Amós 2:9

9 Contudo eu destruí o amorreu diante deles, a altura do qual era como a dos cedros, e cuja força era como a dos carvalhos; mas destruí o seu fruto por cima, e as suas raízes por baixo.

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 Pisam a cabeça dos pobres no pó da terra, pervertem o caminho dos mansos; um homem e seu pai entram � mesma moça, assim profanando o meu santo nome.

8 Também se deitam junto a qualquer altar sobre roupas empenhadas, e na casa de seu Deus bebem o vinho dos que têm sido multados.

9 Contudo eu destruí o amorreu diante deles, a altura do qual era como a dos cedros, e cuja força era como a dos carvalhos; mas destruí o seu fruto por cima, e as suas raízes por baixo.

10 Outrossim vos fiz subir da terra do Egito, e quarenta anos vos guiei no deserto, para que possuísseis a terra do amorreu.

11 E dentre vossos filhos suscitei profetas, e dentre os vossos mancebos, nazireus. Acaso não é isso assim, filhos de Israel? diz o Senhor.