Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
Yahweh promises to punish Moab, Judah, and Northern Israel for their sins.
II. Photo
God flaunts his might: “I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose stature was like the cedar’s and who was stout as the oak, destroying his boughs above and his trunk below!” (v. 9)
III. Important Verses
1: For three transgressions of Moab, For four, I will not revoke it: Because he burned the bones Of the king of Edom to lime.
4-5: Thus said the LORD: For three transgressions of Judah, For four, I will not revoke it: Because they have spurned the Teaching of the LORD And have not observed His laws; They are beguiled by the delusions After which their fathers walked. I will send down fire upon Judah, And it shall devour the fortresses of Jerusalem.
6-7: Thus said the LORD: For three transgressions of Israel, For four, I will not revoke it: Because they have sold for silver Those whose cause was just, And the needy for a pair of sandals. Ah, you who trample the heads of the poor Into the dust of the ground, And make the humble walk a twisted course! Father and son go to the same girl, And thereby profane My holy name.
10: And I Brought you up from the land of Egypt And led you through the wilderness forty years, To possess the land of the Amorite!
11-12: And I raised up prophets from among your sons And nazirites from among your young men. Is that not so, O people of Israel? — says the LORD.
IV. Outline
1-3. Moab will be punished for killing the king of Edom
4-5. Judah will be punished for not serving God
6-16. Oracle against Northern Israel
6-8. Israel’s sins: mistreating the poor, illicit relations, improper worship
9. Lesson: God destroyed mighty Ammon
10-11. God’s kindness to Israel
12. Israel rejected God’s kindness
14-16. Israel will suffer military defeat
V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.
VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Collins, John J. “Introduction to the Hebrew Bible,” (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004).
Photo taken from http://images.businessweek.com/ss/05/03/bw50plus/images/bp14239_bw50_st.jpg
