Amos 2:6-8
“Yahweh says: “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 sandals; 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. They lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge, and in the house of their God they drink wine taken as fines.””
The prophet Amos, a shepherd and fig-picker from Judah, delivered messages of judgment to the northern kingdom of Israel in the 8th century BCE. This passage comes early in his book, outlining the severe social injustices that provoked God's anger against Israel despite their religious rituals.
What do these ancient injustices reveal about how economic power can distort systems of justice and ritual practices?