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:
The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces. 6:8
Trivia: In Amos 9, what did God say would happen to people who fled from him to the bottom of the sea?
2:1-3
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:
This is what God says,
I'll punish Moab for three or four things. [1]
For burning the bones of the king of Edom.
2 But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kirioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet:
I'll set a fire in Moab.
3 And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the LORD.
I'll cut off the judge and kill all the princes.
2:4-5
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:
This is what God says,
I'll punish Judah for three or four things. [1]
5 But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.
I'll set a fire in Judah and it will burn the palaces in Jerusalem.
2:6-16
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;
This is what God says,
I'll punish Israel for three or four things. [2]
Because they sold righteous people for silver,
and poor people or a pair of shoes.
7 That 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:
8 And 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.
And a man and his father will have sex with the same young woman, to profane my holy name.
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.
10 Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.
11 And 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.
12 But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.
13 Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.
14 Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself:
15 Neither 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.
Yet I killed Amorites for them, who were taller than cedars and as strong as oaks. [3]
16 And he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the LORD.
On that day, whoever is courageous among the mighty will run away naked.
For three transgressions of Judah, and for four ... I will send a fire upon Judah. (v.4-5)
God will set fires to Moab and Judah for three or four things.
God says he'll punish Israel for the usual three or four things, but this time he doesn't threaten set a fire to burn them. He doesn't say what the punishment will be, but one of the things he's punishing them for is that a man and his son had sex with a young woman. Good to know.
God killed the Amorite giants, who were as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks. (Deuteronomy 2:20-21)
