Amos 1:13 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Amos 1:13
Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border:
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָ֔הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
three
שְׁלֹשָׁה֙she.lo.Shah
H7969
three · noun, common both genders singular absolute
transgressions
פִּשְׁעֵ֣יpish.'Ei
H6588
a revolt (national · noun, common masculine plural construct
children
בְנֵֽיve.nei-
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Ammon
עַמּ֔וֹןa.Mon
H5983
Ammon · proper noun, a man's name
four
אַרְבָּעָ֖ה'ar.ba.'Ah
H702
four · noun, common both genders singular absolute
away
אֲשִׁיבֶ֑נּוּ'a.shi.Ve.nu
H7725
to turn back (hence · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
up
בִּקְעָם֙bik.'Am
H1234
to cleave · verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
child
הָר֣וֹתha.Rot
H2030
pregnant · adjective, feminine plural construct
Gilead
הַגִּלְעָ֔דha.gil.'Ad
H1568
Gilad · definite article + proper noun, a place name
enlarge
הַרְחִ֥יבhar.Chiv
H7337
to broaden (intransitive or transitive · verb, hiphil infinitive construct
border
גְּבוּלָֽםge.vu.Lam
H1366
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 25:2-7 Son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites, and prophesy against them;
Hosea 13:16 Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces,…
Jeremiah 49:1-6 Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dw…
Isaiah 5:8 Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the e…
Ezekiel 35:10 Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the LORD was there:
Zephaniah 2:8-9 I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people, and magnified themsel…
Deuteronomy 2:19 And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land…
Deuteronomy 23:3-4 An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congr…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Amos 1:3–end
What the Lord says here may be explained by what he says Jer 12:14, Thus said the Lord, against all my evil neighbours that touch the inheritance of my people Israel, Behold, I will pluck them out. Damascus was a near neighbour to Israel on the north, Tyre and Gaza on the west, Edom on the south, Ammon and (in the next chapter) Moab on the east; and all of them had been, one time, one way, or other, pricking briers and grieving thorns to Israel, evil neighbours to them; and, because God espouses his people's cause, he there calls them his evil neighbours, and here comes forth to reckon with them. The method is taken in dealing with each of them is, in part, the same, and therefore we put the…
Ammon--The Ammonites under Nahash attacked Jabesh-gilead and refused to accept the offer of the latter to save them, unless the Jabesh-gileadites would put out all their right eyes (Sa1 11:1, &c.). Saul rescued Jabesh-gilead. The Ammonites joined the Chaldeans in their invasion of Judea for the sake of plunder.
ripped up . . . women with-child--as Hazael of Syria also did (Kg2 8:12; compare Hos 13:16). Ammon's object in this cruel act was to leave Israel without "heir," so as to seize on Israel's inheritance (Jer 49:1).
Adam Clarke on Amos 1:13
The children of Ammon - The country of the Ammonites lay to the east of Jordan, in the neighborhood of Gilead. Rabbah was its capital.
Because they have ripped up - This refers to some barbarous transaction well known in the time of this prophet, but of which we have no distinct mention in the sacred historians.
John Gill on Amos 1:13
Thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of the children of Ammon,.... These are the descendants of Benammi, a son of Lots, by one of his daughters, Genesis 19:38; are distinguished from the Ammonites, 2 Chronicles 20:1; were near neighbours of the Jews, but great enemies to them, though akin:
and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; See Gill on Amos 1:3. Among these transgressions, for which God would punish these people, are to be reckoned, not only their ill treatment of the Gileadites after mentioned, but other sins, which are all included in this number, and particularly their idolatry; for idolaters they were, though the children of Lot; and originally might hav…
The Church Fathers
The [false teachers] are also to be admonished to consider well, how sacred Scripture is set up as a kind of lantern for us in the night of this life. When the words are not rightly understood, darkness is the result. And obviously, their perverse mind would not hurry them into a false understanding unless they were first inflated with pride. For while they think themselves wiser than others, they scorn to follow others in matters which these understand better. What is more, in order that they may extort from the untutored crowd a reputation for knowledge, they make every endeavor to discredit what these rightly understand and to confirm their own perverse views. Therefore, it is well said by the prophet, "They have ripped up the women with child of Gilead to enlarge their border." Now Gilead is interpreted as meaning "a heap of testimony." Since the whole congregation of the church together serves by its confession of it, as a witness to the truth, the church is not ineptly expressed as Gilead, for it witnesses to all truth concerning God by the mouth of all the faithful. But souls are said to be with child when they conceive an understanding of the Word by divine love, so that when they come to full term, they will bring forth the understanding conceived by them in showing forth their deeds. Again, "to enlarge the border" is to extend one's own reputation. Thus "they ripped up the women with child of Gilead to extend their border"—that is to say, heretics by their perverse preaching slay the minds of the faithful who have already conceived some measure of the understanding of truth, and so they extend their reputation for knowledge. The hearts of little ones, already big with conception of the Word, they cleave with the sword of error, and thereby make a reputation, as it were, for their teaching. When, therefore, we endeavor to instruct these people not to entertain perverse views, we must first admonish them not to seek their own interests. For if the root of pride is cut away, the branches of false assertions become withered.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Ammon — Another form of the name Ben-ammi, the son of Lot (Gen. 19:38). This name is also used for his posterity (Ps. 83:7).
Ammonite — The usual name of the descendants of Ammon, the son of Lot (Gen. 19:38). From the very beginning (Deut. 2:16-20) of their history till they are lost sight of (Judg. 5:2), this tribe is closely…
Poetry — Has been well defined as “the measured language of emotion.” Hebrew poetry deals almost exclusively with the great question of man’s relation to God. “Guilt, condemnation, punishment, pardon,…
Ammonites · Character of — Character of
Ammonites, The · Character of: Cruel and covetous — Character of: Cruel and covetous
Armies · Exercised savage cruelties on the vanquished — Exercised savage cruelties on the vanquished
Captive · .Ripping women with child — .Ripping women with child
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Amos 1:13-15
13. Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border:
13. Sic dicit Jehova, Super tribus sceleribus filiorum Ammon, et super quatuor non ero ei propitius; quia secuerunt gravidas (praegnantes) Gilead, ut propagarent suum terminum:
14. But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind:
14. Et accendam ignem in muro Rabbah, qui vorabit palatia ejus in clamore (vel, jubilo) in die proel…
Ammon. - Amo 1:13. "Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of the sons of Ammon, and for four, I shall not reverse it, because they have ripped up the pregnant women of Gilead, to widen their border, Amo 1:14. I kindle fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it will devour its palaces, with the war-cry on the day of slaughter, in the storm on the day of the tempest. Amo 1:15. And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes all at once, saith Jehovah." The occasion on which the Ammonites were guilty of such cruelty towards the Israelites as is here condemned, is not recorded in the historical books of the Old Testament; possibly during the wars of Hazael with Israel, when they availe…
Israel regarded the people of Ammon as kin who also betrayed them. The Ammonites (like the Moabites, 2:1) were descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew (Gen 19:37-38). Ammon had been a constant threat to Gilead (see Judg 10:7-9). • In ancient times, conquering armies commonly ripped open pregnant women (2 Kgs 8:12; 15:16; Hos 13:16); they also raped the women and slaughtered the children of the towns they seized (Isa 13:16, 18; Lam 5:11; Hos 10:14; 13:16; Nah 3:10; Zech 14:2).
Rashi on Amos 1:13
they ripped up the pregnant woman of Gilead—They destroyed it and also ripped up their pregnant women so that no heir would remain who would contest the inheritance. And so does Scripture state: (Jer. 49:1) “Concerning the children of Ammon. So said the Lord: Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? Why has Malcam taken possession of Gad?”
