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Thus says the L ord:

For three transgressions of Moab,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;

because he burned to lime

the bones of the king of Edom.

So I will send a fire on Moab,

and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth,

and Moab shall die amid uproar,

amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet;

I will cut off the ruler from its midst,

and will kill all its officials with him,

says the L ord.

Judgment on Judah

Thus says the L ord:

For three transgressions of Judah,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;

because they have rejected the law of the L ord,

and have not kept his statutes,

but they have been led astray by the same lies

after which their ancestors walked.

So I will send a fire on Judah,

and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.

Judgment on Israel

Thus says the L ord:

For three transgressions of Israel,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;

because they sell the righteous for silver,

and the needy for a pair of sandals—

they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth,

and push the afflicted out of the way;

father and son go in to the same girl,

so that my holy name is profaned;

they lay themselves down beside every altar

on garments taken in pledge;

and in the house of their God they drink

wine bought with fines they imposed.

Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them,

whose height was like the height of cedars,

and who was as strong as oaks;

I destroyed his fruit above,

and his roots beneath.

Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt,

and led you forty years in the wilderness,

to possess the land of the Amorite.

And I raised up some of your children to be prophets

and some of your youths to be nazirites.

Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel?

says the L ord.

But you made the nazirites drink wine,

and commanded the prophets,

saying, “You shall not prophesy.”

So, I will press you down in your place,

just as a cart presses down

when it is full of sheaves.

Flight shall perish from the swift,

and the strong shall not retain their strength,

nor shall the mighty save their lives;

those who handle the bow shall not stand,

and those who are swift of foot shall not save themselves,

nor shall those who ride horses save their lives;

and those who are stout of heart among the mighty

shall flee away naked in that day,

says the L ord.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Now Amos prophesies here against the Moabites, and proclaims respecting them what we have noticed respecting the other nations, — that the Moabites were wholly perverse, that no repentance would be hoped for, as they had added crimes to crimes, and reached the highest pitch of wickedness; for, as we have said, the number, seven, imports this. The Prophet then charges the Moabites here with perverseness: and hence we learn that God’s vengeance did not come hastily upon them, for their wickedness was intolerable since they thus followed their crimes. But he mentions one thing in particular, — that they had burnt the bones of the king of Edom.

Some take bones here for courage, as though the Prophet had said, that the whole strength of Edom had been reduced into ashes: but this is a strained exposition; and its authors themselves confess that they are forced to it by necessity, when yet there is none. The comment given by the Rabbis does not please them, — that the body of a certain king had been burnt, and then that the Moabites had strangely applied the ashes for making a cement instead of lime. Thus the Rabbis trifle in their usual way; for when an obscure place occurs, they immediately invent some fable; though there be no history, yet they exercise their wit in fabulous glosses; and this I wholly dislike: but what need there is of running to allegory, when we may simply take what the Prophet says, that the body of the king of Edom had been burnt: for the Prophet, I doubt not, charges the Moabites with barbarous cruelty. To dig up the bodies of enemies, and to burn their bones, — this is an inhuman deed, and wholly barbarous. But it was more detestable in the Moabites, who had some connection with the people of Edom; for they descended from the same family; and the memory of that relationship ought to have continued, since Abraham brought up Lot, the father of the Moabites; and thus the Moabites were under an obligation to the Idumeans. If then any humanity existed in them, they ought to have restrained their passions, so as not to treat so cruelly their brethren. Now, when they exceeded all moderation in war, and raged against dead bodies, and burnt the bones of the dead, it was, as I have said, an extremely barbarous conduct. The meaning then is, that the Moabites could no longer be borne with; for in this one instance, they gave an example of savage cruelty. Had there been a drop of humanity in them, they would have treated more kindly their brethren, the Idumeans; but they burnt into lime, that is, into ashes, the bones of the king of Edom, and thereby proved that they had forgotten all humanity and justice. We now understand the Prophet’s meaning.