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.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Yahweh speaks through the prophet Amos, delivering a formal judgment oracle against Judah immediately after condemning Moab and before detailing the consumption of Jerusalem’s citadels.

The words — פִּשְׁעֵי (pish'Ei) denotes the rebellious acts or transgressions, while יְהוּדָה (Yehudah) identifies the specific southern kingdom targeted by the pronouncement.

The thread — The rejection of divine statutes recurs in Ezekiel 20:13, 20:16, and 20:24, though those passages direct the charge against the house of Israel rather than Judah.

Why it lands — The text demands recognition that covenant failure and adherence to ancestral falsehoods trigger irreversible judgment, requiring readers to examine their own compliance with revealed law.

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

כֹּ֚הkohthus אָמַ֣ר'a.Marhe says יְהוָ֔הYah.wehYahweh עַל־'al-on שְׁלֹשָׁה֙she.lo.Shahthree פִּשְׁעֵ֣יpish.'Ei<the> transgressions of יְהוּדָ֔הye.hu.DahJudah וְעַל־ve./'al-and/ on אַרְבָּעָ֖ה'ar.ba.'Ahfour לֹ֣אlo'not אֲשִׁיבֶ֑נּוּ'a.shi.Ve./nuI will revoke/ it עַֽל־'al-because מָאֳסָ֞םmo.'o.Sa/mhave rejected/ they אֶת־'et-<obj.>תּוֹרַ֣תto.Rat[the] law of יְהוָ֗הYah.wehYahweh וְחֻקָּיו֙ve./chu.Ka/vand/ statutes/ his לֹ֣אlo'not שָׁמָ֔רוּsha.Ma.ruthey have kept וַיַּתְעוּם֙va/i.yat.'U/mand/ they have misled/ them כִּזְבֵיהֶ֔םkiz.vei./Hemlies/ their אֲשֶׁר־'a.Sher-which הָלְכ֥וּha.le.Khuthey walked אֲבוֹתָ֖ם'a.vo.Ta/mancestors/ their אַחֲרֵיהֶֽם׃'a.cha.rei./Hemafter/ them

King James Version

Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the Lord, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked:

Cross-references

Ezekiel 20:24 For they did not practice My ordinances, but they rejected My statutes and profaned My Sabbaths, fixing their eyes on the idols of their fathers.
Ezekiel 20:13 Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not follow My statutes and they rejected My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they utterly profaned My Sabbaths. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and put an end to them in the wilderness.
Ezekiel 20:16 because they kept rejecting My ordinances, refusing to walk in My statutes, and profaning My Sabbaths; for their hearts continually went after their idols.
Isaiah 28:15 For you said, “We have made a covenant with death; we have fashioned an agreement with Sheol. When the overwhelming scourge passes through it will not touch us, because we have made lies our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”
Jeremiah 16:19 O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of distress, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our fathers inherited nothing but lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all.
Hosea 12:2 The LORD has a charge to bring against Judah. He will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds.
Habakkuk 2:18 What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
Leviticus 26:14 If, however, you fail to obey Me and to carry out all these commandments,
2 Kings 17:19 and even Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but lived according to the customs Israel had introduced.
2 Kings 22:11 When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes