What Does Amos 1:6 Mean?
Thus says the LORD, for three rebellions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn it back; because they uncovered an entire people and handed them over to Edom.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom:THE KEY
Captivity is a chain of deliberate handoffs: Gaza uproots a whole people and delivers them to Edom.
THE MEANING
Whenever people are seized and passed between powers, this verse names the act as rebellion rather than a neutral exchange. Its accusation follows the whole chain, carrying away a people and handing them to another power, and keeps responsibility with those who do it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It overturns the claim that seizure makes people legitimate property: the verse places guilt on those who carry them off and hand them over.
THE ROOT
פִשְׁעֵי
pishʿê
GROWS FROM
פשע
Rebellion, revolt, a breaking away.
“rebellions” in this verse is pishʿê. “Transgressions” names rebellion, not a vague moral flaw. The verse identifies the seizure and transfer of people as Gaza’s specific revolt.
ALSO GROWS
pāshaʿ: To rebel or revolt.
פָּשַׁע
The verb makes clear that the charge concerns an active breach, not a general imperfection.
pōshēaʿ: One who rebels.
פֹּשֵׁעַ
The word points to the actors who carry out the wrong, keeping the accusation on the captors.
גָּלוּת
galût
GROWS FROM
גלה
To uncover or reveal; in other forms, to go or cause someone to go into exile.
“uncovered an entire people” in this verse is galût. The Hebrew pairs an exile-making verb with the noun גָּלוּת (galût, “exile”), stressing both the forced removal and its result. Elsewhere this root also means “uncover” or “reveal”; exile is the direct sense here, with exposure present elsewhere in the same word-family.
ALSO GROWS
gālāh: To uncover or reveal; in some forms, to go into exile.
גָּלָה
The root’s other sense adds a shade of exposure to the word-family without replacing the verse’s direct meaning of exile.
higlâ: To deport or carry away into exile.
הִגְלָה
This verb names the forced action behind the “captivity” in the verse.
gōlāh: An exile or an exiled community.
גּוֹלָה
This branch keeps the people displaced by the action in view.
לְהַסְגִּיר
lehasgîr
GROWS FROM
סגר
To shut or close; in a causative form, to hand someone over or surrender them.
“handed them over” in this verse is lehasgîr. The Hebrew verb for handing the captives over belongs to the root for shutting or closing. The verse presents the transfer as another deliberate act: the captors place the displaced people into Edom’s control.
ALSO GROWS
sāgar: To shut or close.
סָגַר
This basic sense gives the handover verb its image of closing someone into another power’s grasp.
sāgūr: Shut or closed.
סָגוּר
This related form carries the sense of being enclosed that underlies the verb’s force.
hisgîr: To hand over or surrender.
הִסְגִּיר
This is the same causative form used for the act of delivering the captives to Edom.
THE PATTERN
When people are seized, displaced, and handed from one power to another, scripture names the captors’ responsibility.
And he who steals a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, is surely put to death.You have also sold the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, to push them far from their border.for fornicators, for those who lie in bed with men, for those who make men captives, for those who speak falsely, for oath-breakers, and if anything else lies against the healthy teaching;THE THREAD
Thus says the LORD, for three rebellions of Tyre, and for four, I will not turn it back; because they handed over an entire people to Edom, and did not remember the covenant of brothers.Both verses use גָּלוּת שְׁלֵמָה (galût shelemāh, “a complete exile”). Amos 1:6 names the exiling; Amos 1:9 names the handover, showing two stages of the same harm.
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