Amos 2:9

9 Forsooth I destroyed Amorite from the face of them, whose highness was the highness of cedars, and he was strong as an oak; and I all-brake the fruit of him above, and the roots of him beneath. (And I destroyed the Amorites before them, who were as tall as cedars, and were as strong as oaks; and I altogether broke their fruit above, and their roots below.)

Amos 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.

Amos 2:9 In-Context

7 Which all-foul the heads of poor men on the dust of [the] earth, and bow away the way of meek men; and the son and his father went to a damsel, that they should defoul mine holy name. (Who push down the heads of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the meek out of their way; and the son and his father went after the same young woman, and in doing so, they defile my holy name.)

8 And they ate on clothes laid to wed beside each altar, and drank the wine of condemned men in the house of their God. (And they lie down beside each altar, on clothes taken as a pledge from the poor, and drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their gods.)

9 Forsooth I destroyed Amorite from the face of them, whose highness was the highness of cedars, and he was strong as an oak; and I all-brake the fruit of him above, and the roots of him beneath. (And I destroyed the Amorites before them, who were as tall as cedars, and were as strong as oaks; and I altogether broke their fruit above, and their roots below.)

10 I am, that made you to go up from the land of Egypt, and led you out in desert by forty years, that ye should wield the land of (the) Amorite. (I am he, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you through the wilderness for forty years, so that ye could possess the land of the Amorites.)

11 And I raised of your sons into prophets, and (into) Nazarites of your young men. Whether it is not so, ye sons of Israel? saith the Lord. (And I raised up prophets from among your sons, and Nazarites from out of your young men. Is that not so, ye Israelites? saith the Lord.)