Amós 2:6

La Biblia Reina-Valera

Así ha dicho Jehová: Por tres pecados de Israel, y por el cuarto, no desviaré su castigo; porque vendieron por dinero al justo, y al pobre por un par de zapatos:

Parallel Translations

La Biblia de las Americas
Así dice el Señor : Por tres transgresiones de Israel, y por cuatro, no revocaré su castigo, porque venden al justo por dinero y al necesitado por un par de sandalias.

La Biblia Reina-Valera Gomez
As� dice Jehov�: Por tres pecados de Israel, y por el cuarto, no revocar� su castigo; porque vendieron por dinero al justo, y al pobre por un par de zapatos:

Sagradas Escrituras (1569)
As� dijo el SE�OR: Por tres pecados de Israel, y por el cuarto, no la convertir�; porque vendieron por dinero al justo, y al pobre por un par de zapatos.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Thus saith: Amos, says Abp. Newcome, first prophesies against the Syrians, Philistines, Tyrians, Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites, who dwelt in the neighbourhood of the twelve tribes, and had occasionally become their enemies and persecutors. Having thus taught his countrymen that the providence of God extended to other nations, he briefly mentions the idolatrous practices and consequent destruction of Judah, and then passes on to his proper subject, which was to exhort and reprove the kingdom of Israel, and to denounce against it the Divine judgments.

For three: Amos 6:3-7, 2 Kings 17:7-18, 2 Kings 18:12, Ezekiel 23:5-9, Hosea 4:1, Hosea 4:2, Hosea 4:11-14, Hosea 7:7-10, Hosea 8:4-6, Hosea 13:2, Hosea 13:3, Micah 6:10-16

because: Amos 5:11, Amos 5:12, Amos 8:4-6, Isaiah 5:22, Isaiah 5:23, Isaiah 29:21, Joel 3:3, Joel 3:6, Micah 3:2, Micah 3:3

Reciprocal: Exodus 20:17 - thy neighbour's house Esther 7:4 - But if we Psalms 10:9 - when Proverbs 6:16 - six Proverbs 22:7 - rich Isaiah 3:15 - ye beat Isaiah 17:3 - fortress Isaiah 32:6 - empty Jeremiah 34:14 - At the Ezekiel 18:7 - hath not Ezekiel 22:13 - thy dishonest Amos 1:3 - For Amos 2:1 - For three Amos 4:1 - which oppress Amos 8:6 - General Acts 24:26 - hoped Romans 7:14 - sold James 2:6 - Do Revelation 18:13 - slaves

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of Israel,.... The ten tribes rent from the house of David in the times of Rehoboam, and who departed from the true worship of God, and set up calves at Dan and Bethel:

and for four, I will not turn away [the punishment] thereof; the following part of this prophecy is taken up in pointing at the sins and punishment of Israel; now the prophet is come to the main business he was sent to do:

because they sold the righteous for silver; meaning not any particular person, as Joseph sold by his brethren, for in that they were all concerned, Judah as well as the rest; nor Christ, as others q, sold for thirty pieces of silver; since the persons here charged with it, and the times in which it was done, will not agree with that case; but the sense is, that the judges of Israel were so corrupt, that for a piece of money they would give a cause against a righteous man, and in favour of an unjust man that bribed them:

and the poor for a pair of shoes; that is, for a mere trifle they would pervert justice; if two men came before them with a cause, and both poor; yet if one could but give a pair of shoes, or anything he could part with, though he could not give money; so mean and sordid were they, they would take it, and give the cause for him, however unjust it was.

q Vid. Galatin. Cathol. Ver. Arcan. l. 4. c. 24.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For three transgressions of Israel, and for four - In Israel, on whom the divine sentence henceforth rests, the prophet numbers four classes of sins, running into one another, as all sins do, since all grievous sins contain many in one, yet in some degree distinct:

(1) Perversion of justice;

(2) oppression of the poor;

(3) uncleanness;

(4) luxury with idolatry.

They sold the righteous for silver - It is clear from the opposite statement, “that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes,” that the prophet is not speaking of judicial iniquity, but of actual buying and selling. The law allowed a Hebrew who was poor to sell himself , and a Hebrew to buy him until the year of release; yet this too with the express reserve, that the purchaser was forbidden to “serve himself with him with the service of a slave, but as a hired servant and a sojourner stroll he be with thee” Leviticus 25:39-40. The thief who could not repay what he stole, was to “be sold for his theft” Exodus 22:2-3. But the law gave no power to sell an insolvent debtor. It grew up in practice. The sons and daughters of the debtor Nehemiah 5:5, or “his wife and children” Matthew 18:25, nay even the sons of a deceased debtor 2 Kings 4:1, were sold. Nehemiah rebuked this sharply. In that case, the hardness was aggravated by the fact that the distress had been fomented by usury. But the aggravation did not constitute the sin. It seems to be this merciless selling by the creditor, with Amos rebukes. The “righteous” is probably one who, without any blame, became insolvent. The “pair of shoes,” that is, sandals, express the trivial price, or the luxury for which he was sold. They had him sold “for the sake of a pair of sandals,” that is, in order to procure them. Trivial in themselves, as being a mere sole, the sandals of the Hebrew women were, at times, costly and beautiful (Song of Solomon 7:1; Ezra 10:0; Judith 16:9). Such a sale expressed contempt for man, made in the image of God, that he was sold either for some worthless price, or for some needless adornment.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Amos 2:6-8. For three transgressions of Israel, c. — To be satisfied of the exceeding delinquency of this people, we have only to open the historical and prophetic books in any part for the whole history of the Israelites is one tissue of transgression against God. Their crimes are enumerated under the following heads: -

1. Their judges were mercenary and corrupt. They took bribes to condemn the righteous; and even for articles of clothing, such as a pair of shoes, they condemned the poor man, and delivered him into the hands of his adversary.

2. They were unmerciful to the poor generally. They pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor; or, to put it on the head of the poor; or, they bruise the head of the poor against the dust of the earth. Howsoever the clause is understood, it shows them to have been general oppressors of the poor, showing them neither justice nor mercy.

3. They turn aside the way of the meek. They are peculiarly oppressive to the weak and afflicted.

4. They were licentious to the uttermost abomination; for in their idol feasts, where young women prostituted themselves publicly in honour of Astarte, the father and son entered into impure connections with the same female.

5. They were cruel in their oppressions of the poor; for the garments or beds which the poor had pledged they retained contrary to the law, Exodus 22:7-26, which required that such things should be restored before the setting of the sun.

6. They punished the people by unjust and oppressive fines, and served their tables with wine bought by such fines. Or it may be understood of their appropriating to themselves that wine which was allowed to criminals to mitigate their sufferings in the article of death; which was the excess of inhumanity and cruelty.