Amos 2:6

Bible in Basic English (1941)

These are the words of the Lord: For three crimes of Israel, and for four, I will not let its fate be changed; because they have given the upright man for silver, and the poor for the price of two shoes;

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

כֹּ֚ה אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֔ה עַל־שְׁלֹשָׁה֙ פִּשְׁעֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְעַל־אַרְבָּעָ֖ה לֹ֣א אֲשִׁיבֶ֑נּוּ עַל־מִכְרָ֤ם בַּכֶּ֙סֶף֙ צַדִּ֔יק וְאֶבְי֖וֹן בַּעֲב֥וּר נַעֲלָֽיִם׃

Transliteration

kōh ʾāmar YHWH upon-šəlōšāh pišʿê yiśrāʾēl wə-upon-ʾarbāʿāh lōʾ ʾăšîbennû upon-mikrām bakkesep ṣaddîq wə-ʾebyôn baʿăbûr naʿălāyim

Grammar Details

• *kōh*: adverb - thus/so
• *ʾāmar*: perfect, 3rd masculine singular - said/speaks
• *YHWH*: divine name - Yahweh/LORD
• *šəlōšāh*: cardinal number, masculine - three
• *pišʿê*: construct masculine plural of *pešaʿ* - transgressions/rebellions of
• *yiśrāʾēl*: proper noun - Israel
• *wə*: conjunction - and
• *ʾarbāʿāh*: cardinal number, masculine - four
• *lōʾ*: negative particle - not
• *ʾăšîbennû*: hiphil imperfect 1st singular with 3rd masculine singular suffix - I will not turn it back/revoke it
• *mikrām*: infinitive construct with 3rd masculine plural suffix - their selling
• *bakkesep*: preposition + definite article + masculine singular - for the silver/money
• *ṣaddîq*: masculine singular adjective - righteous person
• *wə-ʾebyôn*: conjunction + masculine singular - and needy/poor
• *baʿăbûr*: preposition + masculine singular - for the sake of/because of
• *naʿălāyim*: feminine dual - pair of sandals

Word Meanings

• *pišʿê*: transgressions/rebellions/crimes
• *ʾăšîbennû*: I will not turn it back/revoke it/reverse it
• *mikrām*: their selling/their trading
• *kesep*: silver/money/payment
• *ṣaddîq*: righteous person/innocent person/just person
• *ʾebyôn*: needy/poor/destitute
• *baʿăbûr*: for the sake of/because of/on account of
• *naʿălāyim*: pair of sandals/shoes (implying something of little value)

Referenced Verses

• Joel 3:3 : 3 And I will let wonders be seen in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke.
• Amos 5:11-12 : 11 So because the poor man is crushed under your feet, and you take taxes from him of grain: you have made for yourselves houses of cut stone, but you will not take your rest in them; the fair vine-gardens planted by your hands will not give you wine. 12 For I have seen how your evil-doing is increased and how strong are your sins, you troublers of the upright, who take rewards and do wrong to the cause of the poor in the public place.
• Mic 3:2-3 : 2 You who are haters of good and lovers of evil, pulling off their skin from them and their flesh from their bones; 3 Like meat they take the flesh of my people for their food, skinning them and crushing their bones, yes, cutting them up as if for the pot, like flesh inside the cooking-pot.
• 2 Kgs 18:12 : 12 Because they did not give ear to the voice of the Lord their God, but went against his agreement, even against everything ordered by Moses, the servant of the Lord, and they did not give ear to it or do it.
• Isa 5:22-23 : 22 Cursed are those who are strong to take wine, and great in making mixed drinks! 23 Who for a reward give support to the cause of the sinner, and who take away the righteousness of the upright from him.
• Isa 29:21 : 21 Who give help to a man in a wrong cause, and who put a net for the feet of him who gives decisions in the public place, taking away a man's right without cause.
• Ezek 23:5-9 : 5 And Oholah was untrue to me when she was mine; she was full of desire for her lovers, even for the Assyrians, her neighbours, 6 Who were clothed in blue, captains and rulers, all of them young men to be desired, horsemen seated on horses. 7 And she gave her unclean love to them, all of them the noblest men of Assyria: and she made herself unclean with the images of all who were desired by her. 8 And she has not given up her loose ways from the time when she was in Egypt; for when she was young they were her lovers, and by them her young breasts were crushed, and they let loose on her their unclean desire. 9 For this cause I gave her up into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians on whom her desire was fixed.
• Hos 4:1-2 : 1 Give ear to the word of the Lord, O children of Israel; for the Lord has a cause against the people of this land, because there is no good faith in it, and no mercy and no knowledge of God in the land. 2 There is cursing and broken faith, violent death and attacks on property, men are untrue in married life, houses are broken into, and there is blood touching blood.
• Hos 4:11-14 : 11 Loose ways and new wine take away wisdom. 12 My people get knowledge from their tree, and their rod gives them news; for a false spirit is the cause of their wandering, and they have been false to their God. 13 They make offerings on the tops of mountains, burning perfumes in high places, under trees of every sort, because their shade is good: and so your daughters are given up to loose ways and your brides are false to their husbands. 14 I will not give punishment to your daughters or your brides for their evil behaviour; for they make themselves separate with loose women, and make offerings with those who are used for sex purposes in the worship of the gods: the people who have no wisdom will be sent away.
• Hos 7:7-9 : 7 They are all heated like an oven, and they put an end to their judges; all their kings have been made low; not one among them makes prayer to me. 8 Ephraim is mixed with the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned. 9 Men from other lands have made waste his strength, and he is not conscious of it; grey hairs have come on him here and there, and he has no knowledge of it. 10 And the pride of Israel gives an answer to his face; but for all this, they have not gone back to the Lord their God, or made search for him.
• Hos 8:4-6 : 4 They have put up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, but I had no knowledge of it; they have made images of silver and gold, so that they may be cut off. 5 I will have nothing to do with your young ox, O Samaria; my wrath is burning against them; how long will it be before the children of Israel make themselves clean? 6 The workman made it, it is no god; the ox of Samaria will be broken into bits.
• Hos 13:2-3 : 2 And now their sins are increased; they have made themselves a metal image, false gods from their silver, after their designs, all of them the work of the metal-workers; they say of them, Let them give offerings, let men give kisses to the oxen. 3 So they will be like the morning cloud, like the dew which goes early away, like the dust of the grain which the wind is driving out of the crushing-floor, like smoke going up from the fireplace.
• Mic 6:10-16 : 10 Am I to let the stores of the evil-doer go out of my memory, and the short measure, which is cursed? 11 Is it possible for me to let wrong scales and the bag of false weights go without punishment? 12 For its men of wealth are cruel, and its people have said what is not true, and their tongue is false in their mouth. 13 So I have made a start with your punishment; I have made you waste because of your sins. 14 You will have food, but not enough; your shame will be ever with you: you will get your goods moved, but you will not take them away safely; and what you do take away I will give to the sword. 15 You will put in seed, but you will not get in the grain; you will be crushing olives, but your bodies will not be rubbed with the oil; and you will get in the grapes, but you will have no wine. 16 For you have kept the laws of Omri and all the works of the family of Ahab, and you have been guided by their designs: so that I might make you a cause of wonder and your people a cause of hisses; and the shame of my people will be on you.
• 2 Kgs 17:7-9 : 7 And the wrath of the Lord came on Israel because they had done evil against the Lord their God, who took them out of the land of Egypt from under the yoke of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and had become worshippers of other gods, 8 Living by the rules of the nations whom the Lord had sent out from before the children of Israel. 9 And the children of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things which were not right, building high places for themselves in all their towns, from the tower of the watchmen to the walled town. 10 They put up pillars of stone and wood on every high hill and under every green tree: 11 Burning their offerings in all the high places, as those nations did whom the Lord sent away from before them; they did evil things, moving the Lord to wrath; 12 And they made themselves servants of disgusting things, though the Lord had said, You are not to do this. 13 And he gave witness to Israel and Judah, by every prophet and seer, saying, Come back from your evil ways, and do my orders and keep my rules, and be guided by the law which I gave to your fathers and sent to you by my servants the prophets. 14 And they did not give ear, but became stiff-necked, like their fathers who had no faith in the Lord their God. 15 And they went against his rules, and the agreement which he made with their fathers, and his laws which he gave them; they gave themselves up to things without sense or value, and became foolish like the nations round them, of whom the Lord had said, Do not as they do. 16 And turning their backs on all the orders which the Lord had given them, they made for themselves images of metal, and the image of Asherah, worshipping all the stars of heaven and becoming servants to Baal. 17 And they made their sons and their daughters go through the fire, and they made use of secret arts and unnatural powers, and gave themselves up to doing evil in the eyes of the Lord, till he was moved to wrath. 18 So the Lord was very angry with Israel, and his face was turned away from them: only the tribe of Judah kept its place.
• Amos 6:3-7 : 3 You who put far away the evil day, causing the rule of the violent to come near; 4 Who are resting on beds of ivory, stretched out on soft seats, feasting on lambs from the flock and young oxen from the cattle-house; 5 Making foolish songs to the sound of corded instruments, and designing for themselves instruments of music, like David; 6 Drinking wine in basins, rubbing themselves with the best oils; but they have no grief for the destruction of Joseph. 7 So now they will go away prisoners with the first of those who are made prisoners, and the loud cry of those who were stretched out will come to an end.
• Amos 8:4-6 : 4 Give ear to this, you who are crushing the poor, and whose purpose is to put an end to those who are in need in the land, 5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, so that we may do trade in grain? and the Sabbath, so that we may put out in the market the produce of our fields? making the measure small and the price great, and trading falsely with scales of deceit; 6 Getting the poor for silver, and him who is in need for the price of two shoes, and taking a price for the waste parts of the grain.
• Joel 3:6 : 6 For in those days and in that time, when I let the fate of Judah and Jerusalem be changed,