ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Amos 2.6

Book: Amos · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

4. Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Judah, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have rejected the law of Jehovah, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have caused them to err, after which their fathers did walk: 5. but I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

6. Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes,

  1. they that pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father go unto the same maiden, to profane my holy name: 8. and they lay themselves down beside every altar upon clothes taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of such as have been fined. (Amos 2:4-8, ASV)
WEB

4. Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have rejected Yahweh’s law, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have led them astray, after which their fathers walked; 5. But I will send a fire on Judah, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem.”

6. Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes;

  1. They trample on the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and deny justice to the oppressed; and a man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name; 8. and they lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined. (Amos 2:4-8, WEB)
KJV

4. 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: 5. But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

6. Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;

  1. That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name: maid: or, young woman 8. And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god. the condemned: or, such as have fined, or, mulcted (Amos 2:4-8, KJV)
YLT

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, 5. And I have sent a fire against Judah, And it hath consumed palaces of Jerusalem.

6. Thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, And for four, I do not reverse it, Because of their selling for silver the righteous, And the needy for a pair of sandals.

  1. Who are panting for the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, And the way of the humble they turn aside, And a man and his father go unto the damsel, So as to pollute My holy name. 8. And on pledged garments they stretch themselves near every altar, And the wine of fined ones they drink [in] the house of their gods. (Amos 2:4-8, 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.
  • Audience: The northern kingdom of Israel, addressed at the height of its prosperity under Jeroboam II.
  • 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

The opening line of the eighth and climactic oracle, the one aimed at the audience itself.

"They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals." The most probable reference is debt-slavery, permitted in narrow form under Torah (Exodus 21:2-6; Leviticus 25:39-43) with strict limits on term and treatment, and here abused. The tzaddiq, the party in the right, is being sold, which points at a corrupt verdict rather than a genuine default: the courtroom of Amos 5:12 is the mechanism.

"For a pair of sandals." Either the debt was trivially small, so that a person was sold over nothing, or the phrase alludes to the sandal as the token of a completed property transfer (Ruth 4:7). Both readings converge on the same charge: a human being processed as a routine transaction. The phrase recurs at Amos 8:6.

The length of the oracle is the message. After seven oracles of two to four verses each, the oracle against Israel runs eleven (Amos 2:6-16) and lists sexual exploitation, garments taken in pledge and slept on at the altar, wine bought with fines drunk in the sanctuary, and the silencing of prophets and Nazirites. Israel is charged with more than the nations because Israel received more.

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; see Lexicon Roadmap.

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.