Amo 2:1 | NETfull | STEP | 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.

Amos 2:1

1 This is what the Lord says:
“Because Moab has committed three crimes ^{▼▼ Traditionally, “transgressions” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) or “sins” (NIV). For an explanation of the atrocities outlined in this oracle as treaty violations of God’s mandate to Noah in Gen 9:5–7, see the note on the word “violations” in 1:3.} –
make that four! ^{▼▼ Heb “Because of three violations of Moab, even because of four.”} ^{▼▼ On the three…four style that introduces each of the judgment oracles of chaps. 1–2 see the note on the word “four” in 1:3.} – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ^{▼▼ Heb “I will not bring it [or “him”] back.” The translation understands the pronominal object to refer to the decree of judgment that follows; the referent (the decree) has been specified in the translation for clarity. For another option see the note on the word “judgment” in 1:3.}
They burned the bones of Edom’s king into lime. ^{▼▼ The Moabites apparently desecrated the tomb of an Edomite king and burned his bones into a calcined substance which they then used as plaster (cf. Deut 27:2, 4). See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 72. Receiving a proper burial was very important in this culture. Desecrating a tomb or a deceased individual’s bones was considered an especially heinous act.}