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Amos 2:6

in Amos 2

This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Israel, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

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—

KJV

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;

This verse in Amos 2

Commentary

10 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Amos · Written before 420.

(Vers. 6 seqq.) Thus says the Lord: For three crimes of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke my word: Because they sell the just man for silver, and the poor man for a pair of sandals. They trample the heads of the weak into the dust of the earth, and they force the lowly off the path. Son and father go to the same prostitute, profaning my holy name. Upon garments taken in pledge, they recline beside every altar; and the wine of those who have been fined, they drink in the house of their God.

This site's exposition

they sold the righteous for silver

on Amos 2:6-8

Israel's oracle, the seventh and longest, is the one the whole chapter has been building toward, and its charges are social rather than military, a righteous man sold for silver and a poor man for the price of a pair of sandals, judges and creditors turning small debts into slavery. The pledge garments kept overnight against Exodus 22:26-27's own law and laid beside every altar, and wine bought with money exacted as fines drunk in the house of their god, describe a religious life financed by the very oppression the law forbids, worship and injustice sharing one roof. A father and his son going in unto the same maid to profane the Lord's holy name is read by the bench as either cultic prostitution attached to the shrines or a plain abuse of a household servant, the readings named without a verdict pressed on the reader.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers4 voices

A commentator

Cyril of Alexandria

Commentary on Amos · Written before 444.

proposed

He does not leave him unpunished, but rather subjects to punishments Israel, that is, the tribes in Samaria. And that they themselves, sinning unguardedly, have all but consumed the tranquility owed by God to the weak, the turning away for three and four sins would show, which having suffered they must necessarily be subjected to terrible things, and be in every evil. Therefore, the divine David, fearing this thing, and knowing it to be a cause of destruction, implored, saying, "Do not turn Your face from me, and do not turn away in wrath from Your servant." For wrath always follows, and, as it were, accompanies the turnings away.
Many, truly, are the shoes of the sinful soul, by which it is bound and cramped. For each man is cramped by the cords of his own sins. Accordingly, Abraham swears to the king of Sodom, "I will not take of all that is thine, from a thread to a shoe-latchet." On account of these being defiled and polluted on the earth, every kind of wrong and selfishness engrosses life. As the Lord reproves Israel by Amos, saying, "For three iniquities of Israel, yea, for four, I will not turn him back; because they have given away the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, which tread upon the dust of the ground."

A commentator

Cyril of Alexandria

Commentary on Amos · Written before 444.

proposed

"They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals": They did not endure to speak rightly and justly, and to render for each of those being judged the justice that accords with the law. But if it happened that a man was righteous, sober and gentle, modest and unboastful; for such a one would be understood as both righteous and needy, or poor in spirit; being brought to judgment by one of the more powerful, this man is sold to his enemies, although the law clearly proclaimed, "You shall not take person in judgment;" and again, "You shall not slay the innocent and the just." For the one entrusted with judging is certainly established in the order of God, to whom alone judging is proper. "For there is one lawgiver and judge," according to the voice of the saint. Therefore, the one who falsifies the account of justice and shows partiality will certainly insult the divine dignity, and offends God who says, "Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassion every one to his brother." He accuses them, therefore, of selling the just and the needy to their enemies, and of being accustomed to doing this for the sake of a few and most worthless gains, which would scarcely suffice for those who received them for the purchase of sandals.

A commentator

Tertullian

AGAINST MARCION 4. · Written before 220.

proposed

He might also have been betrayed by any stranger, did I not find that even here too he fulfilled a psalm: "He who did eat bread with me has lifted up his heel against me." And without a price might he have been betrayed. For what need of a traitor was there in the case of one who offered himself to the people openly and might quite as easily have been captured by force as taken by treachery? This might, no doubt, have been well enough for another Christ but would not have been suitable in one who was accomplishing prophecies. For it was written, "The righteous one did they sell for silver." The very amount and the destination of the money, which on Judas's remorse was recalled "from its first purpose of a fee" and appropriated to the purchase of a potter's field, as narrated in the Gospel of Matthew, were clearly foretold by Jeremiah: "And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him who was valued, and gave them for the potter's field."

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of Israel,....
3 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

For three transgressions of Israel, etc. - 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.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Israel--the ten tribes, the main subject of Amos' prophecies. sold the righteous--Israel's judges for a bribe are induced to condemn in judgment him who has a righteous cause; in violation of De 16:19. the poor for a pair of shoes--literally, "sandals" of wood, secured on the foot by leather straps; less valuable than shoes.
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” Lev 25:39-40. The thief who could not repay what he stole, was to “be sold for his theft” Exo 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 Neh 5:5, or “his wife and children” Mat 18:25, nay even the sons of a deceased debtor 2Ki 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 (Son 7:1; Ezra 10; Judith 16:9). […]

The words behind it

18 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • כֹּ֚הthus

    kohH3541577 times

  • אָמַ֣רhe says

    ʾamarH5595305 times

  • יְהוָ֔הYahweh

    yahwehH30686520 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H59215755 times

  • שְׁלֹשָׁה֙three

    sheloshahH7969432 times

  • פִּשְׁעֵ֣י<the> transgressions of

    pisheiH658893 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael

    yisraelH34782507 times

  • וְעַל־and on

    veal-H59215755 times

  • אַרְבָּעָ֖הfour

    ʾarbaahH702318 times

  • לֹ֣אnot

    lo'H38085168 times

  • אֲשִׁיבֶ֑נּוּI will revoke it

    ʾashivenuH77251056 times

  • עַל־because

    ʾal-H59215755 times

  • מִכְרָ֤םsold they

    mikhramH4376

  • בַּכֶּ֙סֶף֙for <the> silver

    bakesefH3701

  • צַדִּ֔יק[the] righteous

    tzadikH6662

  • וְאֶבְי֖וֹןand [the] needy

    veevyonH3461 times

  • בַּעֲב֥וּרforsake of

    baavurH5668

  • נַעֲלָֽיִם׃a pair of sandals

    naalayimH5275

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

4 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Joel 3:3

    They cast lots for My people; they bartered a boy for a prostitute and sold a girl for wine to drink.

    it leads to

    • Nahum 3:10

      Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries, and all her nobles were bound in…

    • Obadiah 1:11

      On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gate and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were just like one of them.

    • Revelation 18:13

      of cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; of wine, olive oil, fine flour, and wheat; of cattle, sheep, horses, and chariots; of slaves and souls of men.

    • 2 Chronicles 28:8–9

      Then the Israelites took 200,000 captives from their kinsmen—women, sons, and daughters. They also carried off a great deal of plunder and brought it to Samaria.

Where this verse is studied

About Amos

The Prophet Amos, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Prophet Amos, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Clement of Alexandria, Fragments Found in Greek Only in the Oxford Edition; Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Amos; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Amos; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Tertullian, AGAINST MARCION 4..