“These who trample the head of the helpless to the dust of the earth Also divert the way of the humble; And a man and his father resort to the same girl So as to profane My holy name.
Parallel translations
- WEB They trample on the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and deny justice to the oppressed; and a man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name;
- KJV That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name:
- BSB They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the earth; they push the needy out of their way. A man and his father have relations with the same girl and so profane My holy name.
- NKJV They pant after the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor, And pervert the way of the humble. A man and his father go in to the same girl, To defile My holy name.
- NLT They trample helpless people in the dust and shove the oppressed out of the way. Both father and son sleep with the same woman, corrupting my holy name.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Israel tramples the poor, denies justice to the oppressed, and commits sexual immorality that profanes God's name. Their social and moral corruption defiles their worship.
Overview
Amos piles up charges: grinding the poor into the dust, perverting the courts, and a father and son using the same girl in flagrant immorality. Such conduct desecrates God's holy name. Religion divorced from justice and purity is an offense to God. The prophets consistently insist that true faith bears fruit in righteous living, fulfilled in the holiness Christ works in his people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Amos 5:12For I know how many your offenses, and how great are your sins — you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn aside the needy in the courts.
- Isa 10:2to deprive the needy from justice, and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, that widows may be their plunder, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
- Ezek 22:11One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. Another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter.
- 1 Cor 5:1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that one has his father’s wife.
- Mic 2:2They covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
- Mic 2:9You drive the women of my people out from their pleasant houses; from their young children you take away my blessing forever.
- Lev 18:8“‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife. It is your father’s nakedness.
- Rom 2:24For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.
- Lev 18:15“‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law: she is your son’s wife. You shall not uncover her nakedness.
- Zeph 3:3Her princes within her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing until the next day.
- 1 Kgs 21:4Ahab came into his house sullen and angry because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him; for he had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” He laid himself down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.
- Mic 7:2–3The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net.
- Prov 28:21To show partiality is not good; yet a man will do wrong for a piece of bread.
- Ezek 36:20When they came to the nations, where they went, they profaned my holy name; in that men said of them, These are the people of Yahweh, and are gone out of his land.
- Lev 20:3I also will set my face against that person, and will cut him off from among his people because he has given of his offspring to Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name.
- Amos 8:4Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,
- 2 Sam 12:14However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to Yahweh’s enemies to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you will surely die.”
- Amos 4:1Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Amid judgment on injustice, Amos promises the raising up of David's fallen tent — read by James in Acts 15 as the ingathering of the nations into the kingdom of the risen Christ.
How Amos 2:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.