Amos 2:8 — Meaning and Application

Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away {the punishment} thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;

That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the {same} maid, to profane my holy name: {maid: or, young woman}

And they lay {themselves} down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned {in} the house of their god. {the condemned: or, such as have fined, or, mulcted}

Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height {was} like the height of the cedars, and he {was} strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.

Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.