Amos 1:11-12, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Amos 1:11-12
Edom Accountable for Relentless Brother-Violence
Anger kept on watch
Edom is not condemned for one passing clash. The charge is sword pursuit of a brother, pity destroyed, anger that tears, and wrath kept forever. Kinship should have restrained the violence; instead rage is preserved as policy.
The difficult clause KJV renders "cast off all pity" may speak of compassion or of womenfolk; either way the oracle describes sustained cruelty, not a moment of battlefield heat. Teman and Bozrah, Edom's centers, receive fire. Security built on stored wrath is not safety.
Brother-language without a timeless enemy
Genesis remembers Edom through Esau and Jacob. That kinship makes the violence more grievous; it does not turn every later conflict into a stereotype. Gaza and Tyre have already named Edom as the destination for captives. Now the receiving power is accused of relentless brother-violence.
The text does not identify a modern people as permanently violent or rejected. Brotherhood does not force unsafe reconciliation, and it does not license anyone to avenge ancient conflicts. The moral center is the refusal to nurse cruelty as national virtue.
How this should shape us
Interrupt inherited hate instead of handing it to the next generation. Protect people being pursued, tell the truth about harm, and refuse slogans that keep wrath on watch. Reconciliation that ignores safety is not what this oracle asks.
Teach it back
Explain Amos 1:11-12 in your own words. Include its place in Amos's judgment-restoration movement, one material uncertainty, and one use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: The identity of the brother, the difficult pity clause, and the historical episode are debated; deliberate ongoing violence is unmistakable.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Amos 1:11-12, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, wordplays, names, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Amos.xml, 1:11-12
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
NET Bible Amos PDF, printed pp. 1705-1708, translation and notes on 1:11-12
Supports: Whole-book movement, eighth-century horizon, literary boundaries, composition, and verse-level alternatives.
Dines, 'Amos,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 582-583, discussion of 1:11-12
Supports: The nations sequence, victim-centered evaluation of wartime and postwar crimes, deportation, trafficking, kin violence, and corpse desecration.
Kessler, 'The Crimes of the Nations in Amos 1-2,' Acta Theologica Supplement 26 (2018), journal pp. 206-220, especially pp. 209-217
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Amos 1:11-12, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Amos
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, wordplays, names, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Amos.xml, 1:11-12
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Amos with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Amos PDF, printed pp. 1705-1708, translation and notes on 1:11-12
Open source ↗modern critical commentary
Amos
Jennifer M. Dines
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001
Supports: Whole-book movement, eighth-century horizon, literary boundaries, composition, and verse-level alternatives.
Exact location: Dines, 'Amos,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 582-583, discussion of 1:11-12
Open source ↗peer reviewed journal article
The Crimes of the Nations in Amos 1-2
Rainer Kessler
Acta Theologica, Supplement 26, 2018
Supports: The nations sequence, victim-centered evaluation of wartime and postwar crimes, deportation, trafficking, kin violence, and corpse desecration.
Exact location: Kessler, 'The Crimes of the Nations in Amos 1-2,' Acta Theologica Supplement 26 (2018), journal pp. 206-220, especially pp. 209-217
Open source ↗