Amos 1:5

Amos 1:5

Judgment on the Nations

3 Thus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of ^aDamascus, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because they have ^bthreshed Gilead with implements of iron.

4 ^aBut I will send a fire into the house of Hazael,
Which shall devour the palaces of ^bBen-Hadad.

5 I will also break the gate ^abar of Damascus,
And cut off the inhabitant from the Valley of Aven,
And the one who¹ holds the scepter from Beth Eden.
The people of Syria shall go captive to Kir,”
Says the Lord.

6 Thus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of ^aGaza, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because they took captive the whole captivity
To deliver them up to Edom.

7 ^aBut I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza,
Which shall devour its palaces.

8 I will cut off the inhabitant ^afrom Ashdod,
And the one who holds the scepter from Ashkelon;
I will ^bturn My hand against Ekron,
And ^cthe remnant of the Philistines shall perish,”
Says the Lord God.

9 Thus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of ^aTyre, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom,
And did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.

10 But I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre,
Which shall devour its palaces.”

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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bar of Damascus—that is, the bar of its gates (compare Jeremiah 51:30).

the inhabitant—singular for plural, "inhabitants." HENDERSON, because of the parallel, "him that holdeth the scepter," translates, "the ruler." But the parallelism is that of one clause complementing the other, "the inhabitant" or subject here answering to "him that holdeth the scepter" or ruler there, both ruler and subject alike being cut off.

Aven—the same as Oon or Un, a delightful valley, four hours' journey from Damascus, towards the desert. Proverbial in the East as a place of delight [JOSEPHUS ABASSUS]. It is here parallel to "Eden," which also means "pleasantness"; situated at Lebanon. As JOSEPHUS ABASSUS is a doubtful authority, perhaps the reference may be rather to the valley between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, called El-Bekaa, where are the ruins of the Baal-bek temple of the sun; so the Septuagint renders it On, the same name as the city in Egypt bears, dedicated to the sun-worship (Genesis 41:45; Heliopolis, "the city of the sun," Ezekiel 30:17, Margin). It is termed by Amos "the valley of Aven," or "vanity," from the worship of idols in it.

Kir—a region subject to Assyria (Isaiah 22:6) in Iberia, the same as that called now in Armenian Kur, lying by the river Cyrus which empties itself into the Caspian Sea. Tiglath-pileser fulfilled this prophecy when Ahaz applied for help to him against Rezin king of Syria, and the Assyrian king took Damascus, slew Rezin, and carried away its people captive to Kir.

**Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Amos 1:5:**

Amos 1:1
Amos 5:27
Zechariah 9:1

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