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1. Judgment on Israel's Neighbors

¹ The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa—the vision he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash Hebrew Joash, a variant of Jehoash was king of Israel.

² He said:

   “The LORD roars from Zion
   and thunders from Jerusalem;
the pastures of the shepherds dry up,
   and the top of Carmel withers.”

Judgment on Israel’s Neighbors

³ This is what the LORD says:

   “For three sins of Damascus,
   even for four, I will not relent.
Because she threshed Gilead
   with sledges having iron teeth,
⁴ I will send fire on the house of Hazael
   that will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad.
⁵ I will break down the gate of Damascus;
   I will destroy the king who is in Or the inhabitants of the Valley of Aven Aven means wickedness.
and the one who holds the scepter in Beth Eden.
   The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir,” says the LORD.

⁶ This is what the LORD says:

   “For three sins of Gaza,
   even for four, I will not relent.
Because she took captive whole communities
   and sold them to Edom,
⁷ I will send fire on the walls of Gaza
   that will consume her fortresses.
⁸ I will destroy the king Or inhabitants of Ashdod
   and the one who holds the scepter in Ashkelon.
I will turn my hand against Ekron,
   till the last of the Philistines are dead,” says the Sovereign LORD.

⁹ This is what the LORD says:

   “For three sins of Tyre,
   even for four, I will not relent.
Because she sold whole communities of captives to Edom,
   disregarding a treaty of brotherhood,
¹⁰ I will send fire on the walls of Tyre
   that will consume her fortresses.”

¹¹ This is what the LORD says:

   “For three sins of Edom,
   even for four, I will not relent.
Because he pursued his brother with a sword
   and slaughtered the women of the land,
because his anger raged continually
   and his fury flamed unchecked,
¹² I will send fire on Teman
   that will consume the fortresses of Bozrah.”

¹³ This is what the LORD says:

   “For three sins of Ammon,
   even for four, I will not relent.
Because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead
   in order to extend his borders,
¹⁴ I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah
   that will consume her fortresses
amid war cries on the day of battle,
   amid violent winds on a stormy day.
¹⁵ Her king Or / Molek will go into exile,
   he and his officials together,” says the LORD.

He uses nearly the same words respecting Tyrus which he did respecting Gaza, and charges it with the same sin, which was that of removing the Jews from their country, as refugees and exiles, into Idumea, and of selling them as captives to the Idumeans. As of all the rest, he declares the same of Tyrus, that they had not lightly sinned, and that therefore no moderate chastisement was sufficient; for they had for a long time abused God’s forbearance, and had become stubborn in their wickedness.

But what he says, that they had not been mindful of the covenant of brethren, some refer to Hiram and David; for we know that they had a brotherly intercourse, and called each other by the name of brothers; so great was the kindness between them. Some then think that the Tyrians are here condemned for having forgotten this covenant; for there ought to have remained among them some regard for the friendship which had existed between the two kings. But I know not whether this is too strained a view: I rather incline to another, and that is, that the Syrians delivered up the Jews and the Israelites to the Idumeans, when yet they knew them to be brethren: and they who implicate themselves in a matter of this kind are by no means excusable. When I see one conspiring for the ruin of his own brother, I see a detestable and a monstrous thing; if I abhor not a participation in the same crime, I am involved in the same guilt. When therefore the Syrians saw the Idumeans raging cruelly against their brethren, for they were descended from the same family, they ought doubtless to have shown to the Idumeans how alienated they were from all humanity and how perfidious they were against their own brethren and relatives. Now the Prophet says, that they had been unmindful of the covenant of brethren, because they made themselves assistants in so great and execrable a crime as that of carrying away Jews into Idumea, and of shutting them up there, when they knew that the Idumeans sought nothing else but the entire ruin of their own brethren. This seems to be the real meaning of the Prophet.