Text -- Amos 2:1-3 (NET)

2:1 This is what the Lord says: “Because Moab has committed three crimes– make that four!– I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They burned the bones of Edom’s king into lime. 2:2 So I will set Moab on fire, and it will consume Kerioth’s fortresses. Moab will perish in the heat of battle amid war cries and the blaring of the ram’s horn. 2:3 I will remove Moab’s leader; I will kill all Moab’s officials with him.” The Lord has spoken!

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Amo 2:1

¹ tn Traditionally, “transgressions” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) or “sins” (NIV). For an explanation of the atrocities outlined in this oracle as treaty violations of God’s mandate to Noah in Gen 9:5-7, see the note on the word “violations” in 1:3.

² tn Heb “Because of three violations of Moab, even because of four.”

sn On the three…four style that introduces each of the judgment oracles of chaps. 1-2 see the note on the word “four” in 1:3.

³ tn Heb “I will not bring it [or “him”] back.” The translation understands the pronominal object to refer to the decree of judgment that follows; the referent (the decree) has been specified in the translation for clarity. For another option see the note on the word “judgment” in 1:3.

⁴ sn The Moabites apparently desecrated the tomb of an Edomite king and burned his bones into a calcined substance which they then used as plaster (cf. Deut 27:2, 4). See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 72. Receiving a proper burial was very important in this culture. Desecrating a tomb or a deceased individual’s bones was considered an especially heinous act.

NET Notes: Amo 2:2

¹ sn The destruction of Moab by fire is an example of a judgment in kind – as the Moabites committed the crime of “burning,” so the Lord will punish them by setting them on fire.

² sn Kerioth was an important Moabite city. See Jer 48:24, 41.

³ tn Or “die” (KJV, NASB, NRSV, TEV); NAB “shall meet death.”

⁴ tn Or “in the tumult.” This word refers to the harsh confusion of sounds that characterized an ancient battle – a mixture of war cries, shouts, shrieks of pain, clashes of weapons, etc.

⁵ tn Heb “sound” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).

⁶ sn The ram’s horn (used as a trumpet) was blown to signal the approaching battle.

NET Notes: Amo 2:3

¹ tn Heb “cut off” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NAB “root out”; NCV “bring to an end.”

² tn Heb “the leader [traditionally, “judge”] from her midst.”

³ tn Heb “her”; the referent (Moab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Or “princes” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NLT); TEV, CEV “leaders.”