which is needful for our temporal prosperity and eternal welfare, and which His good gifts and past mercies have failed to effect.

I. The parties here addressed. Primarily the children of Israel. If we can trace a resemblance between our conduct and theirs, we must undoubtedly consider the words of the text equally addressed to us.

1. Pride was a striking characteristic of Gods people of old. What was the return they made for all the signal blessings bestowed on them? Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked. Have not we, nationally and individually, acted like them in this particular? How have we requited the good and gracious Benefactor for His great mercies? Have we not been lifted up in pride? Is it not the prevailing sentiment that it is to our own wisdom we owe our constitution, to our own exertions our wealth, and to our superior institutions our freedom from rebellion and revolution?

2. Israel had drawn down Gods judgments for their hypocrisy. They were very zealous in the profession of their religion. But their hearts went after their idols, and their hands were full of blood. Therefore God refused their worthless profession. And, nowadays, there is a vast deal of outward profession of religion, yet but very little real, practical, influential religion. Where is the self-discipline, the self-denial, the self-sacrifice which our holy religion calls upon us for?

3. Forgetfulness of God, their great Benefactor, was a striking characteristic of the Israelites of old. And do we acknowledge Gods hand in the productiveness of our land, or in the failure of our crops?

4. Our sin and rebellion against God fix us with the applicability of these words to ourselves. Who can fathom the demoralisation and wickedness of the dense masses of our great cities, etc.!

II. Gods dealings with them in like connection with his dealings with us. Unexampled favours demand a higher standard of holiness and devoted obedience, and proportionately increase the heinousness of guilt. Trace the dealings with which God had visited the Israelites, in chastisement for their sins, which are referred to in this chapter. Scarcity, disease, war, etc.

III. What is the object of these dealings of God towards us? His yearning over us is that we should become a people fearing Him, and working righteousness. The nation is made up of individuals; and as far as individual responsibility is concerned, it will be by individual practice, example, and influence that we must severally promote that reformation amongst us which is needful to restore us to the Divine favour. (Edward T. Cardale.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Amo 4:10-11. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt — I have sent such pestilence among you as I formerly sent upon Egypt: Or, such as has frequently taken place in Egypt. “The unwholesome effluvia, on the subsiding of the Nile, caused some peculiarly malignant diseases in this country.” — Newcome. Maillet also tells us, (Lett. 1. page 14,) that “the air is bad in those parts, where, when the inundations of the Nile have been very great, this river, in retiring to its channel, leaves marshy places, which infect the country round about. The dew is also very dangerous in Egypt.” Your young men have I slain, &c. — I have caused your young men to fall in battle with your enemies. And have taken away your horses — Have enabled your enemies to take them from you. Horses being very scarce in the land of Israel, the loss of them was a great affliction. I have made the stink of your camps, &c. — I have sent diseases into your camps; so that they have been rendered quite noisome by the smell of the dead carcasses, or so great has been the slaughter in your camps, that there were not a sufficient number left alive to bury the slain. The Syrians made frequent incursions on the Israelites, which obliged the latter to be often encamped. I have overthrown some of you, &c. — Some of your cities I have caused to be burned with fire and utterly consumed, as Sodom and Gomorrah were. And ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning — Those that remained very narrowly escaped. A proverbial expression, used both by sacred and profane authors, to signify a narrow escape out of imminent danger.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4:10 God had used plagues to convince Egypt to let Israel go (Exod 7:14–12:30; 9:2-3; Ps 91:6; Hab 3:5); he promised to bring the plagues of Egypt on Israel if they continued to turn away from him to worship pagan gods (Deut 28:27, 60).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

As I plagued the Egyptians, Exod. 9:10.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

pestilence after the manner of Egypt--such as I formerly sent on the Egyptians (Exo 9:3, Exo 9:8, &c.; Exo 12:29; Deu 28:27, Deu 28:60). Compare the same phrase, Isa 10:24.

have taken away your horses--literally, "accompanied with the captivity of your horses"; I have given up your young men to be slain, and their horses to be taken by the foe (compare Kg2 13:7).

stink of your camps--that is, of your slain men (compare Isa 34:3; Joe 2:20).

to come up unto your nostrils--The Hebrew is more emphatic, "to come up, and that unto your nostrils."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. I have sent - the pestilence] After the blasting and the mildew, the pestilence came; and it acted among them as one of the plagues of Egypt. Besides this, he had suffered their enemies to attack and prevail against them; alluding to the time in which the Syrians besieged Samaria, and reduced it to the most extreme necessity, when the head of an ass was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five; and mothers ate the flesh of their children that had died through hunger, 2Kg 6:25. And the people were miraculously relieved by the total slaughter of the Syrians by the unseen hand of God, 2Kg 7:1, &c. And yet, after all those signal judgments, and singular mercies, "they did not return unto the Lord!"

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

God now expostulates with the people, because their perverseness had not been subdued even by additional punishments; for he had in vain exhorted and stimulated them to repentance. He says, that they had been smitten with pestilence. The Prophet has hitherto spoken only of the sterility of the land, and of the fruit being destroyed by infections; he has hitherto mentioned want only with its causes; this only has been stated: but now he adds that the people had been afflicted with pestilence, and also with war, and that they had still persevered in their wickedness. Whatever measures then God had adopted to correct the vices of the people, the Prophet now complains and deplores, that they all had been tried in vain. But so many upbraidings are mentioned, that God might show that there was no more any hope of pardon, inasmuch as they thus continued to be untractable and perverse.

He then says that he had sent pestilence according to the manner of Egypt דרך, darec, means a way, but is taken for mode or manners as the 10th chapter of Isaiah ‘I will smite him according to the manner of Egypt,’ says God, speaking of Sennacherib, as though he said, “Ye know how formerly I checked the fury of Pharaoh; I will now put on the same armor, that I may drive far from you your energy Sennacherib.” But the Prophet says here, that God had exercised towards the Israelites the same extreme rigor which he had used towards the Egyptians; as though he said, “I have been forced by your obstinacy to turn my power against you: ye know how Egypt was formerly smitten by me from kindness to your fathers; I then showed how dear to me was your preservation, by putting forth my strength to destroy the Egyptians: how is it that I now turn my weapons against you for your destruction? I have been indeed always ready to oppose your enemies, and kindly to cherish you in my paternal bosom. As then ye are become to me like the Egyptians, how is this and whence this change, except that ye have constrained me by your irreclaimable wickedness?”

We now then see why the Prophet speaks here expressly of the Egyptians. He intimates that God could not show favor to the Israelites, which he would have continued to show, had they not closed the door against it; as though he said, “I had chosen you from other nations; but now I chastise you, not as I do the uncircumcised Gentiles, but I avowedly carry on war with you, as though ye were Egyptians.” We see how much it serves for amplification, when Amos compares the Israelites to the Egyptians, as though he had said that they, by their perverse wickedness, had extinguished all God’s favor, so that the memory of their gratuitous adoption was of no more avail to them. I have therefore sent among you pestilence after the manner of Egypt.

And he adds, I slew with the sword your strong men. It was a different kind of punishment, that all the strong had been slain, that their horses had been led into captivity, and that, finally, the foetor of dead bodies had ascended to suffocate them. These were certainly unusual tokens of God’s wrath. As the people had not repented, it became now again quite evident, that their diseases were not healable; for God had effected nothing by the application of so many remedies. These different kinds of punishments ought to be carefully noticed, because the Lord has collected them together, as so many arguments to prove the contumacy of the people.

By saying that the foetor of camps had ascended to their nostrils, it was the same as if he had said, “There has been no need of external force; though no enemy had been hostile to you, ye have yet been suffocated by your own foetor; for this came up from your own camps into your nostrils, and deprived you of life. Since God then had raised up this intestine putridity, ought you not to have been at length seriously affected, and to have returned to a right mind? Inasmuch then as no fruit followed, who does not see, that you have been in vain chastised, and that what alone remains for you is utter destruction? As God has hitherto stimulated you in vain by punishments, were he to proceed, he would lose all his labor. Since then God has hitherto to no purpose visited you with his scourges, there is no reason why he should chastise you more moderately: you must now then be utterly destroyed.” This is the meaning: and he further adds —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(10) With the captivity of your horses.—This, the marginal reading, is more exact. Egypt is the birthplace of the plague or black death, and the circumstances augmenting its horror are here terribly portrayed. G. Baur thinks, that since the drought is mentioned after the famine as its true cause, so here the prophet explains the cause of the pestilence, or the way in which it would be brought about, viz., by the hosts of slaughtered warriors scattered over the camp.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. Pestilence and the sword. By the pestilence (déber) is meant what we should term an epidemic accompanied by great mortality, such as under the insalubrious sanitary conditions of Eastern life, are of frequent occurrence: it is often mentioned in the Old Testament, and frequently threatened as a judgement, especially as the concomitant of a siege; e.g. Lev_26:25; Deu_28:21; 1Ki_8:37; 2Sa_24:15; Psa_91:3; Psa_91:6 (“the pestilence that walketh in darkness”); and often in Jeremiah (“the sword, the famine, and the pestilence”), as Jer_14:12; Jer_21:7; Jer_21:9; Jer_24:10; Jer_29:17-18 &c., cf. Jer_28:8; so in Eze_5:12; Eze_6:11-12; Eze_7:15 (“the sword without, the pestilence and the famine within”), Eze_14:21 (one of Jehovah’s ‘four sore judgements’).

in the manner of Egypt] i.e. in the manner in which it is wont to visit Egypt (Isa_10:26 b), with the same severity and malignity. The climate of Egypt was proverbially insalubrious (Deu_7:15; Deu_28:60, cf. Deu_28:27, “the boil of Egypt,” probably some malignant pestilential boil); and “throughout antiquity the north-east corner of the Delta was regarded with reason as the home of the Plague,” whence often, it is probable, it was brought into Israel by Philistine traders (see G. A. Smith, Geogr., pp. 157–160). Even in modern times, according to Sir G. Wilkinson (quoted by Dr Pusey), “a violent plague used formerly to occur about once in ten or twelve years. It was always less frequent at Cairo than at Alexandria.”

your young men have I slain &c.] alluding, doubtless, to the many defeats which, until Jeroboam’s accession brought a change of fortune, Israel had sustained during the Syrian wars: comp. 2Ki_10:32-33; 2Ki_13:3; 2Ki_13:7; 2Ki_13:22; 2Ki_14:26.

and have taken away your horses] together with the captivity of your horses (= your captive horses); i.e. your captured horses were slaughtered, as well as your young men (cf. 2Ki_13:7). Wellh. interprets as is done by A.V., though allowing that the construction is more Arabic than Hebrew.

I have made the stink of your camps to come up &c.] cf. Isa_34:3. The corpses of the slain soldiers were so numerous that they lay unburied on the ground, defiling the air with pestilential vapours.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I have sent among you the pestilence, after the manner of Egypt,.... Like that which was sent among the firstborn of Egypt, and cut them off in one night; or when in the way of Egypt, as the Targum; either as in the wilderness, when they came out of Egypt, so Jarchi interprets it; see Num 16:46; or the Lord sent the pestilence as they went in the way to Egypt for help and assistence, or for shelter, for food in time of famine; for they went thither, as Kimchi says, because of the famine, to fetch food, from thence; and this was displeasing to the Lord, and he sent the plague among them, which cut them off in the way:

your young men have I slain with the sword; of the enemy in battle; or as they were in the way to Egypt, being sent there to fetch food, but were intercepted by the enemy:

and have taken away your horses; on which they rode to Egypt on the above errand; or rather which they brought up from thence, contrary to the command of God:

and have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils; such numbers of their armies being slain, and these lying unburied, the smell of them was very noisome:

yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord; still they continued obstinate and impenitent; See Gill on Amo 4:6.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt - that is, after the way in which God had dealt with Egypt . God had twice promised, when the memory of the plagues which He sent on Egypt was still fresh “if thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God - I will put none of the diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians” Exo 15:26; Deu 7:15. Contrariwise, God had forewarned them in that same prophecy of Moses, that, if they disobeyed Him, “He will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt which thou was afraid of, and they shall cleave unto thee” (Deu 28:60, add Deu 28:27). Egypt was, at times, subject to great visitations of the plague ; it is said to be its birthplace . Palestine was by nature healthy. Hence, and on account of the terribleness of the scourge, God so often speaks of it, as of His own special sending. He had threatened in the law; “I will sold a pestilence upon you” Lev 26:25; “the Lord thy God will make the pestilence cleave unto you” Deu 28:21. Jeremiah says to the false prophet Hananiah; “The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries and against great kingdoms, of war and of evil and of pestilence” Jer 28:8. Amos bears witness that those visitations came. Jeremiah Jer 14:12; Jer 29:17-18; Jer 34:17 and Ezekiel (Eze 5:12; Eze 6:11, etc.) prophesied them anew, together with the sword and with famine. Israel, having sinned like Egypt, was to be punished like Egypt.

And have taken away your horses - Literally, as English margin. “with the captivity of your horses.” After famine, drought, locust, pestilence, followed that worst scourge of all, that through man. The possessions of the plain of Jezreel, so well suited for cavalry, probably induced israel to break in this respect the law of Moses. Hazael “left to Jehoahaz but 50 horsemen and 10 chariots and 10,000 footmen, for the king of Syria had destroyed them, and had made them like the dust by threshing.” Their armies, instead of being a defense, lay unburied on the ground, a fresh source of pestilence.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Egypt, as I published the Egyptians, (Calmet) or the Hebrews, when they came thence, and wished to return. (Chaldean; St. Cyril) --- Horses. I have deprived you of them, (Haydock) under Achab and Joachaz, 4 Kings vi. and xiii. --- Nostrils. Hazael slew many subjects of Jehu, 4 Kings x. 32. (Calmet) --- The stench of their carcasses and of the locusts caused death or the plague. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

I have sent; you have died of plague, but I commissioned the disease, I sent it, and it swept you away in such manner that any observant eye might have seen the hand of God against you in it, and might have read the commission.

The pestilence; arrow of God, that walketh in the dark, that wasteth at noon-day.

After the manner of Egypt; in which there was somewhat extraordinary, it swept away both men and beasts, say some; probably it was this disease which by the stroke of the angel seized the first-born in Egypt. Others interpret this with particular respect to the death of them in going down to seek aid of Egypt, or in their return from Egypt, as if the prophet minded them of many that died on the way to or from Egypt; but the phrase in the way is better rendered by our translators after the manner.

Your young men have I slain; God was their enemy, and slew their young men, the choice of their strength and hope.

With the sword; in war, and by their neighbouring enemies in Jehoahaz’s time, and Syrians since that too, 2Ki 13:3, and 2Ki 15; 2Ki 16, and 2Ki 17 compared.

Have taken away your horses; not by murrain, but by what was worse to you, by the hand of those who did ride them; and these being slain the horses were taken by the enemy, and added to their strength, and your danger.

I have made the stink of our camps to come up unto your nostrils; so great slaughter hath been made in your camp, that there were not sufficient to bury the slain before they stunk and offended you.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. Pestilence and war.

Pestilence — “What we should term an epidemic accompanied by great mortality.”

After the manner of Egypt — Of the many interpretations suggested the two most probable are, (1) with the severity with which the plagues fell upon Egypt at the time of the Exodus (compare Exo_15:26; Deu_7:15; Deu_28:60); and (2) with the severity with which pestilence is accustomed to visit Egypt. The latter interpretation sees no specific historical allusion in the phrase. Violent plagues were not infrequent in the Nile lands; it is said that “a violent plague used to occur formerly about once in ten or twelve years.” The Hebrew is literally in the way of Egypt, which has been interpreted also as equivalent to from Egypt, or, from the direction of Egypt, indicating not a comparison but the direction from which the pestilence came. It is a matter of history that the northeast corner of the Nile Delta, which is “in the way of Egypt,” has always been a nursery of epidemics (compare G.A. Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 157ff.).

Slain with the sword — In battle. War is thought to come from Jehovah (Amo_1:4; Amo_1:7, etc.).

Young men — The strength and flower of the nation. 2 Kings 9 ff. records how bloody the wars, and how great the losses during the century preceding the time of Amos.

Have taken away your horses — Literally, with the captivity of your horses, that is, with your captured horses, the words connecting with the verb “have slain” (2Ki_13:7). Since horses were scarce in Palestine, their destruction would be an additional calamity.

Stink — R.V., “stench.”

Camps — After the defeat (Isa_34:3). The slaughter was so great that the bodies of the dead soldiers and the carcasses of the beasts could not be buried; in a short time they filled the air with a sickening stench. LXX., “I caused your camp to go up in fire in my anger.” Again the effect was disappointing.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The fourth visitation is pestilence and the sword. (Deu_28:60) After the manner of Egypt. In the manner in which Egypt is stricken. (comp. Isa_10:24, Isa_10:26; Eze_20:30) There is here no reference to the plague of Exo_9:3, etc., or 12:29. The allusion is to the plague which was reckoned to be epidemic inEgypt, and to other loathsome diseases for which that country was notorious (see Deu_7:15 Deu_28:27, Deu_28:60) Sir G. Wilkinson notes that the plague used to occur about every ten years ("Handbook," p. 7). Your young men have I slain with the sword. Pestilence and wax are allied scourges in Lev_26:25. A reference may here be made to the wars with the Syrians, wherein the Israelites suffered heavy losses. (2Ki_6:25 2Ki_8:12 2Ki_13:3, 2Ki_13:7, 2Ki_13:22) And have taken away your horses; rather, together with your captive horses, still under the regimen of "I have slain." The destruction of men and horses is mentioned in 2Ki_13:7. The stink of your camps. These unburied caresses caused pestilence in the district. Septuagint, Kaigagon ejn puri tav parembolav ejn th ojrgh uJmwn, or, according to the Alexandrian manuscript, parembolav uJmwn ejn th ojrgh mou, "In my wrath against you I set fire to your camps."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Your horses - The riders being killed. The stink - So great slaughter hath been made in your camp that there were not sufficient to bury the slain.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

I sent a plague on you as on Egypt

"I sent a plague on you as I did on Egypt" or "I sent a plague on you as I sent plagues on Egypt"

I sent a plague on you

"I caused terrible things to happen to you"

I killed your young men with the sword

Here "the sword" represents battle. God killed them by sending enemies to fight against them. AT: "I made your enemies kill your men in battle" (See: Metonymy)

carried away your horses

God speaks of causing the enemies to steal their horses as if he carried the horses away. AT: "I made your enemies take away your horses" (See: Metonymy)

made the stench of your camp come up to your nostrils

A stench is a bad smell. The stench coming up to their nostrils represents them smelling something terrible. It can be stated clearly that the smell was from the dead bodies of those who were killed. AT: "I made you smell the terrible odor of the dead bodies in your camp" (See: Metonymy and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

You were like a burning stick snatched out of the fire

God speaks of those who survived the plague and war as if they were a burning stick that someone pulled out of a fire. AT: "Some of you survived, like a burning stick that someone pulls out of a fire" (See: Metaphor and Active or Passive)

you have not returned to me

Returning to God represents submitting again to him. See how you translated this in Amos 4:6. AT: "you have not submitted again to me" (See: Metaphor)

this is Yahweh's declaration

Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated these words in Amos 2:11. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)

translationWords

plague

Egypt

sword

horse

declare

Sodom

Gomorrah

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

after the manner of Egypt—Just as I sent upon you in the desert when you left Egypt.

with the captivity of your horses—For they slay the horses as well.

and I caused the stench of your camps to rise—The smell of your corpses would raise a stench, and I caused it to rise into your nostrils.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.