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| 1 Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke its sentence; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime. |
Moab – To the south. R3423:6
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| 2 And I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerijoth; and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. |
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| 3 And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith Jehovah. |
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| 4 Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke its sentence; because they have despised the law of Jehovah, and have not kept his statutes; and their lies have caused them to err, after which their fathers walked. |
For three transgressions – The basis of the Jewish Rabbis' teaching of forgiveness for three repented wrongs. R2665:3
Of Judah – To the south. R3423:6
And for four – Peter adds the three and the four, inquiring whether the Lord would have his followers forgive seven times. R2665:3
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| 5 And I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem. |
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| 6 Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke its sentence; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; |
Transgressions of Israel – The ten-tribe kingdom, the center of the prophet's message. R3423:6, R2356:1
Having captured their attention with words descriptive of the troubles coming upon their surrounding enemies, the circle grew narrower; the weight of the prophet's message was especially against themselves, and they were indignant. R3423:6
The punishment – The denunciation of Israel occurs chiefly in chapters 3 to 6 and in chapter 7:9-17. R3423:6
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| 7 panting after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turning aside the way of the meek; and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name. |
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| 8 And they lay themselves down by every altar upon clothes taken in pledge, and they drink in the house of their God the wine of the condemned. |
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| 9 But I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was as the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; but I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. |
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| 10 And I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. |
Forty years – Prefiguring the 19 centuries of the Gospel age. R3079:3
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| 11 And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, ye children of Israel? saith Jehovah. |
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| 12 And ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not. |
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| 13 Behold, I will press upon you, as a cart presseth that is full of sheaves. |
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| 14 And flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver his soul. |
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| 15 Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and the swift of foot shall not escape, and he that rideth the horse shall not deliver his soul; |
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| 16 and he that is stout-hearted among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith Jehovah. |
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