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2 [1] **So said the Lord: For three transgressions of Moav **I will not dispense punishment,** but for the fourth, I will not relent: For his burning the bones of the king of Edom **to such an extent that they turned **into **a substance similar to** lime. **This is likely referring to the war of Israel, Judah, and Edom against Moav. According to some commentaries, the king of Moav took the son of the king of Edom captive and slaughtered him on top of a wall. The king of Moav might have subsequently burnt his corpse, which would be the fourth severe sin, as the mistreatment of corpses is considered a terrible abomination.
[2] **I will send a fire in Moav and it will consume the palaces, **the large cities,** of Keriyot; and Moav will die in tumult, with alarm blasts and with the sound of the shofar, **the noise of war. The nation of Moav will not be destroyed slowly; rather, it will collapse amid mayhem and confusion.** **
[3] **I will eliminate the judge, **the leader of the nation,** from its midst, and I will kill all its princes with him, said the Lord. **
[4] The prophet turns his attention to the children of Israel. **So said the Lord: For three transgressions of Judah **I will not dispense punishment,** but for the fourth, I will not relent: For their despising the Torah of the Lord and not observing His statutes; their lies that their fathers followed misled them. **Their most severe sin was that after initially accepting the Torah they subsequently abandoned it for various forms of idolatry.
[5] **I will send a fire in Judah and it will consume the palaces of Jerusalem. **
[6] Amos begins the primary portion of this prophecy, which deals with Samaria and the Kingdom of Israel. **So said the Lord: For three transgressions of **the Kingdom of** Israel **I will not dispense punishment,** but for the fourth, I will not relent: For their sale of the righteous for silver and the indigent for a pair of shoes, **an insignificant profit. They pervert justice and betray the innocent, vindicating the guilty in exchange for bribes. The latter phrase of the verse is also interpreted by the Sages as a reference to the sale of Joseph.
[7] **They tread on the dust of the earth;** they trample and** **step** on the head of the impoverished. **The powerful members of society crush the lowly without concern, like dust. **And **they** divert the way of the humble, **as they force the poor and righteous to act improperly themselves, or to hide. **A man and his father go to the same young woman **for the purpose of licentiousness,** in order to profane My holy name. **This act jointly committed by father and son is indicative of the loss of shame on their part. This is not merely submission to one’s desires, but a demonstration of moral indifference, as if all boundaries of acceptable conduct can be breached with impunity. Such an act profanes the name of God.** **
[8] **They recline **to eat** on pawned garments, **taken as security for a loan and not returned to their owners;** beside every altar, and the wine of the penalized, they, **the leaders,** drink in the house of their gods. **Such wine was purchased with money obtained from fines and other arbitrary charges. These are small-scale acts of theft, but they involve corruption, lowliness, evil character traits, and a desecration of God’s name.
[9] When the Israelites entered the Land of Israel **I destroyed the **mighty** Emorite **kings** from before them, whose height was like the height of cedars and who was strong as the oaks. **The Emorites were renowned for their exceptional height and strength, and yet** I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from below, **all** **for your sake.
[10] **I took you up from the land of Egypt and led you in the wilderness forty years **under My protection,** to take possession of the land of the Emorites. **
[11] Not only did I provide you with physical blessings, but** I raised up prophets from your sons, **by endowing certain individuals with the necessary skills to become prophets, or students of prophets,** and **I established **Nazirites,** spiritual guides and role models,** from your young men.** **Is this not so; **is that not the case,** children of Israel? **This is **the utterance of the Lord. **
[12] But** you **were ungrateful for My gifts, and** **forcefully** gave the Nazirites wine to drink, **thereby causing them to violate their naziriteship;** and **you** commanded the prophets, saying: Do not prophesy. **Rather than considering prophecy a gift from God and accepting it with love and gratitude, you defiantly rejected the statements of the prophets.
[13] Therefore, **behold, I will overburden you in your place, **as I will** **press My hand down upon you until you bend,** like a cart that is full of sheaves is overburdened **and bends** **from the weight of the load.
[14] **Flight will elude the swift, **and they will be unable to flee;** the strong will not exert his strength **to defend himself, as the enemy will be too powerful, **and the valiant will not save himself. **
[15] **The archer will not stand. **In addition to the small bows used by archers from within their chariots, other archers shot their weapons from a distance. At the time of their defeat, the archers will flee, but even **the swift of foot will not escape, and the rider of the horse will not **be able to** save himself, **despite the swiftness of his horse.
[16] **The courageous of heart among the valiant, **who go out to battle with armor and heavy weaponry,** will flee naked on that day;** they will discard all items that might impair their movement and prevent them from fleeing as fast as possible.** **All will run for their lives; many will be killed. Israel will suffer this total and shameful defeat as punishment for their conduct, which involved injustice, licentiousness, and widespread idolatry. This is **the utterance of the Lord. **
Version: The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
Source: https://korenpub.com/collections/the-steinsaltz-tanakh/products/steinsaltz-tanakh
License: Copyright: Steinsaltz Center