Amos Chapter 2 – Judgment on Moab, Judah, and Israel
Three nations, one indictment: God's judgment moves from Moab to Judah to Israel.
Amos 2 continues the sequence of judgment oracles from Amos 1, moving from Moab's cruelty against Edom's king to Judah's rejection of the law before landing hardest on Israel's exploitation of the poor and profaning of God's name.
This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Moab, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he burned to lime the bones of Edom’s king.
So I will send fire against Moab to consume the citadels of Kerioth. Moab will die in tumult, amid war cries and the sound of the ram’s horn.
I will cut off the ruler of Moab and kill all the officials with him,” says the LORD.
This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Judah, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they reject the Law of the LORD and fail to keep His statutes; they are led astray by the lies in which their fathers walked.
So I will send fire upon Judah to consume the citadels of Jerusalem.”
This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Israel, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.
They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the earth; they push the needy out of their way. A man and his father have relations with the same girl and so profane My holy name.
They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. And in the house of their God, they drink wine obtained through fines.
Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, though his height was like that of the cedars, and he was as strong as the oaks. Yet I destroyed his fruit above and his roots below.
And I brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness, that you might take possession of the land of the Amorite.
I raised up prophets from your sons and Nazirites from your young men. Is this not true, O children of Israel?” declares the LORD.
“But you made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.
Behold, I am about to crush you in your place as with a cart full of grain.
Escape will fail the swift, the strong will not prevail by his strength, and the mighty will not save his life.
The archer will not stand his ground, the fleet of foot will not escape, and the horseman will not save his life.
Even the bravest of mighty men will flee naked on that day,” declares the LORD.