6 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom.
9 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they delivered up a whole people to Edom, and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.
11 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever.
13 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border.
1 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom.
4 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have rejected the law of the LORD, and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray, those after which their fathers walked.
6 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals
A distinguishing feature of the oracles against the nations is the numerical pattern which is followed for each of them. For all the nations except Israel, each oracle is introduced with the phrase For three transgressions of [nation], and for four
(Amos 1:6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6). This numerical pattern is an example of a familiar wisdom device in which lists of related acts of behaviour (e.g. Proverbs 30:18–19, Proverbs 30:21–23, Proverbs 30:29–31) or lists of unacceptable social conduct (Proverbs 6:16–19) are introduced by a numerical sequence formula.1 In these lists the emphasis is normally on the last item.
In Amos, however, these lists function somewhat differently. The formula is not used to indicate the exact number of crimes but to emphasise multiplicity. That is, these nations have been engaged in these crimes for a continued and extended period of time2 and now judgment will come. The Lord’s wrath could be restrained or delayed on account of his mercy (Jonah 4:2; 1 Kings 21:28; 2 Kings 22:19–20); he is patient and slow to anger (Exodus 34:6; 2 Peter 3:9). However, there comes a time when a nation’s sin reaches a point where God’s tolerance ends and judgment is the only outcome (cf. Amos 8:1–3; Genesis 15:16).3
3 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron.