Amos 2:13

13 See, I am crushing you down, as one is crushed under a cart full of grain.

Amos 2:13 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 2:13

Behold, I are pressed under you
With the weight of their sins, with which they had made him to serve, and had wearied him; his patience was quite wore out, he could bear them no longer: as a cart is pressed [that is] full of sheaves;
as a cart in harvest time, in which the sheaves of corn are carried home; when one sheaf is laid upon another, till they can lay no more, and the cart is loaded and overloaded with them, and ready to break, or be pressed into the earth with them: thus. Jehovah represents himself as loaded and burdened with the sins of these people, and therefore would visit for them, and inflict deserved punishment. Some render it actively, "behold, I press" F26, or "am about to press your place, as a cart full of sheaves presseth" F1; the horse or horses which draw it, especially the last; or the ground it goes upon; or as a cart stuck with iron spikes, and loaded with stones, being drawn over a corn floor, presses the full sheaves, and beats out the grain, which was their way of pressing it: so the Lord signifies he would afflict and distress this people, bring them into strait circumstances, by a close siege, and other judgments, which should ruin and destroy them; and which was first begun by Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and finished by Shalmaneser, who carried away the ten tribes captive. So the Targum,

``behold, I bring distress upon you, and it shall straiten you in your place, as a cart is straitened which is loaded with sheaves.''

FOOTNOTES:

F26 (qyem) "angustabo", Vatablus; "coarctans", Montanus; "arcto", Mercerus; "premo, coarctabo, angustiis afficiam", Drusius; "pressurus sum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Tarnovius; "arctaturus sum", Liveleus.
F1 (qyet) "coarctares", Montanus; "premit", Junius & Tremellius; Piscator, Tarnovius.

Amos 2:13 In-Context

11 And some of your sons I made prophets, and some of your young men I made separate for myself. Is it not even so, O children of Israel? says the Lord.
12 But to those who were separate you gave wine for drink; and to the prophets you said, Be prophets no longer.
13 See, I am crushing you down, as one is crushed under a cart full of grain.
14 And flight will be impossible for the quick-footed, and the force of the strong will become feeble, and the man of war will not get away safely:
15 And the bowman will not keep his place; he who is quick-footed will not get away safely: and the horseman will not keep his life.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.