Bible Strands
Amos 2:1
This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Moab, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he burned to lime the bones of Edom’s king.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh speaks through the prophet Amos concerning the nation of Moab, initiating a sequence of judgments against surrounding kingdoms. The declaration immediately precedes the announced execution of fire against Moab’s citadels.
The words — כֹּ֚ה (koh) translates literally as "thus," and פִּשְׁעֵ֣י (pish.'Ei) means "transgressions," structuring the oracle as a formal legal indictment.
The thread — This formulaic judgment pattern appears in Amos 1:3 regarding Damascus, while Zephaniah 2:8 and Ezekiel 25:8 record parallel prophetic condemnations of Moab for taunting Judah.
Why it lands — The text states that specific historical atrocities, such as burning a foreign king's bones to lime, trigger irreversible divine judgment. It requires the reader to recognize that prophetic declarations operate on documented actions rather than abstract guilt.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime:
Cross-references
- Zephaniah 2:8 “I have heard the reproach of Moab and the insults of the Ammonites, who have taunted My people and threatened their borders.
- Ezekiel 25:8 This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because Moab and Seir said, “Look, the house of Judah is like all the other nations,”
- Amos 1:3 This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they threshed Gilead with sledges of iron.
- 2 Kings 3:26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too fierce for him, he took with him seven hundred swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not prevail.
- Isaiah 15:1 This is the burden against Moab: Ar in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Kir in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night!
- Isaiah 25:10 For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain. But Moab will be trampled in his place as straw is trodden into the dung pile.
- Jeremiah 48:1 Concerning Moab, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Woe to Nebo, for it will be devastated. Kiriathaim will be captured and disgraced; the fortress will be shattered and dismantled.
- Amos 2:4 This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Judah, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they reject the Law of the LORD and fail to keep His statutes; they are led astray by the lies in which their fathers walked.
- Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, observing the evil and the good.
- Amos 1:9 This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Tyre, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they delivered up a whole congregation of exiles to Edom and broke a covenant of brotherhood.