Amos 2:1-12

1 Thus saith the Lord; For three sins of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away from it; because they burnt the bones of the king of Idumea to lime.
2 But I will send forth a fire on Moab, and it shall devour the foundations of its cities: and Moab shall perish in weakness, with a shout, and with the sound of a trumpet.
3 And I will destroy the judge out of her, and slay all her princes with him, saith the Lord.
4 Thus saith the Lord; For three sins of the children of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away from him; because they have rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept his ordinances, and their vain which they made, which their fathers followed, caused them to err.
5 And I will send a fire on Juda, and it shall devour the foundations of Jerusalem.
6 Thus saith the Lord; for three sins of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away from him; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for sandals,
7 wherewith to tread on the dust of the earth, and they have smitten upon the heads of the poor, and have perverted the way of the lowly: and a son and his father have gone into the same maid, that they might profane the name of their God.
8 And binding their clothes with cords they have made them curtains near the altar, and they have drunk wine gained by extortion in the house of their God.
9 Nevertheless I cut off the Amorite from before them, whose height was as the height of a cedar, and he was strong as an oak; and I dried up his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
10 And I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you about in the desert forty years, that ye should inherit the land of the Amorites.
11 And I took of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for consecration. Are not these things so, ye sons of Israel? saith the Lord.
12 But ye gave the consecrated ones wine to drink; and ye commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.

Amos 2:1-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO AMOS 2

In this chapter the prophet foretells the calamities that should come upon the Moabites for their transgressions, Am 2:1-3; and the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem for their iniquities, Am 2:4,5; also the judgments of God that should come upon Israel the ten tribes for their sins, which sins are enumerated; their oppression of the poor, their lewdness and idolatry, Am 2:6-8; and which are aggravated by the blessings of goodness bestowed upon them, both temporal and spiritual, Am 2:9-12; wherefore they are threatened with ruin, which would be inevitable, notwithstanding their swiftness, strength, and courage, and their skill in shooting arrows, and riding horses, Am 2:13-16.

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.