The Meaning of Amos 2:13 Explained

Amos 2:13

KJV: Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.

YLT: Lo, I am pressing you under, As the full cart doth press for itself a sheaf.

Darby: Behold, I will press upon you, as a cart presseth that is full of sheaves.

ASV: Behold, I will press you in your place, as a cart presseth that is full of sheaves.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Behold, I am pressed  under you, as a cart  is pressed  [that is] full  of sheaves. 

What does Amos 2:13 Mean?

Verse Meaning

The Lord said He felt burdened by the sinfulness of His people, as heavy as a wagon filled to its capacity with grain. [1] Another interpretation understands Amos picturing Israel being crushed like an object under the wheels of a heavily loaded cart. [2]

Context Summary

Amos 2:6-16 - Neither Shall Israel Escape
First the prophet enumerates Israel's sins. They were unjust to the poor, carrying their extortions to such lengths as to goad the poor to desperation. They were unchaste. They held their idolatrous festivities in idol shrines while they unjustly detained and confiscated the pledges of the poor. They perpetrated shamelessly the enormous crimes for which the Amorites were dispossessed by Joshua and their fathers. But notice nothing is said of that great general and his valiant soldiers; our mind is carried beyond all human agency to the Eternal. I destroyed, etc. Amos 2:9.
The ripple of the ocean on the beach which you hear and see is due to the action of the sun or moon; so the changes that men attribute to political combinations must ultimately be traced back to the divine will in its permissive or decretive energy. One of the most graphic pictures is in Amos 2:13. We can almost see the heavily laden wagon dragged from the harvest field. The wheels creak and groan; the oxen advance with difficulty; the timbers threaten to succumb. So God bears up the world; and thus did Jesus stoop and sweat great drops of blood under the sins of the whole world. [source]

Chapter Summary: Amos 2

1  God's judgments upon Moab,
4  upon Judah,
6  and upon Israel
9  God complains of their ingratitude

What do the individual words in Amos 2:13 mean?

Behold I am weighed down by you as is weighed down a cart full of sheaves
הִנֵּ֛ה אָנֹכִ֥י מֵעִ֖יק תַּחְתֵּיכֶ֑ם כַּאֲשֶׁ֤ר תָּעִיק֙ הָעֲגָלָ֔ה הַֽמְלֵאָ֥ה לָ֖הּ עָמִֽיר

הִנֵּ֛ה  Behold 
Parse: Interjection
Root: הִנֵּה  
Sense: behold, lo, see, if.
מֵעִ֖יק  am  weighed  down 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Participle, masculine singular
Root: עוּק  
Sense: (Hiphil) to totter, cause to totter, crush.
תַּחְתֵּיכֶ֑ם  by  you 
Parse: Preposition, second person masculine plural
Root: מִתְחָה 
Sense: the under part, beneath, instead of, as, for, for the sake of, flat, unto, where, whereas.
תָּעִיק֙  is  weighed  down 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect, third person feminine singular
Root: עוּק  
Sense: (Hiphil) to totter, cause to totter, crush.
הָעֲגָלָ֔ה  a  cart 
Parse: Article, Noun, feminine singular
Root: עֲגִילָה 
Sense: cart, wagon.
הַֽמְלֵאָ֥ה  full 
Parse: Article, Adjective, feminine singular
Root: מְלֵאָה  
Sense: fullness, full produce.
עָמִֽיר  sheaves 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: עָמִיר  
Sense: swath, a row of fallen grain.