Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Amos 1:6 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 6. 6Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom:
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse turns the formula to Gaza and charges delivery of an entire captive community to Edom.
Read It With
- Amos 1:6-8
Read Amos 1:6 with 1:6-8. This verse turns the formula to Gaza and charges delivery of an entire captive community to Edom. The complete unit establishes this movement: Gaza and the Philistine centers face judgment for capturing an entire community and handing people over to Edom, conduct consistent with deportation or slave trafficking.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The sequence moves from battlefield atrocity to the systems that transport and sell displaced people. Within that movement, this verse turns the formula to Gaza and charges delivery of an entire captive community to Edom.
Follow the Context
- The repeated formula names Gaza's accumulated crimes.
- A whole captive population is handed to Edom.
- Fire and the removal of rulers extend through Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Ekron.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“carried away captive the whole captivity”
In plain language: The wording emphasizes the transfer of an entire captive community.
turns the formula to Gaza and charges delivery of an entire captive community to Edom. Treating captive populations as transferable goods is a grave public wrong.
Why it matters: The wording carries interpretive or ethical risk that requires the complete unit and stated limits.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
Gaza and Philistines here do not identify a modern population for collective punishment.
What Remains True
Treating captive populations as transferable goods is a grave public wrong.
How It Can Shape Life
- Trace who captures, transports, sells, detains, and profits from vulnerable people.
Teach It Back
Explain Amos 1:6's contribution to Amos 1:6-8: turns the formula to Gaza and charges delivery of an entire captive community to Edom. Include what the surrounding verses add, the stated uncertainty, and what this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Amos 1:6-8 — Gaza Accountable for Whole-Community CaptivitySources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The event and whether it involved deportation, slave trade, or both are uncertain.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
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 1:6-8, 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, 1:6-8
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 1:6-8
Open source ↗