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.
Thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Moab, And for four, I do not reverse it, Because of his burning the bones of the king of Edom to lime,
And I have sent a fire against Moab, And it hath consumed the palaces of Kerioth, And dying with noise is Moab, With shouting, with voice of a trumpet.
And I have cut off a judge from her midst, And all its heads I slay with him, said Jehovah.
Thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Judah, And for four, I do not reserve it, Because of their loathing the law of Jehovah, And His statutes they have not kept, And their lies do cause them to err, After which their fathers did walk,
And I have sent a fire against Judah, And it hath consumed palaces of Jerusalem.
Thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, And for four, I do not reverse it, Because of their selling for silver the righteous, And the needy for a pair of sandals.
Who are panting for the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, And the way of the humble they turn aside, And a man and his father go unto the damsel, So as to pollute My holy name.
And on pledged garments they stretch themselves near every altar, And the wine of fined ones they drink `in' the house of their gods.
And I -- I have destroyed the Amorite from before them, Whose height `is' as the height of cedars, And strong he `is' as the oaks, And I destroy his fruit from above, And his roots from beneath.
And I -- I have brought you up from the land of Egypt, And cause you to go in a wilderness forty years, To possess the land of the Amorite.
And I raise of your sons for prophets, And of your choice ones for Nazarites, Is not this true, O sons of Israel? An affirmation of Jehovah.
And ye cause the Nazarites to drink wine, And on the prophets ye have laid a charge, Saying, `Do not prophecy!'
Lo, I am pressing you under, As the full cart doth press for itself a sheaf.
And perished hath refuge from the swift, And the strong strengtheneth not his power, And the mighty delivereth not his soul.
And the handler of the bow standeth not, And the swift with his feet delivereth not `himself', And the rider of the horse delivereth not his soul.
And the courageous of heart among the mighty, Naked doth flee in that day, An affirmation of Jehovah!