Amos 2.1-16 tells us about the judgments that will come upon Moab, Judah, and Israel for their sins.
v 1…Thus says the Lord, “For three transgressions of Moab (seed of the father) and for four (idiom meaning numerous transgressions) I will not revoke (withdraw its punishment), because he burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime (as a show of contempt-2 Kings 3.25-27).
v 2…So I will send fire (judgment by Babylon) on Moab, and it will consume the citadel of Kerioth (the capital in the Arnon Valley); and Moab will die amid tumult (by Babylon), with war cries and the sound of a trumpet.
v 3…I will also cut off the judge (a term for a king in a rhetorical fashion) from her midst, and slay all her princes with him” says the Lord.
v 4…This says the Lord (Yehovah), “For three transgressions of Judah and for four (idiom for numerous transgressions) I will not revoke (withdraw its punishment) because they rejected the law (Torah) of the Lord and have not kept his statutes (chukim); their lies (false teaching, idols, etc) also have led them astray, those after which their fathers walked (this had been going on for generations, not new).
v 5…So I will send fire (judgment by Babylon) upon Judah and it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem.
v 6…Thus says the Lord (Yehovah), “For three transgressions of Israel and for four (idiom for numerous transgressions) I will not revoke (withdraw its punishment), because they sell the righteous for money and the needy for a pair of sandals (deprived the poor of justice through bribery).
v 7…These who pant after the very dust of the earth on the head of the helpless (trampling the poor into dust to humble them, to prostrate them in submission) also turn aside the way of the humble (by declining them justice, to pervert it); and a man and his father resort to the same girl (same harlot) in order to profane my holy name (it has a kedusha; this was done on purpose with intentional contempt for Yehovah).
v 8…And on garments taken as pledges they stretch out beside every altar (to sit on at their pagan altars; you can’t use pledged things and they must be returned at night to the poor to keep warm-Exo 22.26; Deut 24.12-13), and in the house of their God they drink wine of those who have been fined (unjustly by oppression).
v 9…Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them (by Joshua-Num 21.24; Deut 2.31), though his height was like the height of cedars and he was strong as the oaks (powerful people); I even destroyed his fruit above and his roots below (like a mighty tree, Yehovah cut the whole nation down).
v 10…And it was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt, and I led you in the wilderness forty years that you might take possession of the land of the Amorite (Yehovah is reminding them of so many benefits).
v 11…Then I raised up some of your sons to be prophets and some of your young men to be Nazarites (both of these functions were acts of “chesed” or grace, which no other nation had. It was an example of being a people with a kedusha to God). Is this not so, sons of Israel?” declares the Lord (can you deny it).
v 12…But you made the Nazarites drink wine (contrary to their vow, to make them drink by persuasion or forced them to do it), and you commanded the prophets saying, ‘You shall not prophesy (of judgment and vengeance, but only positive things. It seems this was said by people in authority)!”
v 13…Behold (take note and see), I am weighed down beneath you (grieved by the weight of their sins) as a wagon is weighed down when filled with sheaves (at harvest time).
v 14…Flight will perish from the swift (no time or place to go), and the stalwart (strong) will not strengthen his power (muster up enough strength to defend himself), nor the mighty man saves his life (deliver himself).
v 15…He who grasps the bow will not stand (at a distance to shoot his arrows because he will not feel safe), the swift of foot will not escape (this is repeated to break the confidence of any who think they can), nor will he who rides the horse save his life (no escape can be devised to avoid the coming disaster).
v 16…Even the bravest among the warriors will flee naked in that day (threw away his armor and clothes because they slowed him down),” declares the Lord.
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