Amos 1:6 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Three transgressions: see Amos 1:3. Gaza; the principal city of the Philistines; all the rest are to be understood; and here the city is named, but the inhabitants are meant also with the city; ancient and strong, the seat of the Anakims, conquered by Judah, yet lost soon after to the old inhabitants. I will not turn away the punishment thereof: see Amos 1:3. They carried away captive: this refers to the inroad by the Philistines and Arabians made upon Judah in the days of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, the violence and cruelty of which is set forth 2 Chronicles 21:16,17, about A.M. 3116; and this is that which is here threatened, as a sin that should be punished. Edom; the posterity of Esau, who were inveterate enemies to the posterity of Jacob, and as ill neighbours are, so were these, the worst enemies the Jacobites had, as appears Ezekiel 25:12 Ob 10-14 Psa 137:7. These Edomites were ever ready to Oppress, enslave, and tyrannize over the Jews, if by any means they could by force or fraud get them into their hands.