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Green's Literal Translation

Amos 2:4

So says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn back from it; for they despised the Law of Jehovah, and they have not kept His statutes. And their lies after which their fathers walked led them astray.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Backsliders;   Israel, Prophecies Concerning;   Scofield Reference Index - Judgments;   Thompson Chain Reference - Bible, the;   Home;   Influence;   Law;   Parental;   The Topic Concordance - Despisement;   Disobedience;   Israel/jews;   Lying/lies;   Punishment;   Word of God;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Law of God, the;   Parents;   Sins, National;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Lie;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Amos, Theology of;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Poetry;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Amos;   Pentateuch;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Amos;   Monotheism;   Oracles;   Prophecy, Prophets;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Apocalyptic Literature;   Day of the Lord;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Zion;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Amos (1);   Err;   Number;   Punishments;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Amos;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Hosea, Book of;   Monotheism;  

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
This is what the Lord says: "I will definitely punish Judah for the many crimes they did. They refused to obey the Lord 's teachings and they did not keep his commands. Their ancestors believed lies, and those same lies caused the people of Judah to stop following God.
New American Standard Bible
This is what the LORD says: "For three offenses of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke its punishment, Because they rejected the Law of the LORD And have not kept His statutes; Their lies also have led them astray, Those which their fathers followed.
New Century Version
This is what the Lord says: "For the many crimes of Judah, I will punish them. They rejected the teachings of the Lord and did not keep his commands; they followed the same gods as their ancestors had followed.
New English Translation
This is what the Lord says: "Because Judah has committed three covenant transgressions— make that four!—I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They rejected the Lord 's law; they did not obey his commands. Their false gods, to which their fathers were loyal, led them astray.
Update Bible Version
Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have rejected the law of Yahweh, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have caused them to err, after which their fathers walked:
Webster's Bible Translation
Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away [their punishment]: because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after which their fathers have walked:
Amplified Bible
Thus says the LORD, "For three transgressions of Judah and for four (multiplied delinquencies) I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it, Because they have rejected the law of the LORD [the sum of God's instruction to His people] And have not kept His commandments; But their lies [and their idols], after which their fathers walked, Caused them to go astray.
English Standard Version
Thus says the Lord : "For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have rejected the law of the Lord , and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray, those after which their fathers walked.
World English Bible
Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; Because they have rejected the law of Yahweh, And have not kept his statutes, And their lies have led them astray, After which their fathers walked;
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The Lord seith these thingis, On thre grete trespassis of Juda, and on foure, Y schal not conuerte hym, for he hath caste awei the lawe of the Lord, and kepte not the comaundementis of hym; for her idols, after whiche the fadris of hem yeden, disseyueden hem.
English Revised Version
Thus saith the LORD: For three transgressions of Judah, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have rejected the law of the LORD, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have caused them to err, after the which their fathers did walk:
Berean Standard Bible
This is what the LORD says: "For three transgressions of Judah, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they have rejected the law of the LORD and have not kept His statutes; they have been led astray by the lies in which their forefathers walked.
Contemporary English Version
The Lord said: I will punish Judah for countless crimes, and I won't change my mind. They have rejected my teachings and refused to obey me. They were led astray by the same false gods their ancestors worshiped.
American Standard Version
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.
Bible in Basic English
These are the words of the Lord: For three crimes of Judah, and for four, I will not let its fate be changed; because they have given up the law of the Lord, and have not kept his rules; and their false ways, in which their fathers went, have made them go out of the right way.
Complete Jewish Bible
Here is what Adonai says: "For Y'hudah's three crimes, no, four — I will not reverse it — because they rejected Adonai 's Torah and haven't observed his laws, and their lies caused them to fall into error and live the way their ancestors did;
Darby Translation
Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke its sentence; because they have despised the law of Jehovah, and have not kept his statutes; and their lies have caused them to err, after which their fathers walked.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Thus saith the LORD: For three transgressions of Judah, yea, for four, I will not reverse it: because they have rejected the law of the LORD, and have not kept His statutes, and their lies have caused them to err, after which their fathers did walk.
King James Version (1611)
Thus sayth the Lord, For three transgressions of Iudah, and for foure, I will not turne away the punishment thereof; because they haue despised the Law of the Lord, and haue not kept his Commandements, and their lies caused them to erre, after the which their fathers haue walked.
New Living Translation
This is what the Lord says: "The people of Judah have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They have rejected the instruction of the Lord , refusing to obey his decrees. They have been led astray by the same lies that deceived their ancestors.
New Life Bible
The Lord says, "For three sins of Judah and for four, I will not hold back punishment. They turned away from the Law of the Lord. They have not obeyed His Laws. They have gone the wrong way, following the lies of their fathers.
New Revised Standard
Thus says the Lord : For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they have rejected the law of the Lord , and have not kept his statutes, but they have been led astray by the same lies after which their ancestors walked.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Thus saith the Lorde, For three transgressions of Iudah, and for foure, I will not turne to it, because they haue cast away the Lawe of the Lorde, and haue not kept his commandementes, and their lies caused them to erre after the which their fathers haue walked.
George Lamsa Translation
Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of Judah. and for four, I will not turn away the punishment from the people thereof because they have rejected the law of the LORD and have not kept his commandments, and the vain idols, after which their fathers have walked, have caused them to go astray.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Thus, saith Yahweh, Because of three transgressions of Judah, and because of four, will I not turn it back, - Because they have rejected the law of Yahweh, and, his statutes, have not kept, but their falsehoods, have led them astray, after the which their fathers, did walk,
Douay-Rheims Bible
Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Juda, and for four I will not convert him: because he hath cast away the law of the Lord, and hath not kept his commandments: for their idols have caused them to err, after which their fathers have walked.
Revised Standard Version
Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they have rejected the law of the LORD, and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray, after which their fathers walked.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thus sayth the Lorde, For three wickednesses of Iuda, and for foure I will not spare hym: because they haue cast away the lawe of the Lord, and haue not kept his ordinaunces, and their lies caused them to erre, after the which their fathers walked.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Thus saith the Lord; For three sins of the children of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away from him; because they have rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept his ordinances, and their vain idols which they made, which their fathers followed, caused them to err.
Good News Translation

Judah

The Lord says, "The people of Judah have sinned again and again, and for this I will certainly punish them. They have despised my teachings and have not kept my commands. They have been led astray by the same false gods that their ancestors served.
Christian Standard Bible®
The Lord says:
Hebrew Names Version
Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Yehudah, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; Because they have rejected the law of the LORD, And have not kept his statutes, And their lies have led them astray, After which their fathers walked;
King James Version
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:
Lexham English Bible
Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Judah and for four I will not revoke the punishment, because they have rejected the law of Yahweh and have not kept his rules, and their lies have led them astray, after which their ancestors walked!
Young's Literal Translation
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,
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thus sayeth the LORDE: for thre ad foure wickednesses of Iuda, I wil not spare him: because he hath cast asyde the lawe of the LORDE, and not kepte his commaundementes: for why, they wolde nedes be disceaued with the lyes, that their forefathers folowed.
THE MESSAGE
God 's Message: "Because of the three great sins of Judah —make that four—I'm not putting up with them any longer. They rejected God 's revelation, refused to keep my commands. But they swallowed the same old lies that got their ancestors onto dead-end roads. For that, I'm burning down Judah, burning down all the forts of Jerusalem."
New King James Version
Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because they have despised the law of the LORD, And have not kept His commandments. Their lies lead them astray, Lies which their fathers followed.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Thus says the LORD, "For three transgressions of Judah and for four I will not revoke its punishment, Because they rejected the law of the LORD And have not kept His statutes; Their lies also have led them astray, Those after which their fathers walked.
Legacy Standard Bible
Thus says Yahweh,"For three transgressions of Judah and for fourI will not turn back its punishmentBecause they rejected the law of YahwehAnd have not kept His statutes;Their falsehood also has led them astray,That which their fathers walked after.

Contextual Overview

1 So says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn back from it, for he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime. 2 But I will send a fire against Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth. And Moab shall die with uproar, with a war cry, with the sound of the ram's horn. 3 And I will cut off the judge in its midst, and I will kill all his rulers with him, says Jehovah. 4 So says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn back from it; for they despised the Law of Jehovah, and they have not kept His statutes. And their lies after which their fathers walked led them astray. 5 And I shall send a fire against Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem. 6 So says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn back from it, for they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals, 7 panting for the dust of the earth to be on the head of the helpless, and turning aside the way of the humble. And a man and his father will go in to the same girl, in order to profane the name of My holiness. 8 And they will stretch out beside every altar, and on garments taken in pledge. And they will drink wine of those being fined in the house of God.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

For: Deuteronomy 31:16-18, Deuteronomy 32:15-27

Judah: Amos 3:2, 2 Kings 17:19, Jeremiah 9:25, Jeremiah 9:26, Hosea 5:12, Hosea 5:13, Hosea 6:11, Hosea 12:2

because: Leviticus 26:14, Leviticus 26:15, Judges 2:17-20, 2 Samuel 12:9, 2 Samuel 12:10, 2 Kings 22:11-17, 2 Chronicles 36:14-17, Nehemiah 1:7, Nehemiah 9:26, Nehemiah 9:29, Nehemiah 9:30, Isaiah 5:24, Isaiah 5:25, Jeremiah 8:9, Ezekiel 16:1-63, Ezekiel 20:13, Ezekiel 20:16, Ezekiel 20:24, Ezekiel 22:8, Ezekiel 23:11-21, Daniel 9:5-12, 1 Thessalonians 4:8

and their: Isaiah 9:15, Isaiah 9:16, Isaiah 28:15, Isaiah 44:20, Jeremiah 16:19, Jeremiah 16:20, Jeremiah 23:13-15, Jeremiah 23:25-32, Jeremiah 28:15, Jeremiah 28:16, Ezekiel 13:6-16, Ezekiel 13:22, Ezekiel 22:28, Habakkuk 2:18, Romans 1:25

after: Judges 2:11-17, Judges 10:6, 2 Chronicles 30:7, Jeremiah 8:2, Jeremiah 9:14, Ezekiel 20:13, Ezekiel 20:16, Ezekiel 20:18, Ezekiel 20:24, Ezekiel 20:30, 1 Peter 1:18

Reciprocal: Proverbs 6:16 - six Proverbs 30:15 - There Isaiah 30:12 - Because Jeremiah 17:27 - then Hosea 5:5 - Judah Amos 1:3 - For Amos 2:1 - For three Micah 1:1 - concerning Acts 14:15 - from

Cross-References

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth;
Genesis 1:4
And God saw the light, that it was good, and God separated between the light and darkness.
Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the seas, and over birds of the heavens, and over all beasts creeping on the earth.
Genesis 1:31
And God saw everything that He had made and behold, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning the sixth day.
Genesis 2:1
And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their host.
Genesis 2:2
And on the seventh day God completed His work which He had made. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.
Genesis 5:1
This is the book of the generations of Adam: In the day that God created man. He made him in the likeness of God.
Genesis 10:1
And these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood.
Genesis 11:10
These are the generations of Shem: Shem was a son of a hundred years and fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood.
Genesis 25:12
And these are the generations of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, whom Hagar the Egyptian, the slave-girl of Sarah, bore to Abraham.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of Judah,.... With whom Benjamin must be joined; for the two tribes are meant as distinct from the ten tribes, under the name of Israel, following. The prophet proceeds from the Heathens round about to the people of God themselves, for the ill usage of whom chiefly the above nations are threatened with ruin, lest they should promise themselves impunity in sin; though, if they rightly considered things, they could not expect it; since, if the Heathens, ignorant of the will of God, and his law, were punished for their sins, then much more those who knew it, and did it not, Luke 12:47; and he begins with Judah, partly because he was of that tribe, lest he should be charged with flattery and partiality, and partly because of the order of his prophecy, which being chiefly concerned with Israel, it was proper that what he had to say to Judah should be delivered first:

and for four, I will not turn away [the punishment] thereof; the prophet retains the same form as in his prophecies against the Heathen nations; his own people, and God's professing people, being guilty of numerous transgressions, as well as they, and more aggravated than theirs; Luke 12:47- :;

because they have despised the law of the Lord; a law so holy, just, and good, and so righteous, as no other nation had; and yet was not only not observed, but contemned: other nations sinned against the light of nature, and are not charged with breaches of the law of God, which was not given them; but these people had it, yet lightly esteemed it; counted it as a strange thing; walked not according to it, but cast it away from them; which was a great affront to the sovereignty of God, and a trampling upon his legislative power and authority:

and have not kept his commandments; or "statutes" p; the ordinances of the ceremonial law, which he appointed them to observe for the honour of his name, as parts of his worship; and to lead them into the designs of his grace and salvation by the Messiah:

and their lies caused them to err; either, their idols, as the Vulgate Latin version renders it; which are lying vanities, and deceive, and by which they were made to err from the pure worship of the living and true God to superstition and idolatry; or the words of the false prophets, as Kimchi; the false doctrines their taught, contrary to the word of God, directing them to seek for life by their own works; and promising them peace, when destruction was at hand; and daubing with untempered mortar; and as no lie is of the truth, but against it, so one untruth leads on to another:

after the which their fathers have walked; after which lies, idols, and errors, as in Ur of the Chaldees, in Egypt, in the wilderness, and even in later times: this was no excuse to them that they followed the way of their ancestors, but rather an aggravation of their guilt, that they imitated them, took no warning by them; but filled up the measure of their iniquities, and showed themselves to be a seed of evildoers, a generation of wicked men, the sons of rebellious parents.

p חקיו "statuta ejus", Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, &c.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For three transgressions of Judah etc. - Rup.: “Here too there is no difference of Jew and Gentile. The word of God, a just judge, spareth no man’s person. whom sin joins in one, the sentence of the Judge disjoins not in punishment” Romans 2:12. “As many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law, and as many as have signed in the law, shall be judged by the law.” Jerome: “Those other nations, Damascus and the rest, he upbraids not for having cast away the law of God, and despised His commandments, for they had not the written law, but that of nature only. So then of them he says, that “they corrupted all their compassions” - and the like. But Judah, who, at that time, had the worship of God and the temple and its rites, and had received the law and commandments and judgments and precepts and testimonies, is rebuked and convicted by the Lord, for that it had “cast aside His law and not kept His commandments;” wherefore it should be punished as it deserved.

And since they rejected and despised these, then, in course, “their lies deceived them,” that is, their idols; “lies” on their part who made them and worshiped them for the true God, and “lies” and lying to them, as deceiving their hopes. “For an idol is nothing in the world” 1 Corinthians 8:4, as neither are all the vanities in the world whereof people make idols, but they deceive by a vain show, as though they were something. Jerome: “They would not have been deceived by their idols, unless they had first rejected the law of the Lord and not done His commandments.” They had sinned with a high hand: “despising” and so rejecting the law of God; and so He despised and rejected them, leaving them to be deceived by the lies which they themselves had chosen. So it ever is with man. Man must either “love God’s law and hate and abhor lies” Psalms 119:163, or he will despise God’s law and cleave to lies.

He first in act “despises” God’s law, (and whoso does not keep it, despises it,) and then he must needs be deceived by some idol of his own, which becomes his God. He first chooses willfully his own “lie,” that is, whatever he chooses out of God, and then his own “lie” deceives him. So, morally, liars at last believe themselves. So, whatever false maxim anyone has adopted against his conscience, whether in belief or practice, to justify what he wills against the will of God, or to explain away what God reveals and he mislikes, stifling and lying to his conscience, in the end deceives his conscience, and at the last, a man believes that to be true, which, before he had lied to his conscience, he knew to be false. The prophet uses a bold word in speaking of man’s dealings with his God, “despises.” Man carries on the serpent’s first fraud, “Hath God indeed said?” Man would not willingly own, that he is directly at variance with the Mind of God. Man, in his powerlessness, at war with Omnipotence, and, in his limited knowledge, with Omniscience! It were too silly, as well as too terrible.

So he smoothes it over to himself, “lying” to himself. “God’s word must not be taken so precisely;” “God cannot have meant;” “the Author of nature would not have created us so, if He had meant;” and all the other excuses, by which he would evade owning to himself that he is directly rejecting the Mind of God and trampling it under foot. Scripture draws off the veil. Judah had the law of God, and did not keep it; then, he “despised” it. On the one side was God’s will, His Eternal Wisdom, His counsel for man for good; on the other, what debasements! On the one side were God’s awful threats, on the other, His exceeding promises. Yet man chose whatever he willed, lying to himself, and acting as though God had never threatened or promised or spoken. This ignoring of God’s known Will and law and revelation is to despise them, “as effectually as to curse God to His face” Job 2:5. This rejection of God was hereeditary.

Their lies were those “after which their fathers walked,” in Egypt and from Egypt onward, in the wilderness (see the note at Amos 5:25-26) , “making the image of the calf of Egypt and worshiping Baalpeor and Ashtoreth and Baalim.” Evil acquires a sort of authority by time. People become inured to evils, to which they have been used. False maxims, undisputed, are thought indisputable. They are in possession; and “possession” is held a good title. The popular error of one generation becomes the axiom of the next. The descent “of the image of the great goddess Diana from Jupiter” or of the Coran, becomes a “thing” which cannot be spoken against” Acts 19:35-36. The “lies after which the fathers walked” deceive the children. The children canonize the errors of their fathers.” Human opinon is as dogmatic as revelation. The second generation of error demands as implicit submission as God’s truth.

The transmission of error against himself, God says, aggravates its evil, does not excuse it Nehemiah 5:5. “Judah is the Church. In her the prophet reproves whosoever, worshiping his own vices and sins, cometh to have that as a god by which he is overcome; as Peter saith, “Whereby a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage” 2 Peter 2:19. The covetous worshipeth mammon; the glutton, his belly Philippians 3:19; the impure, Baalpeor; she who, “living in pleasure, is dead while she liveth” 1 Timothy 5:6, the pleasure in which she liveth.” Of such idols the world is full. Every fair form, every idle imagination, everything which gratifies self-love, passion, pride, vanity, intellect, sense, each the most refined or the most debased, is such a “lie,” so soon as man loves and regards it more than his God.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Amos 2:4. For three transgressions of Judah — We may take the three and four here to any latitude; for this people lived in continual hostility to their God, from the days of David to the time of Uzziah, under whom Amos prophesied. Their iniquities are summed up under three general heads:

1. They despised, or rejected the law of the Lord.

2. They kept not his statutes.

3. They followed lies, were idolaters, and followed false prophets rather than those sent by Jehovah.


 
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