Amos 2

8. lay themselves . . . upon clothes laid to pledge--the outer garment, which Exodus 22:25-27 ordered to be restored to the poor man before sunset, as being his only covering. It aggravated the crime that they lay on these clothes in an idol temple.
by every altar--They partook in a recumbent posture of their idolatrous feasts; the ancients being in the habit of reclining at full length in eating, the upper part of the body resting on the left elbow, not sitting as we do.
drink . . . wine of the condemned--that is, wine bought with the money of those whom they unjustly fined.

9. Yet--My former benefits to you heighten your ingratitude.
the Amorite--the most powerful of all the Canaanite nations, and therefore put for them all ( Genesis 15:16 , 48:22 , Deuteronomy 1:20 , Joshua 7:7 ).
height . . . like . . . cedars--( Numbers 13:32 Numbers 13:33 ).
destroyed his fruit . . . above . . . roots . . . beneath--that is, destroyed him utterly ( Job 18:16 , Ezekiel 17:9 , Malachi 4:1 ).

10. brought you up from . . . Egypt--"brought up" is the phrase, as Egypt was low and flat, and Canaan hilly.
to possess the land of the Amorite--The Amorites strictly occupied both sides of the Jordan and the mountains afterward possessed by Judah; but they here, as in Amos 2:9 , stand for all the Canaanites. God kept Israel forty years in the wilderness, which tended to discipline them in His statutes, so as to be the better fitted for entering on the possession of Canaan.

11. Additional obligations under which Israel lay to God; the prophets and Nazarites, appointed by Him, to furnish religious instruction and examples of holy self-restraint.
of your young men--It was a specimen of Israel's highly favored state, that, of the class most addicted to pleasures, God chose those who by a solemn vow bound themselves to abstinence from all produce of the vine, and from all ceremonial and moral defilement. The Nazarite was not to shave ( Numbers 6:2 , &c.). God left nothing undone to secure the purity of their worship and their faithfulness to it ( Lamentations 4:7 ). The same comes from a Hebrew root, nazar, "to set apart." Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist were Nazarites.
Is it not even thus--Will any of you dare to deny it is so?

12. Ye so despised these My favors, as to tempt the Nazarite to break his vow; and forbade the prophets prophesying ( Isaiah 30:10 ). So Amaziah forbade Amos ( Amos 7:12 Amos 7:13 Amos 7:14 ).

13. I am pressed under you--so CALVIN (Compare Isaiah 1:14 ). The Margin translates actively, "I will depress your place," that is, "I will make it narrow," a metaphor for afflicting a people; the opposite of enlarging, that is, relieving ( Psalms 4:1 , Proverbs 4:12 ). MAURER translates, "I will press you down" (not as Margin, "your place"; so the Hebrew, Job 40:12 ; or Amos 2:7 in Hebrew text). Amos, as a shepherd, appropriately draws his similes from rustic scenes.

14. flight shall perish from . . . swift--Even the swift shall not be able to escape.
strong shall not strengthen his force--that is, shall not be able to use his strength.
himself--literally, "his life."

16. flee . . . naked--If any escape, it must be with the loss of accoutrements, and all that would impede rapid flight. They must be content with saving their life alone.