Глава 2

God threatens Moab with the same military fire and says that together with the people he will put the princes to death; because, in addition to their many wicked deeds, they treated the king of Edom in a very brutal manner. The time he came to the aid of the king of Israel, the Moabites, having finally lured him into an ambush and captured him, sacrificed him to their idols, and lit a fire until all his bones turned to ashes. Thus, having finished his predictions about foreigners, the Prophet turns his prophetic word to the people of God, and first of all exposes the iniquity of the tribe of Judah. Am.2:4. This is what the Lord says: Because of the three wickednesses of the sons of Judah, and because of the four, I will not turn away from them, because I have rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept His commandments, and the vain deception that I have done has been done by them, and their fathers followed them in their footsteps. And I will send fire on Judah, and destroy the foundations of Jerusalem. I will give both Judah and Jerusalem to the fire of war; because they completely neglected My laws, and continued to serve idols made with hands (the Prophet understands them by the word “vain”), following in this pathetic way of thinking the fathers. I have endured this wickedness for a long time, says God, but I will not show more than usual long-suffering. After this he turns his speech to the ten tribes and says that he will no longer show long-suffering to them. Am.2:6–7. Having already sold the righteous for silver, and the wretched for boots that walk on the dust of the earth, and the biyahu became the head of the wretched, and the way of the humble was corrupted: both his son and his father fell in love with one slave girl, And they, they say, with gifts in mind, sold the righteous and, serving vile greed, did not even refuse to take shoes - this last need for a person, leaving the offended without protection, oppressing the poor and not accepting excuses from the ignorant. And moreover, living indecently, like dumb people, they entered into unauthorized relationships with each other’s wives, so that the son did not refrain from communicating with his father’s concubine, and the father did not keep his son’s bed inviolable, which is why the rights of nature came into unity, and the names of kinship were no longer clear, and they did this, says the Prophet, for let them profane the name of their God Because the foreigners living in the neighborhood, having learned this, moved their tongues against the God of all, either as having legitimized such things, or as a people tolerating iniquity. Besides, Am.2:8. And he binds his garments with snakes, he holds the curtains of the treasury, and he feasts on wine from slander in the house of his God. For they did not give due honor to the church of God, but, making tents in it out of clothes, they drank wine obtained by untruth; and did not want to lead themselves to the idea that Am.2:9. I rejected Ammorite from before them; his height was like the height of a cedar, and he was as strong as an oak, and his fruit was withered from above, and his root was rooted from below. God said this in a figurative sense, showing the great growth and strength of the people of that time. And the spies sent by the great Moses said: “There is the family of the Anaks, the descendants of giants, men of great height, and we are before them like fools” (Num. 13:33–34). Therefore, the God of all says: you overcame so many tall and strong people not by your own strength. For was this possible for you, who were brought into timidity by one rumor and attempted to return to Egypt? On the contrary, I uprooted Ammorite. He calls fathers roots, and children children. But, God says, you need to be reminded of the good deeds that have happened before. I freed you from Egyptian slavery, fed you in the desert for forty years, and granted some of you prophetic grace, and appointed some of you as priests. For it is said: Am.2:11. I will drink from your sons for the prophets, and from your young men for sanctification: - then, since what has been said is certain, he asks: Have you any food for these, O children of Israel? says the Lord. Expose if you find anything false in what has been said. But this is impossible; because you also know how true this calculation of good deeds is, contrary to which you have always acted. Not only do you fearlessly break My laws; but also Am.2:12. And those who were sanctified with wine and the prophet commanded, saying: Do not prophesy. “Those who were sanctified” to Me (meaning the Nazarenes) “drank wine”, teaching that pleasing Me is useless, and they forbade the Prophets sent by Me to predict what was commanded to them, probably finding My very voice unbearable for themselves. Amos 2:13–14. For this reason I will turn under you, as a chariot full of canes turns. And the flight from the fleeting will perish, I will impose such a burden of punishment on you, says God, that you will mourn and groan, just as a full baggage creaks and a chariot burdened with it creaks when it is pulled. During these disasters that befall you, even the most fleeting will not find salvation in flight, the courageous will not have the spirit of courage, and the “archer” will not rely on his art, and the horseman, using the speed of his horse for assistance, will not take advantage of salvation (Am. 2:15). Am.2:16. and the mighty man does not find his heart able; he will flee naked in that day, says the Lord. But one “will flee naked in that day,” because for your teaching I will bring this destruction upon you, and those who rely on natural advantages or art, I will give over to be killed, and those who are deprived of all this and have neither wealth, nor strength, nor art, but are naked of everything, I will give them a way to escape and remain healthy and unharmed.