Amos 3:10

10 “They do not know how to do right,” declares the LORD, “who store up in their fortresses what they have plundered and looted.”

Amos 3:10 in Other Translations

KJV
10 For they know not to do right, saith the LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.
ESV
10 "They do not know how to do right," declares the LORD, "those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds."
NLT
10 “My people have forgotten how to do right,” says the LORD . “Their fortresses are filled with wealth taken by theft and violence.
MSG
10 They can't - or won't - do one thing right." God said so. "They stockpile violence and blight.
CSB
10 The people are incapable of doing right- the Lord's declaration- those who store up violence and destruction in their citadels.

Amos 3:10 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 3:10

For they know not to do right, saith the Lord
What is just and fight between man and man, no, not in one single instance; they did not regard it, or advert to it; they were under no concern about it; and were so much under the power of their lusts, that they knew not how to do it; and had used themselves so long to such wicked and unjust ways, that they had lost at least the practical knowledge of doing justice; they knew what was right in the theory, but not in the practice; bribes blinded their eyes; for this seems to design judges, civil magistrates, such who had the administration of justice and the execution Of the laws in their hands. The Targum is,

``they know not to execute the law;''
see ( Jeremiah 4:22 ) ; who store up violence and robbery in their palaces;
treasured up riches in their palaces, gotten in a violent way, by oppression and injustice; and which was no other, nor better, than robbery. This shows that persons in power and authority, that lived in palaces, in great splendour and grandeur, are here meant.

Amos 3:10 In-Context

8 The lion has roared— who will not fear? The Sovereign LORD has spoken— who can but prophesy?
9 Proclaim to the fortresses of Ashdod and to the fortresses of Egypt: “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria; see the great unrest within her and the oppression among her people.”
10 “They do not know how to do right,” declares the LORD, “who store up in their fortresses what they have plundered and looted.”
11 Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “An enemy will overrun your land, pull down your strongholds and plunder your fortresses.”
12 This is what the LORD says: “As a shepherd rescues from the lion’s mouth only two leg bones or a piece of an ear, so will the Israelites living in Samaria be rescued, with only the head of a bed and a piece of fabric from a couch. ”

Cross References 3

  • 1. Jeremiah 4:22; Amos 5:7; Amos 6:12
  • 2. Habakkuk 2:8
  • 3. S Psalms 36:3; Micah 6:10; Zephaniah 1:9
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