4 Thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Judah, And for four, I do not reserve it, Because of their loathing the law of Jehovah, And His statutes they have not kept, And their lies do cause them to err, After which their fathers did walk,
Because My judgments they have not done, And My statutes they have despised, And My sabbaths they have polluted, And after idols of their fathers have their eyes been.
Because against My judgments they did kick, And in My statutes they have not walked, And My sabbaths they have polluted, For after their idols their heart is going.
And -- rebel against me do the house of Israel in the wilderness, In My statutes they have not walked, And My judgments they have despised, Which the man who doth -- liveth by them. And My sabbaths they have greatly polluted, And I say to pour out My fury on them in the wilderness, to consume them.
And a controversy hath Jehovah with Judah, To lay a charge on Jacob according to his ways, According to his doings He returneth to him.
Because ye have said: `We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a provision, An overflowing scourge, when it passeth over, Doth not meet us, Though we have made a lie our refuge, And in falsehood have been hidden.'
`And if ye do not hearken to Me, and do not all these commands; and if at My statutes ye kick, and if My judgments your soul loathe, so as not to do all My commands -- to your breaking My covenant --
Also Judah hath not kept the commands of Jehovah their God, and they walk in the statutes of Israel that they had made.
And it cometh to pass, at the king's hearing the words of the book of the law, that he rendeth his garments, and the king commandeth Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam son of Shaphan, and Achbor son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah servant of the king, saying, `Go, seek Jehovah for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found, for great `is' the fury of Jehovah that is kindled against us, because that our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according to all that is written for us.' And Hilkiah the priest goeth, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, unto Huldah the prophetess, wife of Shallum, son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the garments, and she is dwelling in Jerusalem in the second, and they speak unto her. And she saith unto them, `Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, Say to the man who hath sent you unto me: Thus said Jehovah, Lo, I am bringing in evil unto this place and on its inhabitants, all the words of the book that the king of Judah hath read, because that they have forsaken Me, and make perfume to other gods, so as to provoke Me to anger with every work of their hands, and My wrath hath been kindled against this place, and it is not quenched.
we have acted very corruptly against Thee, and have not kept the commands, and the statutes, and the judgments, that Thou didst command Moses Thy servant.
Therefore, as a tongue of fire devoureth stubble, And flaming hay falleth, Their root is as muck, And their flower as dust goeth up. Because they have rejected the law of Jehovah of Hosts, And the saying of the Holy One of Israel despised. Therefore hath the anger of Jehovah burned among His people, And He stretcheth out His hand against it, And smiteth it, and the mountains tremble, And their carcase is as filth in the midst of the out-places. With all this His anger did not turn back, And still His hand is stretched out!
Ashamed have been the wise, They have been affrighted, and are captured, Lo, against a word of Jehovah they kicked, And the wisdom of what -- have they?
O Jehovah, my strength, and my fortress, And my refuge in a day of adversity, Unto Thee nations do come from the ends of earth, And say, Only falsehood did our fathers inherit, Vanity, and none among them is profitable. Doth man make for himself gods, And they -- no gods?
Therefore, say unto the house of Israel: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: In the way of your fathers are ye defiled? And after their detestable things go a-whoring?
Only you I have known of all families of the land, Therefore I charge on you all your iniquities.
who did change the truth of God into a falsehood, and did honour and serve the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed to the ages. Amen.
we have sinned, and done perversely, and done wickedly, and rebelled, to turn aside from Thy commands, and from Thy judgments: and we have not hearkened unto Thy servants, the prophets, who have spoken in Thy name unto our kings, our heads, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. `To Thee, O Lord, `is' the righteousness, and to us the shame of face, as `at' this day, to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near, and who are far off, in all the lands whither Thou hast driven them, in their trespass that they have trespassed against Thee. `O Lord, to us `is' the shame of face, to our kings, to our heads, and to our fathers, in that we have sinned against Thee. `To the Lord our God `are' the mercies and the forgivenesses, for we have rebelled against Him, and have not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah our God, to walk in His laws, that He hath set before us by the hand of His servants the prophets; and all Israel have transgressed Thy law, to turn aside so as not to hearken to Thy voice; and poured on us is the execration, and the oath, that is written in the law of Moses, servant of God, because we have sinned against Him. `And He confirmeth His words that He hath spoken against us, and against our judges who have judged us, to bring in upon us great evil, in that it hath not been done under the whole heavens as it hath been done in Jerusalem,
he, therefore, who is despising -- doth not despise man, but God, who also did give His Holy Spirit to us.
Also, O Judah, appointed is a harvest to thee, In My turning back `to' the captivity of My people!
And I `am' as a moth to Ephraim, And as a rotten thing to the house of Judah. And see doth Ephraim his sickness, and Judah his wound, And Ephraim goeth unto Asshur, And sendeth unto a warlike king, And he is not able to give healing to you, Nor doth he remove from you a scar.
Lo, days are coming -- an affirmation of Jehovah, And I have laid a charge on all circumcised in the foreskin, On Egypt, and on Judah, and on Edom, And on the sons of Ammon, and on Moab, And on all cutting the corner `of the beard', Who are dwelling in the wilderness, For all the nations `are' uncircumcised, And all the house of Israel `are' uncircumcised in heart!
And Jeshurun waxeth fat, and doth kick: Thou hast been fat -- thou hast been thick, Thou hast been covered. And he leaveth God who made him, And dishonoureth the Rock of his salvation. They make Him zealous with strangers, With abominations they make Him angry. They sacrifice to demons -- no god! Gods they have not known -- New ones -- from the vicinity they came; Not feared them have your fathers! The Rock that begat thee thou forgettest, And neglectest God who formeth thee. And Jehovah seeth and despiseth -- For the provocation of His sons and His daughters. And He saith: I hide My face from them, I see what `is' their latter end; For a froward generation `are' they, Sons in whom is no stedfastness. They have made Me zealous by `no-god,' They made Me angry by their vanities; And I make them zealous by `no-people,' By a foolish nation I make them angry. For a fire hath been kindled in Mine anger, And it burneth unto Sheol -- the lowest, And consumeth earth and its increase, And setteth on fire foundations of mountains. I gather upon them evils, Mine arrows I consume upon them. Exhausted by famine, And consumed by heat, and bitter destruction. And the teeth of beasts I send upon them, With poison of fearful things of the dust. Without bereave doth the sword, And at the inner-chambers -- fear, Both youth and virgin, Suckling with man of grey hair. I have said: I blow them away, I cause their remembrance to cease from man; If not -- the anger of an enemy I fear, Lest their adversaries know -- Lest they say, Our hand is high, And Jehovah hath not wrought all this.
And the sons of Israel do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, and serve the Baalim, and forsake Jehovah, God of their fathers, who bringeth them out from the land of Egypt, and go after other gods (of the gods of the peoples who `are' round about them), and bow themselves to them, and provoke Jehovah, yea, they forsake Jehovah, and do service to Baal and to Ashtaroth. And the anger of Jehovah burneth against Israel, and He giveth them into the hand of spoilers, and they spoil them, and He selleth them into the hand of their enemies round about, and they have not been able any more to stand before their enemies; in every `place' where they have gone out, the hand of Jehovah hath been against them for evil, as Jehovah hath spoken, and as Jehovah hath sworn to them, and they are distressed -- greatly. And Jehovah raiseth up judges, and they save them from the hand of their spoilers; and also unto their judges they have not hearkened, but have gone a-whoring after other gods, and bow themselves to them; they have turned aside `with' haste out of the way `in' which their fathers walked to obey the commands of Jehovah -- they have not done so. And when Jehovah raised up to them judges -- then was Jehovah with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for it repenteth Jehovah, because of their groaning from the presence of their oppressors, and of those thrusting them away. And it hath come to pass, at the death of the judge -- they turn back and have done corruptly above their fathers, to go after other gods, to serve them, and to bow themselves to them; they have not fallen from their doings, and from their stiff way. And the anger of Jehovah doth burn against Israel, and He saith, `Because that this nation have transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened to My voice --
And the sons of Israel add to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, and serve the Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Aram, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the Bene-Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsake Jehovah, and have not served Him;
`Wherefore hast thou despised the word of Jehovah, to do the evil thing in His eyes? Uriah the Hittite thou hast smitten by the sword, and his wife thou hast taken to thee for a wife, and him thou hast slain by the sword of the Bene-Ammon. `And now, the sword doth not turn aside from thy house unto the age, because thou hast despised Me, and dost take the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be to thee for a wife;
Also, all the heads of the priests, and the people, having multiplied to commit a trespass according to all the abominations of the nations, and they defile the house of Jehovah that He hath sanctified in Jerusalem. And Jehovah, God of their fathers, sendeth unto them by the hand of His messengers -- rising early and sending -- for He hath had pity on His people, and on His habitation, and they are mocking at the messengers of God, and despising His words, and acting deceitfully with His prophets, till the going up of the fury of Jehovah against His people -- till there is no healing. And He causeth to go up against them the king of the Chaldeans, and he slayeth their chosen ones by the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and hath had no pity on young man and virgin, old man and very aged -- the whole He hath given into his hand.
`And they are disobedient, and rebel against Thee, and cast Thy law behind their back, and Thy prophets they have slain, who testified against them, to bring them back unto Thee, and they do great despisings,
and dost testify against them, to bring them back unto Thy law; and they -- they have acted proudly, and have not hearkened to Thy commands, and against Thy judgments have sinned, -- which man doth and hath lived in them -- and they give a refractory shoulder, and their neck have hardened, and have not hearkened. `And Thou drawest over them many years, and testifiest against them by Thy Spirit, by the hand of Thy prophets, and they have not given ear, and Thou dost give them into the hand of peoples of the lands,
Feeding on ashes, the heart is deceived, It hath turned him aside, And he delivereth not his soul, nor saith: `Is there not a lie in my right hand?'
Hear, O earth, lo, I am bringing evil on this people, The fruit of their devices, For to My words they gave no attention, And My law -- they kick against it.
And have spread them to sun, and to moon, And to all the host of the heavens, that they have loved, And that they have served, And that they have walked after, And that they have sought, And to which they have bowed themselves, They are not gathered, nor buried, They are for dung on the face of the ground.
And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Lo, thou art lying down with thy fathers, and this people hath risen, and gone a-whoring after the gods of the stranger of the land into the midst of which it hath entered, and forsaken Me, and broken My covenant which I made with it; and Mine anger hath burned against it in that day, and I have forsaken them, and hidden My face from them, and it hath been for consumption, and many evils and distresses have found it, and it hath said in that day, Is it not because that my God is not in my midst -- these evils have found me? and I certainly hide My face in that day for all the evil which it hath done, for it hath turned unto other gods.
Ye also have done evil above your fathers, And lo, ye are walking each after the stubbornness of his evil heart, So as not to hearken unto Me.
And in prophets of Samaria I have seen folly, They have prophesied by Baal, And cause my people -- Israel -- to err. And in prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing, Committing adultery, and walking falsely, Yea, they strengthened the hands of evil doers, So that they have not turned back Each from his wickedness, They have been to me -- all of them -- as Sodom, And its inhabitants as Gomorrah. Therefore, thus said Jehovah of Hosts, concerning the prophets: Lo, I am causing them to eat wormwood, And have caused them to drink water of gall, For, from prophets of Jerusalem Hath profanity gone forth to all the land.
I have heard that which the prophets said, Who prophesy in My name falsehood, saying, `I have dreamed, I have dreamed.' Till when is it in the heart of the prophets? The prophets of falsehood, Yea, prophets of the deceit of their heart, Who are devising to cause My people To forget My name by their dreams, That they recount each to his neighbour, As their fathers forgot my name for Baal. The prophet with whom `is' a dream, Let him recount the dream, And he with whom `is' My word, Let him truly speak My word. What -- to the straw with the corn? An affirmation of Jehovah. Is it not thus? My word `is' as a fire, An affirmation of Jehovah. And as a hammer -- it breaketh in pieces a rock. Therefore, lo, I `am' against the prophets, An affirmation of Jehovah, Stealing My words each from his neighbour. Lo, I `am' against the prophets, An affirmation of Jehovah, Who are making smooth their tongue, And they affirm -- an affirmation. Lo, I `am' against the prophets of false dreams, An affirmation of Jehovah, And they recount them, and cause my people to err, By their falsehoods, and by their instability, And I -- I have not sent them, Nor have I commanded them, And they are not at all profitable to this people, An affirmation of Jehovah.
And Jeremiah the prophet saith unto Hananiah the prophet, `Hear, I pray thee, O Hananiah; Jehovah hath not sent thee, and thou hast caused this people to trust on falsehood. Therefore thus said Jehovah, Lo, I am casting thee from off the face of the ground; this year thou diest, for apostacy thou hast spoken concerning Jehovah.'
They have seen vanity, and lying divination, Who are saying: An affirmation of Jehovah, And Jehovah hath not sent them, And they have hoped to establish a word. A vain vision have ye not seen, And a lying divination spoken, When ye say: An affirmation of Jehovah, And I have not spoken? Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen a lie, Therefore, lo, I `am' against you, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah. And My hand hath been on the prophets, Who are seeing vanity, and who are divining a lie, In the assembly of My people they are not, And in the writing of the house of Israel they are not written, And unto the ground of Israel they come not, And ye have known that I `am' the Lord Jehovah. Because, even because, they did cause My people to err, Saying, Peace! and there is no peace, And that one is building a wall, And lo, they are daubing it with chalk. Say to those daubing with chalk -- It falleth, There hath been an overflowing shower, And ye, O hailstones, do fall, And a tempestuous wind doth rend, And lo, fallen hath the wall! Doth not one say unto you, Where `is' the daubing that ye daubed? Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: I have rent with a tempestuous wind in My fury, And an overflowing shower is in Mine anger, And hailstones in My fury -- to consume. And I have broken down the wall that ye daubed with chalk, And have caused it to come unto the earth, And revealed hath been its foundation, And it hath fallen, And ye have been consumed in its midst, And ye have known that I `am' Jehovah. And I have completed My wrath on the wall, And on those daubing it with chalk, And I say to you: The wall is not, And those daubing it are not; The prophets of Israel who are prophesying concerning Jerusalem, And who are seeing for her a vision of peace, And there is no peace, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.
Because of paining the heart of the righteous with falsehood, And I have not pained it, And strengthening the hands of the wicked, So as not to turn back from his evil way, To keep him alive,
And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, `Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, and thou hast said: Thus said the Lord Jehovah to Jerusalem: Thy birth and thy nativity `Are' of the land of the Canaanite, Thy father the Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite. As to thy nativity, in the day thou wast born, Thou -- thy navel hath not been cut, And in water thou wast not washed for ease, And thou hast not been salted at all, And thou hast not been swaddled at all. No eye hath had pity on thee, to do to thee any of these, To have compassion on thee, And thou art cast on the face of the field, With loathing of thy person. In the day thou hast been born -- thou! And I do pass over by thee, And I see thee trodden down in thy blood, And I say to thee in thy blood, Live, And I say to thee in thy blood, Live. A myriad -- as the shoot of the field I have made thee, And thou art multiplied, and art great, And comest in with an excellent adornment, Breasts have been formed, and thy hair hath grown -- And thou, naked and bare! And I pass over by thee, and I see thee, And lo, thy time `is' a time of loves, And I spread My skirt over thee, And I cover thy nakedness, And I swear to thee, and come in to a covenant with thee, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, And thou dost become Mine. And I do wash thee with water, And I wash away thy blood from off thee, And I anoint thee with perfume. And I clothe thee with embroidery, And I shoe thee with badger's skin, And I gird thee with fine linen, And I cover thee with figured silk. And I adorn thee with adornments, And I give bracelets for thy hands, And a chain for thy neck. And I give a ring for thy nose, And rings for thine ears, And a crown of beauty on thy head. And thou dost put on gold and silver, And thy clothing `is' fine linen, And figured silk and embroidery, Fine flour, and honey, and oil thou hast eaten, And thou art very very beautiful, And dost go prosperously to the kingdom. And go forth doth thy name among nations, Because of thy beauty -- for it `is' complete, In My honour that I have set upon thee, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah. And thou dost trust in thy beauty, And goest a-whoring because of thy renown, And dost pour out thy whoredoms On every passer by -- to him it is. And thou dost take of thy garments, And dost make to thee spotted high-places, And dost go a-whoring upon them, They are not coming in -- nor shall it be! And thou dost take thy beauteous vessels Of My gold and My silver that I gave to thee, And dost make to thee images of a male, And dost go a-whoring with them, And dost take the garments of thy embroidery, And thou dost cover them, And My oil and My perfume thou hast set before them. And My bread, that I gave to thee, Fine flour, and oil, and honey, that I caused thee to eat. Thou hast even set it before them, For a sweet fragrance -- thus it is, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah. And thou dost take thy sons and thy daughters Whom thou hast born to Me, And dost sacrifice them to them for food. Is it a little thing because of thy whoredoms, That thou dost slaughter My sons, And dost give them up in causing them to pass over to them? And with all thine abominations and thy whoredoms, Thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, When thou wast naked and bare, Trodden down in thy blood thou wast! And it cometh to pass, after all thy wickedness, (Wo, wo, to thee -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah), That thou dost build to thee an arch, And dost make to thee a high place in every broad place. At every head of the way thou hast built thy high place, And thou dost make thy beauty abominable, And dost open wide thy feet to every passer by, And dost multiply thy whoredoms, And dost go a-whoring unto sons of Egypt, Thy neighbours -- great of appetite! And thou dost multiply thy whoredoms, To provoke Me to anger. And lo, I have stretched out My hand against thee, And I diminish thy portion, And give thee to the desire of those hating thee, The daughters of the Philistines, Who are ashamed of thy wicked way. And thou goest a-whoring unto sons of Asshur, Without thy being satisfied, And thou dost go a-whoring with them, And also -- thou hast not been satisfied. And thou dost multiply thy whoredoms On the land of Canaan -- toward Chaldea, And even with this thou hast not been satisfied. How weak `is' thy heart, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, In thy doing all these, The work of a domineering whorish woman. In thy building thine arch at the head of every way, Thy high place thou hast made in every broad place, And -- hast not been as a whore deriding a gift. The wife who committeth adultery -- Under her husband -- doth receive strangers. To all whores they give a gift, And -- thou hast given thy gifts to all thy lovers, And dost bribe them to come in unto thee, From round about -- in thy whoredoms. And the contrary is in thee from women in thy whoredoms, That after thee none doth go a-whoring; And in thy giving a gift, And a gift hath not been given to thee; And thou art become contrary. Therefore, O whore, hear a word of Jehovah, Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of thy brass being poured forth, And thy nakedness is revealed in thy whoredoms near thy lovers, And near all the idols of thy abominations, And according to the blood of thy sons, Whom thou hast given to them; Therefore, lo, I am assembling all thy lovers, To whom thou hast been sweet, And all whom thou hast loved, Besides all whom thou hast hated; And I have assembled them by thee round about, And have revealed thy nakedness to them, And they have seen all thy nakedness. And I have judged thee -- judgments of adultresses, And of women shedding blood, And have given thee blood, fury, and jealousy. And I have given thee into their hand, And they have thrown down thine arch, And they have broken down thy high places, And they have stript thee of thy garments, And they have taken thy beauteous vessels, And they have left thee naked and bare. And have caused an assembly to come up against thee, And stoned thee with stones, And thrust thee through with their swords, And burnt thy houses with fire, And done in thee judgments before the eyes of many women, And I have caused thee to cease from going a-whoring, And also a gift thou givest no more. And I have caused My fury against thee to rest, And My jealousy hath turned aside from thee, And I have been quiet, and I am not angry any more. Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, And dost give trouble to Me in all these, Lo, even I also thy way at first gave up, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, And I did not this thought for all thine abominations. Lo, every one using a simile, Doth use a simile concerning thee, saying: As the mother -- her daughter! Thy mother's daughter thou `art', Loathing her husband and her sons, And thy sisters' sister thou `art', Who loathed their husbands and their sons, Your mother `is' a Hittite, and your father an Amorite. And thine elder sister `is' Samaria, she and her daughters, Who is dwelling at thy left hand, And thy younger sister, who is dwelling on thy right hand, `is' Sodom and her daughters. And -- in their ways thou hast not walked, And according to their abominations done, As a little thing it hath been loathed, And thou dost more corruptly than they in all thy ways. I live -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, Sodom thy sister hath not done -- she and her daughters -- As thou hast done -- thou and thy daughters. Lo, this hath been the iniquity of Sodom thy sister, Arrogancy, fulness of bread, and quiet ease, Have been to her and to her daughters, And the hand of the afflicted and needy She hath not strengthened. And they are haughty and do abomination before Me, And I turn them aside when I have seen. As to Samaria, as the half of thy sins -- she hath not sinned, And thou dost multiply thine abominations more than they, And dost justify thy sisters by all thy abominations that thou hast done. Thou also -- bear thy shame, That thou hast adjudged to thy sisters, Because of thy sins that thou hast done more abominably than they, They are more righteous than thou, And thou, also, be ashamed and bear thy shame, In thy justifying thy sisters. And I have turned back `to' their captivity, The captivity of Sodom and her daughters, And the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, And the captivity of thy captives in their midst, So that thou dost bear thy shame, And hast been ashamed of all that thou hast done, In thy comforting them. And thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, Do turn back to their former state, And Samaria and her daughters Do turn back to their former state, And thou and thy daughters do turn back to your former state. And thy sister Sodom hath not been for a report in thy mouth, In the day of thine arrogancy, Before thy wickedness is revealed, As `at' the time of the reproach of the daughters of Aram, And of all her neighbours, the daughters of the Philistines, Who are despising thee round about. Thy devices and thine abominations, Thou hast borne them, an affirmation of Jehovah. For thus said the Lord Jehovah: I have dealt with thee as thou hast done, In that thou hast despised an oath -- to break covenant. And I -- I have remembered My covenant with thee, In the days of thy youth, And I have established for thee a covenant age-during. And thou hast remembered thy ways, And thou hast been ashamed, In thy receiving thy sisters -- Thine elder with thy younger, And I have given them to thee for daughters, And not by thy covenant. And I -- I have established My covenant with thee, And thou hast known that I `am' Jehovah. So that thou dost remember, And thou hast been ashamed, And there is not to thee any more an opening of the mouth because of thy shame, In My receiving atonement for thee, For all that thou hast done, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah!'
And its prophets have daubed for them with chalk, Seeing a vain thing, and divining for them a lie, Saying, `Thus said the Lord Jehovah:' And Jehovah hath not spoken.
And see doth her sister Aholibah, And she maketh her doting love more corrupt than she, And her whoredoms than the whoredoms of her sister. On sons of Asshur she hath doted, Governors and prefects, Neighbouring ones -- clothed in perfection, Horsemen, riding on horses, Desirable young men all of them. And I see that she hath been defiled, One way `is' to them both. And she doth add unto her whoredoms, And she seeth graved men on the wall, Pictures of Chaldeans, graved with red lead, Girded with a girdle on their loins, Dyed attire spread out on their heads, The appearance of rulers -- all of them, The likeness of sons of Babylon, Chaldea is the land of their birth. And she doteth on them at the sight of her eyes, And sendeth messengers to them, to Chaldea. And come in unto her do sons of Babylon, To the bed of loves, And they defile her with their whoredoms, And she is defiled with them, And her soul is alienated from them. And she revealeth her whoredoms, And she revealeth her nakedness, And alienated is My soul from off her, As alienated was My soul from off her sister. And she multiplieth her whoredoms, To remember the days of her youth, When she went a-whoring in the land of Egypt. And she doteth on their paramours, Whose flesh `is' the flesh of asses, And the issue of horses -- their issue. Thou lookest after the wickedness of thy youth, In dealing out of Egypt thy loves, For the sake of the breasts of thy youth.
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Commentary on Amos 2 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Moab. - Amos 2:1. “Thus saith Jehovah: for three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I shall not reverse it, because it has burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime, Amos 2:2. I send fire into Moab, and it will devour the palaces of Kirioth, and Moab will perish in the tumult, in the war-cry, in the trumpet-blast. Amos 2:3. And I cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and all its princes do I strangle with it, saith Jehovah.” The burning of the bones of the king of Edom is not burning while he was still alive, but the burning of the corpse into lime, i.e., so completely that the bones turned into powder like lime (D. Kimchi), to cool his wrath still further upon the dead man (cf. 2 Kings 23:16). This is the only thing blamed, not his having put him to death. No record has been preserved of this event in the historical books of the Old Testament; but it was no doubt connected with the war referred to in 2 Kings 3, which Joram of Israel and Jehoshaphat of Judah waged against the Moabites in company with the king of Edom; so that the Jewish tradition found in Jerome, viz., that after this war the Moabites dug up the bones of the king of Edom from the grace, and heaped insults upon them by burning them to ashes, is apparently not without foundation. As Amos in the case of all the other nations has mentioned only crimes that were committed against the covenant nation, the one with which the Moabites are charged must have been in some way associated with either Israel or Judah, that is to say, it must have been committed upon a king of Edom, who was a vassal of Judah, and therefore not very long after this war, since the Edomites shook off their dependence upon Judah in less than ten years from that time (2 Kings 8:20). As a punishment for this, Moab was to be laid waste by the fire of war, and Keriyoth with its palaces to be burned down. הקּריּות is not an appellative noun ( τῶν πόλεων αὐτῆς , lxx), but a proper name of one of the chief cities of Moab (cf. Jeremiah 48:24, Jeremiah 48:41), the ruins of which have been discovered by Burckhardt ( Syr . p. 630) and Seetzen (ii. p. 342, cf. iv. p. 384) in the decayed town of Kereyat or Körriât . The application of the term מת to Moab is to be explained on the supposition that the nation is personified. שׁאון signifies war tumult, and בּתרוּעה is explained as in Amos 1:14 by בּקול שׁופר , blast of the trumpets, the signal for the assault or for the commencement of the battle. The judge with all the princes shall be cut off miqqirbâh , i.e., out of the land of Moab. The feminine suffix refers to Moab as a land or kingdom, and not to Keriyoth. From the fact that the shōphēt is mentioned instead of the king, it has been concluded by some that Moab had no king at that time, but had only a shōphēt as its ruler; and they have sought to account for this on the ground that Moab was at that time subject to the kingdom of the ten tribes (Hitzig and Ewald). But there is no notice in the history of anything of the kind, and it cannot possibly be inferred from the fact that Jeroboam restored the ancient boundaries of the kingdom as far as the Dead Sea (2 Kings 14:25). Shōphēt is analogous to tōmēkh shēbhet in Amos 1:5, and is probably nothing more than a rhetorical expression applied to the מלך , who is so called in the threat against Ammon, and simply used for the sake of variety. The threatening prophecies concerning all the nations and kingdoms mentioned from Amos 1:6 onwards were fulfilled by the Chaldeans, who conquered all these kingdoms, and carried the people themselves into captivity. For fuller remarks upon this point, see at Jeremiah 48 and Ezekiel 25:8.
Judah. - Amos 2:4. “Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I shall not reverse it, because they have despised the law of Jehovah, and have not kept His ordinances, and their lies led them astray, after which their fathers walked, Amos 2:5. I send fire into Judah, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem.” With the announcement that the storm of the wrath of God will also burst upon Judah, Amos prepares the way for passing on to Israel, the principal object of his prophecies. In the case of Judah, he condemns its contempt of the law of its God, and also its idolatry. Toorגh is the sum and substance of all the instructions and all the commandments which Jehovah had given to His people as the rule of life. Chuqqı̄m are the separate precepts contained in the thōrâh , including not only the ceremonial commands, but the moral commandments also; for the two clauses are not only parallel, but synonymous. כּזביהם , their lies, are their idols, as we may see from the relative clause, since “walking after” ( bâlakh 'achărē ) is the standing expression for idolatry. Amos calls the idols lies , not only as res quae fallunt (Ges.), but as fabrications and nonentities ( 'ĕlı̄hı̄m and hăbhâlı̄m ), having no reality in themselves, and therefore quite unable to perform what was expected of them. The “fathers” who walked after these lies were their forefathers generally, since the nation of Israel practised idolatry even in the desert (cf. Amos 5:26), and was more or less addicted to it ever afterwards, with the sole exception of the times of Joshua, Samuel, David, and part of the reign of Solomon, so that even the most godly kings of Judah were unable to eradicate the worship upon the high places. The punishment threatened in consequence, namely, that Jerusalem should be reduced to ashes, was carried out by Nebuchadnezzar.
After this introduction, the prophet's address turns to Israel of the ten tribes, and in precisely the same form as in the case of the nations already mentioned, announces the judgment as irrevocable. At the same time, he gives a fuller description of the sins of Israel, condemning first of all the prevailing crimes of injustice and oppression, of shameless immorality and daring contempt of God (Amos 2:6-8); and secondly, its scornful contempt of the benefits conferred by the Lord (Amos 2:9-12), and threatening inevitable trouble in consequence (Amos 2:13-16). Amos 2:6. “Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I shall not reverse it, because they sell the righteous for money, and the poor for a pair of shoes. Amos 2:7. They who pant after dust of the earth upon the head of the poor, and bend the way of the meek: and a man and his father go to the same girl, to desecrate my holy name. Amos 2:8. And they stretch themselves upon pawned clothes by every altar, and they drink the wine of the punished in the house of their God.” The prophet condemns four kinds of crimes. The first is unjust treatment, or condemnation of the innocent in their administration of justice. Selling the righteous for silver, i.e., for money, refers to the judges, who were bribed to punish a man as guilty of the crime of which he was accused, when he was really tsaddı̄q , i.e., righteous in a judicial, not in a moral sense, or innocent of any punishable crime. Bakkeseph , for money, i.e., either to obtain money, or for the money which they had already received, viz., from the accuser, for condemning the innocent. בּעבוּר , on account of, is not synonymous with ב pretii ; for they did not sell the poor man merely to get a pair of sandals for him, as the worst possible slave was certainly worth much more than this (cf. Exodus 21:32); but the poor debtor who could not pay for a pair of shoes, i.e., for the merest trifle, the judge would give up to the creditor for a salve, on the strength of the law in Leviticus 25:39 (cf. 2 Kings 4:1).
As a second crime, Amos reproves in v. 7 a their thirst for the oppression of the quiet in the land. דּלּים , ταπεινοί , and ענוים , πραεῖς . The address is carried on in participles, in the form of lively appeal, instead of quiet description, as is frequently the case in Amos (cf. Amos 5:7; Amos 6:3., 13, Amos 8:14), and also in other books (cf. Isaiah 40:22, Isaiah 40:26; Psalms 19:11). In the present instance, the article before the participle points back to the suffix in מכרם , and the finite verb is not introduced till the second clause. שׁאף , to gasp, to pant, to long eagerly for earth-dust upon the head of the poor, i.e., to long to see the head of the poor covered with earth or dust, or to bring them into such a state of misery, that they scatter dust upon their head (cf. Job 2:12; 2 Samuel 1:2). The explanation given by Hitzig is too far-fetched and unnatural, viz., that they grudge the man in distress even the handful of dust that he has strewn upon his head, and avariciously long for it themselves. To bend the way of the meek, i.e., to bring them into a trap, or cast them headlong into destruction by impediments and stumblingblocks laid in their path. The way is the way of life, their outward course. The idea that the way refers to the judgment or legal process is too contracted. The third crime is their profanation of the name of God by shameless immorality ( Amos 2:7 ); and the fourth , desecration of the sanctuary by drinking carousals (Amos 2:8). A man and his father, i.e., both son and father, go to the girl, i.e., to the prostitute. The meaning is, to one and the same girl; but 'achath is omitted, to preclude all possible misunderstanding, as though going to different prostitutes was allowed. This sin was tantamount to incest, which, according to the law, was to be punished with death (cf. Leviticus 18:7, Leviticus 18:15, and Leviticus 20:11). Temple girls ( q e dēshōth ) are not to be thought of here. The profanation of the name of God by such conduct as this does not indicate prostitution in the temple itself, such as was required by the licentious worship of Baal and Asherah (Ewald, Maurer, etc.), but consisted in a daring contempt of the commandments of God, as the original passage (Leviticus 22:32) from which Amos took the words clearly shows (cf. Jeremiah 34:16). By l e ma‛an , in order that (not “so that”), the profanation of the holy name of God is represented as intentional, to bring out the daring character of the sin, and to show that it did not arise from weakness or ignorance, but was practised with studious contempt of the holy God. B e gâdı̄m chăbhulı̄m , pawned clothes, i.e., upper garments, consisting of a large square piece of cloth, which was wrapt all around, and served the poor for a counterpane as well. If a poor man was obliged to pawn his upper garment, it was to be returned to him before night came on (Exodus 22:25), and a garment so pawned was not to be slept upon (Deuteronomy 24:12-13). But godless usurers kept such pledges, and used them as cloths upon which they stretched their limbs at feasts ( yattū , hiphil , to stretch out, sc. the body or its limbs); and this they did by every altar, at sacrificial meals, without standing in awe of God. It is very evident that Amos is speaking of sacrificial feasting, from the reference in the second clause of the verse to the drinking of wine in the house of God. עמוּשׁים , punished in money, i.e., fined. Wine of the punished is wine purchased by the produce of the fines. Here again the emphasis rests upon the fact, that such drinking carousals were held in the house of God. 'Elōhēhem , not their gods (idols), but their God; for Amos had in his mind the sacred places at Bethel and Dan, in which the Israelites worshipped Jehovah as their God under the symbol of an ox (calf). The expression col - mizbēăch (every altar) is not at variance with this; for even if col pointed to a plurality of altars, these altars were still bāmōth , dedicated to Jehovah. If the prophet had also meant to condemn actual idolatry, i.e., the worship of heathen deities, he would have expressed this more clearly; to say nothing of the fact, that in the time of Jeroboam II there was no heathenish idolatry in the kingdom of the ten tribes, or, at any rate, it was not publicly maintained.
And if this daring contempt of the commandments of God was highly reprehensible even in itself, it became perfectly inexcusable if we bear in mind that Israel was indebted to the Lord its God for its elevation into an independent nation, and also for its sacred calling. For this reason, the prophet reminds the people of the manifestations of grace which it had received from its God (Amos 2:9-11). Amos 2:9. “And yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and who was strong as the oaks; and I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. Amos 2:10. And yet I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the desert, to take possession of the land of the Amorite.” The repeated ואנכי is used with peculiar emphasis, and serves to bring out the contrast between the conduct of the Israelites towards the Lord, and the fidelity of the Lord towards Israel. Of the two manifestations of divine grace to which Israel owed its existence as an independent nation, Amos mentions first of all the destruction of the former inhabitants of Canaan (Exodus 23:27., Exodus 34:11); and secondly, what was earlier in point of time, namely, the deliverance out of Egypt and guidance through the Arabian desert; not because the former act of God was greater than the latter, but in order to place first what the Lord had done for the nation, that he may be able to append to this what He still continues to do (Amos 2:11). The nations destroyed before Israel are called Amorites, from the most powerful of the Canaanitish tribes, as in Genesis 15:16; Joshua 24:15, etc. To show, however, that Israel was not able to destroy this people by its own strength, but that Jehovah the Almighty God alone could accomplish this, he proceeds to transfer to the whole nation what the Israelitish spies reported as to their size, more especially as to the size of particular giants (Numbers 13:32-33), and describes the Amorites as giants as lofty as trees and as strong as trees, and, continuing the same figure, depicts their utter destruction or extermination as the destruction of their fruit and of their roots. For this figure of speech, in which the posterity of a nation is regarded as its fruit, and the kernel of the nation out of which it springs as the root, see Ezekiel 17:9; Hosea 9:16; Job 18:16. These two manifestations of divine mercy Moses impressed more than once upon the hearts of the people in his last addresses, to urge them in consequence to hold fast to the divine commandments and to the love of God (cf. Deuteronomy 8:2., Deuteronomy 9:1-6; Deuteronomy 29:1-8).
But Jehovah had not only put Israel into possession of Canaan; He had also continually manifested Himself to it as the founder and promoter of its spiritual prosperity. Amos 2:11. “And I raised up some of your sons as prophets, and some of your young men as dedicated ones (Naziraeans). Ah, is it not so, ye sons of Israel? is the saying of Jehovah. Amos 2:12. But ye made the dedicated drink wine, and ye commanded the prophets, saying, Ye shall not prophesy.” The institution of prophecy and the law of the Nazarite were gifts of grace, in which Israel had an advantage over every other nation, and by which it was distinguished above the heathen as the nation of God and the medium of salvation. Amos simply reminds the people of these, and not of earthly blessings, which the heathen also enjoyed, since the former alone were real pledges of the covenant of grace made by Jehovah with Israel; and it was in the contempt and abuse of these gifts of grace that the ingratitude of the nation was displayed in the most glaring light. The Nazarites are placed by the side of the prophets, who proclaimed to the nation the counsel and will of the Lord, because, although as a rule the condition of a Nazarite was merely the consequence of his own free will and the fulfilment of a particular vow, it was nevertheless so far a gift of grace from the Lord, that the resolution to perform such a vow proceeded from the inward impulse of the Spirit of God, and the performance itself was rendered possible through the power of this Spirit alone. (For a general discussion of the law of the Nazarite, see the commentary on Numbers 6:2-12, and my biblical Antiquities ,
This base contempt of their covenant mercies the Lord would visit with a severe punishment. Amos 2:13. “Behold, I will press you down, as the cart presses that is filled with sheaves. Amos 2:14. And the flight will be lost to the swift, and the strong one will not fortify his strength, and the hero will not deliver his soul. Amos 2:15. And the carrier of the bow will not stand, and the swift-footed will not deliver, and the rider of the horse will not save his soul. Amos 2:16. And the courageous one among the heroes will flee away naked in that day, is the saying of Jehovah.” The Lord threatens as a punishment a severe oppression, which no one will be able to escape. The allusion is to the force of war, under which even the bravest and most able heroes will succumb. העיק , from עוּק , Aramaean for צוּק , to press, construed with tachath , in the sense of κατὰ , downwards, to press down upon a person, i.e., to press him down (Winer, Ges., Ewald). This meaning is established by עקה in Psalms 55:4, and by מוּעקה in Psalms 66:11; so that there is no necessity to resort to the Arabic, as Hitzig does, or to alterations of the text, or to follow Baur, who gives the word the meaning, “to feel one's self pressed under another,” for which there is no foundation in the language, and which does not even yield a suitable sense. The comparison instituted here to the pressure of a cart filled with sheaves, does not warrant the conclusion that Jehovah must answer to the cart; the simile is not to be carried out to this extent. The object to תּעיק is wanting, but may easily be supplied from the thought, namely, the ground over which the cart is driven. The להּ attached to המלאה belongs to the latitude allowed in ordinary speech, and gives to מלאה the reflective meaning, which is full in itself, has quite filled itself (cf. Ewald, §315, a ). In Amos 2:14-16 the effects of this pressure are individualized. No one will escape from it. אבד מנוס , flight is lost to the swift, i.e., the swift will not find time enough to flee. The allusion to heroes and bearers of the bow shows that the pressure is caused by war. קל בּרגליו belong together: “He who is light in his feet.” The swift-footed will no more save his life than the rider upon a horse. נפשׁו .esroh in Amos 2:15 belongs to both clauses. אמּץ לבּו , the strong in his heart, i.e., the hearty, courageous. ערום , naked, i.e., so as to leave behind him his garment, by which the enemy seizes him, like the young man in Mark 14:52. This threat, which implies that the kingdom will be destroyed, is carried out still further in the prophet's following addresses.