Passage

Amos 1.13

Book: Amos · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

11. Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Edom, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever: 12. but I will send a fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.

13. Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they may enlarge their border.

But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind; 15. and their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith Jehovah. (Amos 1:11-15, ASV)

WEB

11. Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Edom, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity, and his anger raged continually, and he kept his wrath forever; 12. but I will send a fire on Teman, and it will devour the palaces of Bozrah.”

13. Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead, that they may enlarge their border.

But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it will devour its palaces, with shouting in the day of battle, with a storm in the day of the whirlwind; 15. and their king will go into captivity, he and his princes together,” says Yahweh. (Amos 1:11-15, WEB)

KJV

11. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever: ^{did cast: Heb. corrupted his compassions} 12. But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.

13. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border: ^{ripped: or, divided the mountains}

But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind: 15. And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith the LORD. (Amos 1:11-15, KJV)

YLT

11. Thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Edom, And for four, I do not reverse it, Because of his pursuing with a sword his brother, And he hath destroyed his mercies, And tear perpetually doth his anger, And his wrath, he hath kept it for ever, 12. And I have sent a fire against Teman, And it hath consumed palaces of Bozrah.

13. Thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of the sons of Ammon, And for four, I do not reverse it, Because of their ripping up the pregnant ones of Gilead, To enlarge their border,

And I have kindled a fire against the wall of Rabbah, And it hath consumed her palaces, With a shout in a day of battle, With a whirlwind in a day of hurricane, 15. And gone hath their king in a removal, He and his heads together, said Jehovah! (Amos 1:11-15, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Amos of Tekoa, a herdsman (noqed, sheep breeder) and tender of sycamore figs from Judah, speaking the word of the LORD. Here he pronounces the fifth of eight oracles against the nations (1:3-2:16).
Audience: Formally addressed to the Ammonites, east of the Jordan, whose capital was Rabbah, but spoken in the hearing of Israel, whose own indictment the series of oracles is building toward (Amos 2:6-16).
Location: Delivered in the northern kingdom, principally at Bethel, the royal sanctuary and state temple (Amos 7:13).
Time period: c. 760-750 BC, in the reigns of Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam II of Israel, "two years before the earthquake" (Amos 1:1). Amos is generally reckoned the earliest of the writing prophets.

Theological reading

Atrocity for land. Ammon's crime is named together with its motive: "they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they may enlarge their border." The violence was not a side effect of war but a method of emptying Gilead, the Israelite territory east of the Jordan that bordered Ammon, so as to take its land. Elisha had wept foreseeing the same cruelty from Hazael of Damascus: "and rip up their women with child" (2 Kings 8:12).

The defenseless and the unborn. Of all the crimes in 1:3-2:3, this one targets those least able to resist and a generation not yet born. The oracle treats it as a crime against God, and the sentence is total: fire on the wall of Rabbah, and "their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together" (1:14-15).

An early reading. Alongside the literal sense, Gregory the Great reads the verse figuratively, taking Gilead ("a heap of witness") as the Church and the women with child as souls who have begun to understand the Word: "heretics assuredly slay by their perverse preaching the souls of the faithful who had already conceived something of the understanding of the truth" (Gregory the Great, Book of Pastoral Rule (Part III, chapter 24), Schaff NPNF2 vol 12).

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

H6588 - pesha, pesha, Strong's H6588
H7725 - shuv, shuv, Strong's H7725
H1121 - ben, ben, Strong's H1121
H3068 - YHWH, YHWH, Strong's H3068

Notes

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.