Amós 2:9

9 »Pero ante los ojos de mi pueblo
destruí a los amorreos,
aunque eran tan altos como cedros
y tan fuertes como robles.
Destruí el fruto de sus ramas
y arranqué sus raíces.

Amós 2:9 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 2:9

Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them
Here the Lord by the prophet reckons up the many favours and blessings he had bestowed upon Israel, which was an aggravation of their sins, and showed them to be guilty of great ingratitude, and a justification of him in his punishment of them he drove out the seven nations of Canaanites from before them, to make way for them, and destroyed them, of which the Amorite was a principal, and is here put for all the rest: whose height [was] like the height of the cedars;
being both tall of stature, and in great honour and dignity with the other nations, and in very opulent and flourishing circumstances: and he was strong as the oaks:
not only like the tall cedars of Lebanon for their height and largeness of stature, but like the sturdy oaks for the strength of their bodies, being of the race of the giants, ( Numbers 13:28 Numbers 13:32 Numbers 13:33 ) ( Deuteronomy 3:11 ) ; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath;
that is, utterly destroyed him, root and branch, so that nothing of him remained; still persisting in the metaphor of a tree. Jarchi interprets it of their superior and inferior princes; but it seems best to understand it of children with their parents, the one being the fruit, the other the root; and, both being destroyed, there must be utter ruin.

Amós 2:9 In-Context

7 Pisotean en el polvo a los indefensos
y quitan a los oprimidos del camino.
Tanto el padre como el hijo se acuestan con la misma mujer
y así profanan mi santo nombre.

8 En sus festivales religiosos
están a sus anchas usando la ropa que sus deudores dejaron en garantía.
En la casa de sus dioses
beben vino comprado con dinero de multas injustas.

9 »Pero ante los ojos de mi pueblo
destruí a los amorreos,
aunque eran tan altos como cedros
y tan fuertes como robles.
Destruí el fruto de sus ramas
y arranqué sus raíces.

10 Fui yo quien los rescató a ustedes de Egipto
y los guió por el desierto durante cuarenta años
para que pudieran poseer la tierra de los amorreos.

11 Elegí a algunos de sus hijos para ser profetas
y a otros para ser nazareos.
¿Acaso puedes negar esto, Israel, pueblo mío?
—pregunta el Señor
—.