What Does Amos 1:9 Mean in the King James?
Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse treats handing people over and forgetting the covenant that names them brothers as one breach: the forgetting is visible in the handover.
THE MEANING
A covenant between brothers is present in how those under its bond are treated. Here, handing captives to Edom and failing to keep that bond in mind are parts of the same betrayal.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that forgetting a covenant is only a private lapse; this verse shows that the breach takes shape in what happens to the people it binds.
THE ROOT
פִּשְׁעֵי
pishʿê
GROWS FROM
פ־ש־ע
p-sh-ʿ
To rebel, revolt, or break away.
The word translated “transgressions” carries the sense of rebellion or breaking away. The counted offenses are framed as breaches of relationship, and the verse names the betrayal of a brotherly bond as one of them.
ALSO GROWS
pešaʿ: Rebellion, breach.
פֶּשַׁע
This noun makes the idea of breaking away explicit, illuminating the covenant betrayal named in the verse.
vayyifshəʿu: They rebelled.
וַיִּפְשְׁעוּ
The same root appears as an act of rebellion, showing how the root’s idea of breaking away becomes something people do.
הִסְגִּירָם
hisgiram
GROWS FROM
ס־ג־ר
s-g-r
To shut or close; in a causative form, to shut in or hand over.
“delivered up” in this verse is hisgiram. The verb for handing people over grows from a root meaning to shut or close. English gives the transfer; the Hebrew root also carries the image of closing people into another power’s reach.
ALSO GROWS
sagar: To shut, close.
סָגַר
This basic form gives the root image behind the act of handing the captives over.
misgeret: Frame, border, enclosure.
מִסְגֶּרֶת
This related form names a boundary or enclosure, echoing the captives’ confinement under the power receiving them.
וְלֹא זָכְרוּ
velo zakheru
GROWS FROM
ז־כ־ר
z-k-r
To remember, recall, or bring to mind.
“remembered not” in this verse is velo zakheru. The Hebrew root of “remember” also gives words for a memorial and for bringing something to remembrance. In this verse, the failure to remember the covenant is not detached from conduct: the handover shows the bond is not being kept in force.
ALSO GROWS
zikkaron: Memorial, remembrance.
זִכָּרוֹן
A memorial keeps something present, sharpening the contrast with a covenant left unremembered.
hizkir: To mention, bring to remembrance.
הִזְכִּיר
This form makes remembrance something brought into the present, illuminating what the verse says was absent.
THE PATTERN
A bond between brothers becomes visible in whether people protect one another and keep the covenant between them in force.
Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land.Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?THE THREAD
And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.Amos says Tyre did not remember the covenant between brothers; Genesis uses the same Hebrew root זכר (zakar, remember) for remembering a covenant. In both verses, remembrance is joined to what happens to living beings, so it reaches beyond keeping a thought to keeping the bond present.
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