Amos 1:6 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Amos 1:6
Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom:
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
Gaza
עַזָּ֔ה'a.Zah
H5804
Azzah · proper noun, a place 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
captive
הַגְלוֹתָ֛םhag.lo.Tam
H1540
to denude (especially in a disgraceful sense) · verb, hiphil infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
whole
שְׁלֵמָ֖הshe.le.Mah
H8003
complete (literally or figuratively) · adjective, feminine singular absolute
captivity
גָּל֥וּתga.Lut
H1546
captivity · noun, common feminine singular absolute
up
לְהַסְגִּ֥ירle.has.Gir
H5462
to shut up · preposition + verb, hiphil infinitive construct
Edom
לֶאֱדֽוֹםle.'e.Dom
H123
Edom · preposition + proper noun, a man's name
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
2 Chronicles 28:18 The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the low country, and of the south of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, and Ajalon, and Geder…
Amos 1:11 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his…
Obadiah 1:11 In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into…
1 Samuel 6:17 And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the LORD; for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ask…
Amos 1:9 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up…
Isaiah 14:29-31 Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockat…
Jeremiah 47:4-5 Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD w…
Ezekiel 35:5 Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their c…
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…
Gaza--the southernmost of the five capitals of the five divisions of Philistia, and the key to Palestine on the south: hence put for the whole Philistine nation. Uzziah commenced the fulfilment of this prophecy (see Ch2 26:6).
because they carried away . . . the whole captivity--that is, they left none. Compare with the phrase here, Jer 13:19, "Judah . . . carried captive all of it . . . wholly carried away." Under Jehoram already the Philistines had carried away all the substance of the king of Judah, and his wives and his sons, "so that there was never a son left to him, save Jehoahaz"; and after Amos' time (if the reference includes the future, which to the prophet's eye is as if alread…
They carried away captive - Gaza is well known to have been one of the five lordships of the Philistines; it lay on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, near to Egypt. Erkon, Ashdod, and Askelon, were other signories of the same people, which are here equally threatened with Gaza. The captivity mentioned here may refer to inroads and incursions made by the Philistines in times of peace. See Ch2 21:16. The margin reads, an entire captivity. They took all away; none of them afterwards returned.
John Gill
The Church Fathers
(Verse 6 and following) Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not revoke its punishment; because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom. So I will send fire upon the wall of Gaza, fire which shall devour its strongholds. I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; I will turn my hand against Ekron; and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, says the Lord. LXX: Thus says the Lord: Because of the three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away from it, because they carried away captive the captivity of Solomon, to shut them up in Idumea, and I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour the foundations thereof, and I will cut off the inhabitant from Azotus, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ascalon, and I will turn my hand against Accaron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord. In the third and fourth generation, the Lord threatens to repay the sins of the fathers in the Law to the children: not in the equality of judgment, so that some may sin and others may be punished, but by the magnitude of His mercy, as He always waits for repentance: and what is committed in the first generation, He does not correct and amend until the third and fourth generation comes. The apostle Paul also speaks of this to the Romans: Or do you despise the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will repay each one according to his works (Romans 2:4-6). Therefore, what He says is this: I have waited a long time for them to repent, and for this reason I did not want to punish the sinners, so that they might eventually return to health. But because they keep doing the same things for the third and fourth time, I am forced to change my mind and correct the wrongdoers with punishments. Now let us see what the Philistines and their cities have sinned, whom the Seventy always translate as foreigners; for wherever in the Old Testament we have read ἀλλοφύλους, that is, foreigners, it should not be taken as a general name for all foreign nations, but specifically as the…
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
Gaza — Called also Azzah, which is its Hebrew name (Deut. 2:23; 1 Kings 4:24; Jer. 25:20), strong, a city on the Mediterranean shore, remarkable for its early importance as the chief centre of a great…
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,…
Prophecy — Or prediction, was one of the functions of the prophet. It has been defined as a “miracle of knowledge, a declaration or description or representation of something future, beyond the power of human…
Slave — Jer. 2:14 (A.V.), but not there found in the original. In Rev. 18:13 the word “slaves” is the rendering of a Greek word meaning “bodies.” The Hebrew and Greek words for slave are usually rendered…
Gaza · .Prophecies relating to — .Prophecies relating to
Philistines · Prophecies respecting: Hatred and revenge against Israel to be fully recompensed — Prophecies respecting: Hatred and revenge against Israel to be fully recompensed
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).
on Amos 1:6
Thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of Gaza,.... The chief city of the Philistines, and put for the whole country, and designs the inhabitants of it:
and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; See Gill on Amos 1:3;
because they carried away captive the whole captivity; which cannot be understood of the captivity of the whole nation, either of Israel or Judah, who were never carried captive by the Philistines; but of their carrying away all the substance of the house of Jehoram king of Judah, and of all his sons and his wives, and left him not one son but the youngest, 2 Chronicles 21:17;
to deliver them up to Edom: or, "to shut them up in Edom" (o); which country…
Amos 1:6-8
6. Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom:
6. Sic dicit Jehova, Super tribus sceleribus Gazae et super quatuor, non ero propitius ei, quia transtulerunt captivitatem perfectam, ut concluderent in Edom:
7. But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof:
7. Et mittam ignem in murum Gazae, qui devorabit palatia ejus:
8. And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn mine hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines s…
Philistia. - Amo 1:6. "Thus saith Jehovah, For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I shall not reverse it, because they carried away captives in full number to deliver them up to Edom, Amo 1:7. I send fire into the wall of Gaza, and it will eat their palaces; Amo 1:8. And I exterminate the inhabitant from Ashdod, and the sceptre-holder from Askelon, and turn my hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines will perish, saith the Lord Jehovah." Instead of the Philistines generally, the prophet mentions Gaza in Amo 1:6. This is still a considerable town, bearing the old name Guzzeh (see the comm. on Jos 13:3), and was the one of the five capitals of the Philistines which had t…
The Philistine city of Gaza, on the seacoast at the southwest edge of Palestine, was the gateway for traffic between Africa and Asia. Its sin was slave trading; Philistia had raided Israel or Judah and sold whole villages into slavery to Edom.
Rashi on Amos 1:6
Gaza—That was a city of the Philistines.
a whole captivity—I.e, the captivity of Israel, that the captivity be complete, that no one should escape, for they would stand on the roads and seize those fleeing and deliver them. And so did the people of Tyre, and so to the four sides during the destruction of the Second Temple, as is delineated in the Aggadah of Ha’azinu (Sifre 322), Gaza from the south, Tyre from the north, Damascus from the east, the Arabs from the west, as it is stated: (Isaiah 21: 13) “The harsh prophecy concerning Arabia: In the forest in Arabia did you lodge, on the roads of your cousins.”
