“Thus says Yahweh.
‘For three transgressions,
Of the Ammonites,
And for four,
I will not revoke
The punishment.
Because they ripped open
Pregnant women
In the Gilead.
They wanted to enlarge
Their territory.
So,
I will kindle a fire
Against the wall of Rabbah.
Fire shall devour
Its strongholds,
With shouting
On the day of battle.
There will be a storm
On the day of the whirlwind.
Their king
Shall go into exile,
He with his officials together.’
Says Yahweh.”
Ammon was east of the Jordan River, between the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee in the old Gad territory. According to Genesis, chapter 19, the Ammonites were the descendants of Lot through the incest he had with his daughter. Yahweh, via Amos, invoked the same language as he had used against Damascus, the Philistines, Tyre, and Edom. He used the same numeric formula of 3 and 4, as found in Proverbs, chapter 30. These Ammonites had killed pregnant women in the Gilead, the Israelite territory on the east side of the Jordan River, because they wanted to take over that territory. Thus, Yahweh was going to send fire down on Rabbah, the capital city that is today the capital of Jordan, Amman. This fire would destroy all their fortresses, like a storm or whirlwind. The king and all its officials would go into exile.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 