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Amos 2

KJV · Chapter 2/9

1Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime:

2But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet:

3And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the Lord.

4Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the Lord, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked:

5But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

6Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;

7That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name:

8And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.

9Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.

10Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.

11And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the Lord.

12But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.

13Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.

14Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself:

15Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself.

16And he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the Lord.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Amos goes on to condemn Moab and finally Judah, before turning his harshest judgment on Israel, accused of selling the poor, exploiting the needy, and silencing prophets and Nazirites.

Explanation

The strategic turn comes here: after condemning six foreign nations, Amos includes Judah (for rejecting the law of the LORD) and then Israel — the true audience of the sermon. The charges against Israel are far more detailed: economic exploitation of the poor, injustice in the courts, sexual immorality disguised as religion, and even silencing the few who tried to live a consecrated life (the Nazirites). The paradox is severe: the very people God rescued from Egypt and led for forty years now oppress the weakest among their own nation. The lesson for today: spiritual privileges received in the past do not exempt anyone from present responsibility for social justice.

Fun facts

  • The Nazirites (v. 11-12) were people who took a special vow of consecration to God, including abstaining from wine (Numbers 6) — Israel corrupted them by offering them wine to drink, and silenced the prophets, showing active hostility toward authentic spiritual life.
  • 'They sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes' (v. 6) describes judicial corruption: bribes as small as the price of a pair of sandals were enough to unjustly condemn the poor in court.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Amos 2:1Burning a king’s bones until they turned to lime was an extreme act of desecration, denying the dead even the right to his own grave; Moab is accused of this kind of disproportionate revenge against an already-dead king.
  2. Amos 2:2The same pattern of fire falls on Moab, accused in the previous verse of desecrating the bones of the king of Edom until they turned to lime.
  3. Amos 2:3Concludes the oracle against Moab, wiping out the country’s entire political leadership — judge and princes killed together.
  4. Amos 2:4The sequence of oracles against the neighboring nations finally reaches Judah — unlike the others, the accusation here is religious: rejecting the law of the Lord.
  5. Amos 2:5The same pattern of fire falls on Judah, including its own capital, Jerusalem, closing the circle of judged nations before Amos turns his aim to Israel.
  6. Amos 2:6Selling “the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes” describes small debts being used as an excuse to enslave poor people — social injustice becomes the central sin Amos hammers against Israel.
  7. Amos 2:7Images of extreme oppression of the poor, and a father and son sexually exploiting the same woman, probably in prostitution linked to pagan cults.
  8. Amos 2:8Clothes taken as pledges were supposed to be returned by night, according to the law (Exodus 22); here they become a rug to lie on next to the altar, and the wine they drink comes from the fines charged to the poor — abuse disguised as religion.
  9. Amos 2:9God recalls that he completely destroyed the Amorites, a people as strong as cedars, to give the land to Israel — a historical favor the people have forgotten.
  10. Amos 2:10Recalls the Exodus and the forty years in the wilderness as part of the same historical care from God, now ignored by the people.
  11. Amos 2:11God recalls that he also raised up prophets and Nazirites (people under a special vow of dedication) from within the people themselves — another sign of care that was rejected.
  12. Amos 2:12Nazirites were people who made a special vow not to drink wine (Numbers 6); deliberately giving them wine, and also telling the prophets to be silent, shows a people attacking the very few examples of faithfulness it had.
  13. Amos 2:13The image of an ox cart so full of sheaves that it creaks and sinks into the ground — this is how God is going to “press” the people under the weight of judgment.
  14. Amos 2:14Not even the fastest, the strongest, or the bravest will manage to escape the announced judgment.
  15. Amos 2:15The list continues: not archers, not runners, not horsemen will be saved — no military skill will help.
  16. Amos 2:16Even the bravest soldier will flee with nothing, dropping weapons and clothes, pure panic on the day of punishment.

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