The Meaning of Amos 2:8 Explained

Amos 2:8

KJV: And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.

YLT: And on pledged garments they stretch themselves near every altar, And the wine of fined ones they drink in the house of their gods.

Darby: 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.

ASV: and they lay themselves down beside every altar upon clothes taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of such as have been fined.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And they lay [themselves] down  upon clothes  laid to pledge  by  every altar,  and they drink  the wine  of the condemned  [in] the house  of their god. 

What does Amos 2:8 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Fourth, the Israelites failed to return garments taken as collateral for debts owed them. The Law specified that the Israelites could take a garment as a pledge, except the garment of a widow ( Deuteronomy 24:17), but they were to return it to the owner before nightfall ( Exodus 22:26-27; Deuteronomy 24:10-13; cf. Deuteronomy 24:6; Job 22:6). The Israelites were even taking these garments with them and displaying them at the public feasts honoring whatever god they worshipped.
Fifth, the Israelites had worshipped other gods (cf. Amos 2:4). They were using the wine that they had received as fines, or had extracted from the poor, to honor heathen gods. The proper course of action would have been to drink wine that the worshipper had paid for himself or present it in worship of the true God.

Context Summary

Amos 2:6-16 - Neither Shall Israel Escape
First the prophet enumerates Israel's sins. They were unjust to the poor, carrying their extortions to such lengths as to goad the poor to desperation. They were unchaste. They held their idolatrous festivities in idol shrines while they unjustly detained and confiscated the pledges of the poor. They perpetrated shamelessly the enormous crimes for which the Amorites were dispossessed by Joshua and their fathers. But notice nothing is said of that great general and his valiant soldiers; our mind is carried beyond all human agency to the Eternal. I destroyed, etc. Amos 2:9.
The ripple of the ocean on the beach which you hear and see is due to the action of the sun or moon; so the changes that men attribute to political combinations must ultimately be traced back to the divine will in its permissive or decretive energy. One of the most graphic pictures is in Amos 2:13. We can almost see the heavily laden wagon dragged from the harvest field. The wheels creak and groan; the oxen advance with difficulty; the timbers threaten to succumb. So God bears up the world; and thus did Jesus stoop and sweat great drops of blood under the sins of the whole world. [source]

Chapter Summary: Amos 2

1  God's judgments upon Moab,
4  upon Judah,
6  and upon Israel
9  God complains of their ingratitude

What do the individual words in Amos 2:8 mean?

And on clothes taken in pledge they lie down by every altar and the wine of the condemned drink [in] the house of their god
וְעַל־ בְּגָדִ֤ים חֲבֻלִים֙ יַטּ֔וּ אֵ֖צֶל כָּל־ מִזְבֵּ֑חַ וְיֵ֤ין עֲנוּשִׁים֙ יִשְׁתּ֔וּ בֵּ֖ית אֱלֹהֵיהֶֽם

וְעַל־  And  on 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition
Root: עַל 
Sense: upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against.
בְּגָדִ֤ים  clothes 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: בֶּגֶד 
Sense: treachery, deceit.
חֲבֻלִים֙  taken  in  pledge 
Parse: Verb, Qal, QalPassParticiple, masculine plural
Root: חָבַל 
Sense: to bind.
יַטּ֔וּ  they  lie  down 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: נָטָה 
Sense: to stretch out, extend, spread out, pitch, turn, pervert, incline, bend, bow.
כָּל־  every 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: כֹּל  
Sense: all, the whole.
מִזְבֵּ֑חַ  altar 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: מִזְבֵּחַ  
Sense: altar.
וְיֵ֤ין  and  the  wine 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: יַיִן  
Sense: wine.
עֲנוּשִׁים֙  of  the  condemned 
Parse: Verb, Qal, QalPassParticiple, masculine plural
Root: עֲנוּשִׁים 
Sense: to fine, amerce, punish, condemn, mulct.
יִשְׁתּ֔וּ  drink 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: שָׁתָה  
Sense: to drink.
בֵּ֖ית  [in]  the  house 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: בַּיִת 
Sense: house.
אֱלֹהֵיהֶֽם  of  their  god 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, third person masculine plural
Root: אֱלֹהִים  
Sense: (plural).