Amos 2:6-7
“Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; they trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and turn aside the way of the humble. A man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name.”
The prophet Amos, speaking in the 8th century BCE in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, delivers God's judgment against the nations, including Israel itself. He addresses a time of relative prosperity but also deep social inequality, where the wealthy exploited the vulnerable.
What does this passage reveal about the vulnerability of the poor when economic practices intersect with a flawed justice system?