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Amos 2

Punishment for Moab's People

1 This is what the Lord says: 'I will certainly punish the people in Moab for their many sins.

I will do that because they burned the king of Edom's bones. These bones became ashes.

2 Therefore I will start a fire in Moab. And that fire will destroy the strong places in Kerioth.

The people in Moab will die in the noisy battle.

They will die while soldiers are shouting and trumpets are sounding.

3 I will kill Moab's ruler.

I will kill all her leaders with him.'

The Lord says these things.

Verse 1 In ancient times people thought that it was necessary to bury someone properly. It was not good to burn their bones. God wanted the people in Moab to show respect to the king's body.

Verse 2 So God would punish Moab's people. He would destroy all their cities. Kerioth was an important place for a false religion, and the Moabites worshipped the god Chemosh there.

Verse 3 But God would make sure that the Moabites' leaders would die.

Punishment for Judah's People

4 This is what the Lord says: 'I will certainly punish the people in Judah for their many sins.

I will do this because they refused to obey the Lord's commands.

They did not keep his commands.

Their false gods have led them into wrong ways.

Their ancestors also followed these false gods.

5 So I will start a fire in Judah.

And that fire will burn the strong places in Jerusalem.

Verse 4 Amos now turns his attention to Judah. Judah is different from the other nations. The other nations have broken the general law, which is for all people. But Judah has broken the special law, which is for God's people. This is a more serious crime. Judah's ancestors have taken them in a wrong direction. However, this is not an excuse now for the people in Judah. They are more and more guilty (Psalm 51:3-5; Matthew 23:31-36).

Verse 5 Judah is not different from the other people. Their punishment will be the same as the punishment of Aram, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon and Moab.

God's Judgement on Israel's People

6 This is what the Lord says: 'I will certainly punish Israel's people for their many sins.

I will do this because they sold good, innocent people for silver.

They sold poor people for the price of a pair of shoes.

7 It was as if they pushed those poor people's faces into the ground.

And then they walked on them.

They have stopped listening to people who suffer.

A father and son have sex with the same woman.

They have ruined my holy name.

8 They take clothes from the people who owe money to them.

Then they sit on these clothes while they worship at their altars.

They make people pay fines for things that they have done wrong,

Then they spend that money to drink wine in the house of their god.

9 But I killed all the Amorites in front of them.

The Amorites were tall like cedar trees.

They were as strong as oak trees.

But I destroyed their fruit above and their roots below.

10 I brought you up out of Egypt.

I led you for 40 years in the desert.

I gave you the land of the Amorites.

11 I made some of your sons to be prophets.

I made some of your young men to be Nazirites.

People in Israel, this is true.' The Lord says these things.

12 'But you made the Nazirites drink wine.

You told the prophets not to prophesy.'

Verse 6 Israel will be glad to hear about the punishment of foreign nations. But soon they will have a shock. God does is not only the judge for foreign nations. He wants to punish Israel too. Israel's people were selling innocent people as slaves. These innocent people had not broken any laws. Powerful people sold innocent people for very low prices -- the price of shoes. It was legal to sell slaves (Exodus 21:2-11, 20-21, 26-27). However, the courts helped the rich people. The courts made it easy for rich people to get slaves.

Verse 7 The duty of kings was to protect the innocent people. But they failed. Perhaps verse 7b refers to a female slave. More likely, it refers to any woman. However, God says that sex without marriage is wrong (Leviticus 20:7-20).

Verse 8 Rich people were robbing the poor people! God hates this. Poor people often needed money. They gave their clothes to rich people, who gave them a loan for the clothes. The rich people sat on these clothes while they worshipped God. God's law did not allow a person to keep another person's coat at night (Exodus 22:26-27; Deuteronomy 24:12-13). The night was cold in Israel. The poor people needed these clothes then. Amos also suggests that the rich people made the poor people pay large fines. A fine is a sum of money that a person must pay as a punishment. This was when they could not pay the debt. Then these rich people used the money to drink too much wine. Nehemiah later protected the poor people against these things (Nehemiah 5:1-12).

Verse 9 The Amorites lived in Canaan before the Israelites defeated them in battle. They were a strong people but this did not help them. Oaks and cedars are types of trees.

Verse 10 God rescued the Israelites from the Egyptians. He led them during difficult times in the desert.

Verses 11, 12 However, the Israelites later enjoyed freedom when Jeroboam 2nd was king (2 Kings 14:25-28). They became wealthy. But they encouraged the Nazirites to break their promises. The Nazirites were a group of people who had made special promises to God. Some of these promises were:

  • not to cut their hair,
  • not to drink wine,
  • not to touch dead people or things.

Samson and Samuel were Nazirites. The kings also told the prophets not to speak for God. The kings did not want to hear what God said.

13 'I am going to press you down into the ground.

You will be like a cart that is very heavy with grain.

14 No person will escape -- not even a fast runner.

Strong men will not be strong enough.

Soldiers will not be able to save themselves.

15 People with bows will not live.

Fast runners will not escape.

People on horses will not escape alive.

16 Even brave soldiers will run away naked at that time.'

The Lord says these things.

Verses 13-16 Amos uses pictures to send a message to the people in Israel. They will be like a heavy cart on very wet ground. They will not be able to get away from God's judgement. Or perhaps the verse means that God will drag a cart over ripe grain. This will be a sign of judgement.

Verses 14-15 No-one can expect to escape. Powerful people will become weak. People with bows will not be accurate. Instead of attacking, soldiers will run away in war.

Verse 16 There will be confusion. 'Naked' here probably means very few clothes. The soldiers will die even when they run away.