Chapter 2

1 This is what the Lord says: “Because Moab has committed three crimes—make that four—I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They burned the bones of Edom’s king into lime. 2 So I will set Moab on fire, and it will consume Kerioth’s fortresses. Moab will perish in the heat of battle amid war cries and the blaring of the ram’s horn. 3 I will remove Moab’s leader; I will kill all Moab’s officials with him.” The Lord has spoken! 4 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. 5 So I will set Judah on fire, and it will consume Jerusalem’s fortresses.” 6 This is what the Lord says: “Because Israel has committed three covenant transgressions—make that four—I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They sold the innocent for silver, the needy for a pair of sandals.⁠ 7 They trample on the dirt-covered heads of the poor; they push the destitute away. A man and his father go to the same girl; in this way they show disrespect for my moral purity.⁠ 8 They stretch out on clothing seized as collateral;⁠ they do so right beside every altar!⁠ They drink wine bought with the fines they have levied; they do so right in the temple of their God!⁠ 9 For Israel’s sake I destroyed the Amorites. They were as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks,⁠ but I destroyed the fruit on their branches and their roots in the ground. 10 I brought you up from the land of Egypt; I led you through the wilderness for 40 years so you could take the Amorites’ land as your own. 11 I made some of your sons prophets and some of your young men Nazirites. Is this not true, you Israelites?” The Lord is speaking. 12 “But you made the Nazirites drink wine;⁠ you commanded the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy!’ 13 Look! I will press you down, like a cart loaded down with grain presses down. 14 Fast runners will find no place to hide; strong men will have no strength left; warriors will not be able to save their lives. 15 Archers will not hold their ground; fast runners will not save their lives, nor will those who ride horses. 16 Bravehearted warriors will run away naked⁠ in that day.” The Lord is speaking.

Texts in conversation

Compare Leviticus 18:8 and Amos 2:7

Hebrew Bible

Summary

Leviticus forbids a man from having relations with his father’s wife, using the idiom of uncovering his father’s nakedness. Amos condemns this same practice where father and son share the same woman, giving it as an example of their corruption.

Passages

Leviticus 18:8

Hebrew Bible

6 “‘No man is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations with her. I am the Lord. 7 You must not expose your father’s nakedness by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; you must not have sexual relations with her. 8 You must not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; she is your father’s nakedness. 9 You must not have sexual relations with your sister, whether she is your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she is born in the same household or born outside it; you must not have sexual relations with either of them. 10 You must not expose the nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter by having sexual relations with them, because they are your own nakedness.

750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

Amos 2:7

Hebrew Bible

5 So I will set Judah on fire, and it will consume Jerusalem’s fortresses.” 6 This is what the Lord says: “Because Israel has committed three covenant transgressions—make that four—I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They sold the innocent for silver, the needy for a pair of sandals. 7 They trample on the dirt-covered heads of the poor; they push the destitute away. A man and his father go to the same girl; in this way they show disrespect for my moral purity. 8 They stretch out on clothing seized as collateral; they do so right beside every altar! They drink wine bought with the fines they have levied; they do so right in the temple of their God! 9 For Israel’s sake I destroyed the Amorites. They were as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks, but I destroyed the fruit on their branches and their roots in the ground.

600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Amos

References

"... Porter applies this law to a woman and her widowed mother-in-law, as in the case of Ruth and Naomi, but once Boaz marries Ruth, he is forbidden to Naomi. Hittite law permits cohabitation with free women who are daughters and mothers if they are in different lands but not if they are in the same place; but if they are slaves, cohabitation is permitted everywhere (HL §§ 191, 194; ANET 196). Greengus surmises that there was a comparable prohibition against father and son to have sexual relations with the same woman, a situation condemned in Amos 2:7, and can be inferred from HL § 194, which voids the penalty if the woman was a slave ..."

Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 17–22: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, AB 3A (New York: Doubleday, 2000), 1547–1548.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Amos9 chapters

Compare Leviticus 18:8 and Amos 2:7

Summary

Passages

Leviticus 18:8

Amos 2:7

References

Your feedback

Leave a comment

Glossary

Search the Library